Yonder Alonso has four homers and a 1.230 OPS this spring. It doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t care. Move on.
Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers seems to be a hot add in mixed leagues in the late rounds this spring. Why? (1) Adrian Gonzalez will be ready for Opening Day. (2) The Dodgers have like 23 outfield options. (3) Bellinger has no place to play. (4) Bellinger has been hideous this spring with a .522 OPS and 18 strikeouts in 58 plate appearances.
Greg Bird has a current OPS of 1.612. He won’t finish the 2017 season with a mark that is half of that. See his Player Profile.
Jabari Blash has seven home runs and 18 runs batted in. He also has 22 strikeouts in 52 at-bats. Seems likely he makes the team in San Diego and he has the look of a solid NL-only option.
Keon Broxton has two steals in six attempts this spring. That’s terrible. Gotta clean that up.
Stephen Cardullo seems likely to make the Rockies given his huge Spring (.358/.429/.604 with 15 RBI in 27 games). He could see enough at-bats early on, with the Rockies injuries, to be a viable NL-only play in April.
Chris Carter has a whopping 25 strikeouts in 47 at-bats. He’s played himself right into a bench role with the Yankees.
Nick Castellanos is at it again, that “it” is bashing the ball all over the field. Fully healthy, Nick has four homers, eight doubles and a .755 SLG in 19 outings. He’s a strong add given his current cost.
Delino DeShields has been killing it this spring with a .448 OBP and 12 steals. He also has no homers, one RBI and a .321 SLG though. He really can’t hit, bvut it sounds like he could get some run early on to prove me wrong.
Maikel Franco leads the spring with 69 at-bats. He’s hit five homers with 14 RBI and he’s only struck out nine times. Overall though, that .710 OPS is indicative of a guy who needs those at-bats to find his groove.
Adam Frazier looks ready for the big leagues with a .400/.468/.636 line. He has no shot at playing time though unless Polanco ends up on the DL with his shoulder woes. Same time, as soon as Polanco is healthy Frazier would be out of a job. Frazier has no lock on playing time unless there is a trade of if one of the Pirates’ outfielder suffers a serious injury.
Joey Gallo just can’t consistently hit the ball. He has 19 strikeouts in 42 at-bats.
Alex Gordon looks healthy and rejuvenated. The veteran has attempted four steals, only two successful, but he’s also posted a .443 OBP and .914 OPS. He better hit leadoff for the Royals to open the year.
Mitch Haniger is batting .400 with two homers, three steals and a 1.120 OPS in 20 games. He’s also walked just three times. Simply not as good as he appears to be.
Howie Kendrick will be Howie Kendrick, but don’t go expecting a strong start to the season if his .527 OPS in 21 games is any indicator.
Yoan Moncada is batting .317 with a 1.074 OPS in 17 games. How is it that he doesn’t have a steal though?
Wil Myers has 11 walks to just 12 strikeouts in 20 games. There’s no chance he keeps up that BB/K pace, but it could be a harbinger of Myers walking a ton as teams work around him in a weak Padres lineup.
Fun facts with Barry Bonds and Pacman.
Stephen Piscotty is a really solid hitter. We’ve seen that for two years now. Alas, he’s been awful with a .434 OPS and that could lead to a loss of some playing time early on.
Hunter Renfroe has hit .303 with a .500 SLG this spring. He’s only struck out 11 times in 66 at-bats which is really good given his overall game. Same time, his total of one walk is troubling.
Pablo Sandoval has looked... great. In 18 games he’s hit .351-4-19 with six doubles leading to a .667 SLG. Still as impatient as ever though with one walk.
Miguel Sano is stuck in the mud with 21 strikeouts and just four walks in 16 games. I still think he’s a nice target given his cost.
Pretty quietly Travis Shaw has a .333/.424/.646 slash line.
Trevor Story has 18 strikeouts in 18 games a terrible but better pace than last season.
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Player News
White Sox recalled C Edgar Quero from Triple-A Charlotte.
The move was rumored last night and is now official with Omar Narváez being designated for assignment. The 22-year-old Quero was off to a strong start in Triple-A, going 17-for-51 with one home run in 15 games. Quero has always been a high contact rate hitter in the minors and has never posted high fly ball rates, which tends to limit his power upside. He should hit for a decent average, but he won’t steal bases and is unlikely to hit for much power right away, which makes him more of a target in two-catcher formats for right now.
White Sox designated C Omar Narváez for assignment.
The White Sox needed to make an opening on the 40-man roster for catching prospect Edgar Quero, so Narváez is the guy to go. He went 2-for-7 with two walks and one strikeout in 10 plate appearances for the White Sox in four games.
Joey Bart (back) is starting behind the dish for the Pirates on Thursday and hitting clean-up.
Bart had missed five games with a back injury, which allowed Henry Davis to make four starts behind the plate. Bart will now return to a near-everyday role and a .275/.370/.425 slash line. Henry Davis will go back to being a backup.
Reds manager Terry Francona said, “It won’t be very long” before Spencer Steer can play first base.
With Christian Encarnacion-Strand landing on the IL with a back injury, there are some at-bats open for Steer at first base, which would push Jeimer Candelario to the bench. However, both Steer and Candelario are struggling to start the year, and you have to wonder whether Steer’s shoulder injury is impacting his swing. The 27-year-old is slashing .120/.185/.220 in 54 plate appearances with one home run and a 14/4 K/BB ratio. Steer is hitting more groundballs than he ever has, but has a career-low zone contact rate so far. We wouldn’t drop Steer just yet, but we have reason to be concerned.
Owen Caissie went 2-for-6 with a solo home run for Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old is rounding into form a little bit after a slow start to the season. The Cubs’ third-ranked prospect had off-season core muscle surgery and then was shut down in spring training with a groin injury. He now has hits in five of his last six games and has two home runs and seven RBI in nine games this season. There is no place for him in Chicago now, but if he shows the power many scouts believe he has, he’ll make the decision hard for the Cubs by summertime.
David Bednar threw a scoreless inning of relief for Triple-A Indianapolis on Wednesday, striking out two.
Bednar has only allowed one hit in five innings at Triple-A while striking out seven and walking nobody. If the Pirates wanted a reset, it’s happened. There’s no reason for Bednar to remain in Triple-A any longer, and we’d be stashing him in fantasy leagues if you need saves.