The Spring Signal, March 2nd
Abel continues to dazzle, Bangeliers ready to make another run, injury news, and more!
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Standout Performances from Yesterday
Hunter Barco
The Pittsburgh Pirates already have a plethora of pitching prospects, and that continues with Barco. A tall frame that has comps to some of the games’ best, Ragans, Bradish, and Eury Perez, to name a few. As Jon says below, it looks like he could begin the season in the Pirates’ rotation.
Yesterday, he dominated, starting against the Cardinals. Pitching the first 3 innings, striking out three, no hits allowed, but giving up two walks. This wasn’t the Cardinals’ best lineup, but he faced major league hitters like Ivan Herrera, Ramon Urias, Nolan Gorman, and Jordan Walker.
In the minors last season, Hunter relied heavily on his sinker and slider (combined 84% of the time), but yesterday he threw his four seam 56% of the time with a 28% SwStr% clip. That is great to see. Barco could make an impact in the back of the rotation this season if he can keep these numbers up. He is fairly cheap right now as well, but there was someone who took him inside the top 500 picks.
Mick Abel (again)
This guy is doing everything within his power to make the Opening Day rotation. Another outing where he goes 3 innings and strikes out six. Only giving up one hit and zero walks. Notably, he has added 2.4 mph to his fastball as well (97.4 mph yesterday). He is quoted as saying this offseason, he put in a lot of work to become more consistent and prepared. Whatever he did is obviously working.
Look out for Mick to make an impact on a depleted Twins rotation.
Shea Langeliers
Mr.BANGeliers continues to mash, coming off an impressive 2025 campaign. Yesterday, he smoked a homer and a double off Andrew Abbott. Both with EV’s over 100 mph. Currently ranked catcher #4 in NFBC drafts, Shea holds a fairly high price tag (ADP 56). Playing half of his games in Sacramento is certainly going to help Langeliers repeat his fantastic 2025 season. I am buying Langeliers shares without a doubt.
Braden Montgomery
The Chicago White Sox switch-hitting prospect had himself a day yesterday. Homering off of Shota Imanaga (107.7 mph EV), later in the game, hammering a triple (101.9 mph EV). Look for Montgomery to make his debut late 2026 if he can put together a good minor league season and cut down on K%. This kid has plus power.
Injury Updates
Josh Jung
In an update from Skip Schumaker, Jung has a Grade 1 adductor strain. For those who do not know what that is ↓
So Josh is definitely going to miss some time. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Jung always seems to end up on the IL at some point in a season. I have zero shares of Josh and probably never will, because he is always injured.
Josh Lowe
For the past two years, Josh has been dealing with a nagging oblique. New manager Kurt Suzuki wants to give Lowe a few days to allow any irritation/inflammation to subside. Draft Josh cautiously; he is another player who has missed significant time over the past few seasons because of injury. There must be something in the name Josh. I personally know a Josh always has ailments all the time as well.
Raffy Devers
Left Hamstring tightness for the Giants’ first baseman, per @justdelossantos. Bryce Eldrige, come on down. Just kidding, Devers should be fine to start the season, but if this hamstring flares up at all, Eldrige will be the one taking over first base.
Bryce Miller
Poor Bryce, he cannot catch a break. After his Spring Training outing last Thursday, he felt soreness in his left oblique. Imaging showed only inflammation. He will be shut down for a few days, then resume playing catch, per Daniel Kramer.
Kyle Stowers
The Marlins outfielder is dealing with a “very minor” right hamstring strain, per manager Clayton McCullough. Stowers will be on the shelf for 1-2 weeks before returning to games.
Thomas White
For the prospect lovers, it looks like Thomas White is going to miss some time (approx. 3-4 weeks) due to a Grade 1 hamstring strain. Not sure if that is a pure coincidence or if the Marlins have a vigorous hamstring training program.
Count on White’s major league debut being pushed back. He was going to begin the season in AAA anyway to work on his command issues. Robby Snelling was always going to debut before White.
Walker Jenkins
We didn’t expect to see Jenkins in the bigs in April, but he’s one of our favorite prospects here at MLB DW (ranked #10 overall), so we had high hopes for him even in the shorter-term. But his 2026 season will be delayed as he’s currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Tough break for you dynasty bro’s out there who have him and were hoping he could inject some production into your lineup early on this season. Maybe it won’t cost him more than a week or two of regular season time, but hamstrings are things can linger, and we’ve seen Jenkins makes trips to the IL every year of his pro career thus far.