The Spring Signal, March 17th
The latest breakouts, news, and injuries
STANDOUT SPRING PERFORMANCES
Eury Perez
The 22-year-old has big expectations for this upcoming season. On Sunday, Eury tossed 4 innings of no-run ball, issuing 1 walk and 5 K’s. His arsenal is filthy. Look out for a huge season from Eury. The K’s have never been an issue, just the walks. The only concerning thing I see from this chart is the 100% Ball% on his changeup in 8 pitches. Maybe he’s trying a different grip or something, but it’s not something worth worrying about now.
Jacob Lopez
The A’s have a pretty meh rotation, but Lopez has a chance to elevate the group. In August last year, he ripped off 3 starts, going 6+IP, 8+K’s, all while holding the opponent to 2 runs once and zero runs twice! Lopez owns a funky delivery that is super deceptive, inducing lots of chases and K’s. This past Saturday, Jacob pitched 4 innings, striking out 7, and only walking 1. More impressively, he had a 60% Strike% and 31% Ball%. Extremely efficient outing from Lopez. I love him as a super late lottery pick. The fear with Jacob is that the ballpark he plays in sucks for pitchers. If he doesn’t have his strikeout stuff, his performance will certainly suffer. As shown below, he doesn’t get many groundballs.
Robbie Ray
One guy I probably should’ve targeted more as a floor guy in drafts is Ray. He ripped off 5 innings of perfect baseball with 8 K’s on Sunday. Robbie almost exclusively threw his fastball (62.5%). The underlying numbers weren’t great: a total of 8 whiffs in 64 pitches and almost a 40% Ball%. What is so appealing about Ray is the ballpark he plays in and his past success.
Kevin McGonigle
What else does this kid need to do to make the Opening Day roster?? He homered again yesterday with an EV of 107 MPH. In addition to the bomb, Kevin walked twice. The plate discipline is elite and will help make his transition to the bigs easier with less risk of a hard slump.
He is definitely worth a stash in redraft leagues.
FANTASY NEWS
Matt McClain
Will bat 2nd in the lineup for the Reds this season, per manager Terry Francona.
Zac Gallen
Mr. Opening Day starter for the DBacks seems to be firing on all cylinders. Could this be a 2023-esque season for the right-hander? He is currently SP65 off the board.
Angels Bullpen
With the recent news of Robert Stephenson suffering a likely season-ending surgery, the saves picture becomes a little clearer. SIKE. Roster resource currently has three closers in the Angels bullpen. Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, and Jordan Romano. The only two with closing experience are Yates and Romano. Last season was a disaster for Romano in Philly. It seems like Kirby Yates will be the guy to begin the season, but don’t forget this #passanbomb ↓
INJURY NEWS
Jon already covered Jose Ramirez, Zach Neto, and Seiya Suzuki yesterday. I even linked those for you in case you missed them. Let’s see who else hit the injury report over the weekend.
Chase Burns
On Friday, Chase started a Spring game, only racking up 24 total pitches thrown before being pulled. Burns had limited arm motion after his previous start; the Reds want to “nip it in the bud.” It sounds like they are going to take things slow with Burns, and he probably won’t be ready for Opening Day. This creates a spot for spring standout Brandon Williamson to crack the rotation. In 11 innings this Spring, Brandon has a 1.64 ERA and a 3.31 FIP. There is some overperformance there, but it’s only 11 innings in a Spring Training environment; take it with a grain of salt. Bad news for Burns owners nonetheless.
Joe Musgrove
Expected to open season on IL, according to new manager Craig Stammen. Did not recover well after his start against Great Britain on March 4th as hoped.
Josh Jung
The injury-prone third baseman is playing through an adductor strain. We had reported the strain previously, but now it seems like Josh is going to eat some nails and play through the pain.
Hayden Birdsong
Grade 2 forearm strain/UCL sprain per Alex Pavlovic. Sounds like he is destined for Tommy John surgery.
JP Crawford
This isn’t the first time JP’s name has popped up in the injury corner this Spring. Suffering from a sore right shoulder, he is taking a few days off to rest. The club will reassess today. Could Colt Emerson take his place for 10 days??
Gabriel Moreno
Scratched from the lineup last week due to right elbow inflammation. DBacks say he will be ready for Opening Day.
Marcello Mayer
Was scratched from the lineup on Sunday due to a sore knee. He did play in a backfield AAA game on Monday. Cora downplayed the injury.