Spring Training Recap: February 25, 2025

Baseball is in full swing, Spring Training at least! Every day, we will feature the Spring Training recap, breaking down everything you need to know that happened on the field. Unfortunately, rain banged most of the Florida games yesterday, so we will be talking Arizona Spring Training games today!

Spring Training brings a lot of noise, but what is legit and what isn’t? This article should help you out everyday with what the important takeaways are.

February 24 Spring Training Recap

Willson Contreras, C/1B, St. Louis Cardinals

Contreras still gets the catcher label here because he will have that eligibility for fantasy purposes this season, and that is a huge plus. Collecting two hits on Tuesday, Contereas nearly added a third on a scorching line drive that was tracked down in right-field. It has an xBA of .660.

With three batted ball events, Contreras had exit velocities of 97 mph(double), 108.6 mph(single), and 109.6 mph(lineout). Hitting 20 home runs each season between 2021 and 2023, we know the power will play. Contreras hit just 15 in 2024 but was also injured and had just 358 plate appearances.

Contreras is making the move to first base in 2025, where his bat should play up and it should enable him to stay on the field more. He is aggressive, but you can count on 20+ home runs with very solid OBPs.

Carson Spiers, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Spiers was electric in relief for Brady Singer on Monday, tossing two innings with five strikeouts and one walk. He generated the most whiffs of any pitcher on Monday, grabbing eight on 19 swings.

The fastball averaged just 92 mph, but the high spin and carry helped it miss bats. But it was the kitchen sink approach that played well as Spiers threw his changeup, sweeper, and sinker all at least 18 percent of the time and mixed in a few cutters.

If he can find a role, Spiers could be interesting. While his results have not been good in the Majors, the stuff will play.

Brady Singer, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

I don’t wanna make much of nothing, especially a pitch mix on a 33-pitch sample, but Singer showed some encouraging things. He tossed two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and one walk on Tuesday against the Dodgers.

After using his sinker and slider 82 percent of the time in 2024, he used those two a combined 60 percent of the time yesterday. The four-seam usage jumped, but it was the sweeper and changeup usage that jumped that was most notable to me.

Singer struggles to get lefties out. Last year he allowed 15 home runs to left-handed bats and had a .291/.367/.488 slash against. He needs to be more effective against lefties. Using his four-seam most against them yesterday is notable, but he also featured the sweeper to their back feet and threw the changeup exclusively to lefties.

Singer added a cutter, which should help neutralize left-handed bats, and he used his four-seam more frequently, which is also a positive step. Singer has been written off after going to the Red due to Great American Ballpark. But a ground ball-heavy pitcher that could be more effective against lefties now has value.

Luinder Avila, RHP, Kansas City Royals

Avila is not a hyped pitching prospect in the Royals system, but he is someone I have really liked since seeing him in Single-A(Columbia). Tossing two innings on Monday, Avila did not allow a hit and walked just one batter, while striking out two. He generated four whiffs, three coming on his mid-80s curveball.

Having a tall and skinny frame, Avila still has some projection. He throws from a high three-quarters slot and gets good extension on all of his pitches. From a fastball perspective, Avila throws a sinker that sat 93-95 mph range last season but he sat 96 on Monday and topped at 98.5 mph. It gets 12-18 inches of arm-side run while showing inconsistent shape. He cuts some fastballs, and those get higher IVB than the sinker, but that variation lives in the same velocity band as the sinker.

Avila’s changeup is a lesser-used pitch, sitting in the mid-to-upper 80s with good depth and fading action. The curveball is Avila’s best secondary pitch, though. Sitting 79-82 mph previously, it sat 83-85 mph on Monday. the curve gets good depth with over ten inches of sweeping action.

Avila is a pitching prospect to know.

Steven Zobac, RHP, Kansas City Royals

After pitching primarily out of the bullpen at the University of California, Zobac came into the Royals' organization and looked like a viable starting pitcher. A former two-way player, Zobac remains a strong athlete who is a good mover on the mound and has continued to progress as a pitcher.

After throwing 70.2 innings in High-A in 2024, Zobac earned the bump to Double-A, where he continues to dominate. A 3.25 ERA backed by a 2.87 FIP in Double-A stands out, and Zobac saw the strikeout rate jump significantly.

Zobac pounds the strike zone with plus strike and zone rates, having a near 70 percent strike rate in 2024. With a fastball in the 92-95 mph range with both ride and run, Zobac will run it up and in on righties, getting plenty of whiffs. It has legit IVB, sitting nearly 20 inches. The interesting thing was, on Monday, Zobac also saw a big velocity jump and topped 97 mph and averaged 95 mph.

Previously throwing a sweeper, which generated a ton of horizontal movement and sitting 82-85, Zobac featured a more traditional slider shape which sat around 87 mph. After playing with a splitter at points, Zobac has focused more on a traditional changeup that sits in the mid-80s. It also saw a tick-up in velocity and had a more consistent movement profile than we previously saw.

Zobac is one of the best pitching prospects in the Royals org.

Joey Cantillo, LHP, Cleveland Guardians

Cantillo looked sharp against the Diamondbacks, tossing two scoreless innings with one hit, zero walks, and three strikeouts. He pounded the zone and landed 18 of his 21 pitches for strikes. That is very important for someone who has struggled with strike-throwing at times.

He mixed his pitches better than he previously had, using his four-seam less often. The three secondaries are all solid, starting with a changeup that tunnels exceptionally well with the fastball. It actually has a high IVB for a changeup but 12 inches of fade with a very low spin rate. These are all positive traits of a changeup, and the results showed that the pitch had a 50 percent whiff rate in 2024.

The curveball generates up to 66 inches of drop with sweeping action, sitting in the mid to upper 70s, while Cantillo’s slider has ride and sweep, missing bats at a high clip.

The big issue with Cantillo’s profile is the amount of strikes he throws, though the mark improved from 2023 to 2024. Still, Cantillo posted a 61 percent strike rate and walked nearly 12 percent of hitters. The arsenal is legit, but Cantillo must throw more strikes to stick as a starter. If strike-throwing takes another step in 2025, watch out.

Chase Dollander, RHP, Colorado Rockies

Dollander made his Cactus League debut on Monday and struck out three batters across two innings. He did allow a home run to Jung Hoo Lee, but other than that, he pitched extremely well and was missing bats.

Splitting time between High-A and Double-A in 2024, Dollander pitched 118 innings, posting a 2.59 ERA with 169 strikeouts and 47 walks. The FIP was quite impressive, as well, having a 2.92 mark while striking out 34 percent of batters and walking nine percent of hitters faced.

Dollander’s fastball is a true 70-grade offering. Among pitchers who threw 500 fastballs in the minors, only four had a swinging strike rate of 20 percent of higher, Dollander was one of them. He threw 1200 fastballs, generating a 21 percent swinging strike rate. It sat between 96 and 97, regularly touching triple digits. It comes in with an insanely flat -4 VAA with 16 inches of IVB from a 5’5” release height. Not to mention the pitch gets good arm-side movement, north of ten inches, often with strong location.

The curveball showed high spin and a beautiful two-plane break, missing bats at a high rate, sitting in the upper 70s. Dollander also works as a slider/cutter that sits around 88 mph but can touch 90. Dollander’s changeup is very underrated and plays very well against left-handed hitters, showing up to 20 inches of horizontal fade. He does not utilize it often, though.

Lazaro Montes, OF, Seattle Mariners

It was a big day for Montes, who showed a lot of good things at the plate. He walked twice and hit a mammoth home run off the batter’s eye in centerfield. There has never been any denying the kind of power that Montes brings to the table. It’s all about contact.

His swing generates natural loft, and he posted a 105 mph 90th percentile exit velocity in 2024, which is well above average.

The contact skills are the major question mark here. With a big frame and an aggressive swing, Montes does have holes. He ran a contact rate near 69 percent last year, but as the season wore on, he began to see more breaking balls, which ate him up. From July forward, Montes posted a 64 percent overall contact rate.

The other flaw is whiffs in the zone. A 74 percent in-zone contact rate is well below average. The chase rate of 27 percent is respectable. While a small sample, Montes showed some encouraging things in Monday’s action.

Oliver Dunn, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers infield may have a few positional battles brewing this spring, and Oliver Dunn wants to make sure he has a job. He singled to right and centerfield in his first two trips to the plate before hitting a sixth-inning home run.

After hitting just one home run in the majors last year, it was encouraging to see him get on the board early in February. The third base battle between Dunn, Caleb Durbin, and Tyler Black(currently injured), as well as the first base battle between Rhys Hoskins, Mark Canha, and Jake Bauers, are worth watching.