Spring Training Recap: February 28, 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. From the top prospects performers to players with pitch mix changes and more, I break it down.

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 27 Spring Training Recap

Marcelo Mayer, SS, Boston Red Sox

Starting off the writeup today with Marcelo Mayer, who was feeling it on Thursday and ended the day just a double shy of the cycle. Mayer hit a home run and scorched a 104 mph triple that hit off the wall and traveled 408 feet to dead center field.

After a shoulder injury derailed Mayer’s 2023 season, a hip injury and a lumbar strain limited him to just 77 games in 2024 and kept him from playing after his promotion to Triple-A. Selected fourth overall in the 2021 draft, many saw Mayer as the top prospect in that year’s draft, but he fell in the Red Sox lap at fourth overall. We have not seen Mayer actualize his potential, strictly due to not being on the field consistently. Over the last three years, Mayer has averaged just 82 games played per year.

Mayer has a strong frame for a shortstop with smooth actions in the field. At the plate, he shows a simple setup and a direct path to the ball with a solid feel for the barrel. His quick hands help generate plenty of bat speed, which took a step forward in 2024. The swing plane can be steep sometimes, leading to a high ground ball rate, which sat at 48 percent in 2024.

For a third straight season, his power progressed. Mayer’s 90th percentile exit velocity jumped to 106.5 mph, and he maxed out at 115. Despite the exit velocity jump, Mayer hit just eight home runs in 335 plate appearances due to his batted ball distribution. The ground ball rate spiked, and Mayer also saw his line drive rate take a healthy jump to 26 percent, but the fly ball rate fell to just 27 percent.

Riley Greene, OF, Detroit Tigers

Greene blasted a 112 mph home run to left-center field on Thursday to give him three hits this spring in four at-bats, including a home run. It could be a huge breakout year for Greene and this is what I wrote about him previously this offseason:

I am probably higher on Greene than most, but health permitting, Greene could ascend to a high-level dynasty asset. A three-year improvement in launch angles led to a career-low 43.6 percent ground ball in 2024, and the results came.

Greene mashed 24 home runs across 584 plate appearances while slashing .262/.348/.479. There has also been a three-year improvement on Greene’s chase rate as he lowered it to a strong 23 percent mark in 2024. The contact skills are inconsistent at times, but Greene’s zone-contact rate was right at the MLB average.

The power is impressive, though. People are quick to dismiss Greene because Comerica Park is quite pitcher-friendly. Greene showed in 2024 his power could transcend the ballpark as he mashed ten home runs at home in 245 plate appearances and 14 on the road in 267. A .265/.336/.490 slash at home and a .258/.359/.468 slash on the road will absolutely play.

Greene’s 96.4 mph average exit velocity on fly balls certainly helps, and he averaged north of 100 mph on pulled fly balls. A 107 mph 90th percentile exit velocity and a 114 mph max show there is 30+ home run power in his bat, no matter where he plays his home games. The barrel rate improvement year-over-year stands out and his 13.4 percent mark in 2024 was 90th percentile for all MLB hitters.

The question marks surround his ability to hit lefties and stay healthy. The power against lefties is pretty equal to his ability against righties. The slash lines are notably different, but a .698 OPS against lefties is not going to put you in a platoon. From an injury standpoint, Greene missed time with a fibula fracture in 2023, and he later had Tommy John Surgery that year. A hamstring injury caused him to miss nearly a month in 2024. Staying on the field will be important for a Riley Greene breakout in 2025.

Anthony Volpe, SS, New York Yankees

Volpe blasted a 110 mph home run, a new max exit velocity for him. While some on social said it was not a big deal, because 110 is not all that hard, it is important to remember that Volpe made swing changes that resulted in increased bat speed last year.

Who even is Anthony Volpe at this point? During his rookie season, Volpe mashed 21 home runs and stole 24 bases. A 20/20 season from a 22-year-old rookie will play. While it came with bad contact skills and a .209/.283/.383 slash line, Volpe provided a ton of value in the field.

In 2024, Volpe traded power for contact, seeing his overall contact rate jump six percentage points and his zone-contact rate improve by two percentage points. In the process, Volpe’s average exit velocity dropped a tick, but his barrel rate fell by five percentage points, largely due to a jump in ground ball rate.

If you look at his Baseball Savant profile, you probably wonder why I am writing up Volpe in the breakout column. A mechanical tweak in the swing led to an improved postseason for Volpe. He began starting more squatted and with his hands lower, looking to be in a more comfortable position. His head moved much less and things improved.

While Volpe did not dominate the postseason, he still had four extra-base hits and a .286/.407/.408 slash in 14 games. The bat speed increased by two mph, and his hard-hit rate jumped by nearly 20 percentage points. Can it carry over into 2025? That is to be determined, but I would take my chances.

Adam Mazur, RHP, Miami Marlins

Mazur tossed two innings of one-run ball on Thursday, striking out three batters. He generated an impressive 38 percent whiff rate and had a 41 percent CSW.

After a very strong start to the 2024 season in Double-A, Mazur spent 33.2 innings in the Majors with the Padres, which did not go well. After returning to Triple-A, Mazur struggled and seemingly lost his confidence. The Padres traded Mazur to the Marlins in the Tanner Scott deal. While his time in Triple-A Jacksonville had some bumpy starts, it was overall positive.

The Marlins changed his pitch usage pretty substantially. Here are the results:

While the pitch mix did change, his release point also changed. After being on the first base side of the rubber with the Padres, he moved a little closer to first base immediately after the trade. It seems like the Marlins saw something before the August 21 start. His horizontal release point moved over a foot toward the third base side.

The changes were even better on Thursday as Mazur led with his slider and threw his curve and changeup more than the four-seam. We are looking up!

In the process, his fastball began to get more IVB and horizontal movement, sitting around 95 mph. The slider also played up, sitting around 87 mph with a slight gyro shape. The low-80s curveball had its usual depth at negative ten IVB but added more glove-side movement.

Mazur’s changeup had more carry and more horizontal movement, and the increased sinker usage played a big factor as it saw increased IVB and more horizontal movement. The changes in the arsenal could be the key to Mazur’s future success as a starting pitcher in the MLB.

Mazur landed 66 percent of his pitches for strikes, an above-average mark, while missing bats at a solid clip. He posted a 13.4 percent swinging strike rate while having a 28 percent CSW. Given the changes and a full offseason with Miami, I am buying in.

Zack Wheeler, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Ho hum, Wheeler looked like an ace. There is not much that needs to be said here. He should be as reliable as they come for 2025 and even maybe the next few years. Wheeler’s velocity was up on all pitches and he showed some tweaks to pitch shapes. He generated a 33 percent whiff rate and CSW a piece.

Eric Reyzelman, RHP, New York Yankees

Reyzelman looks like a legit relief pitching prospect. He pitched just 38 innings during the 2024 season, but put up an absurd 1.16 ERA with 63 strikeouts. He generated five whiffs on eight swings and averaged 97 mph on his fastball with 16 inches of IVB and 10 inches of horizontal movement.

The changeup sat 82 mph with 16 inches of arm-side movement. Reyzelman also dumped in two sliders with solid depth and 20 inches of sweeping action. This is a legit arsenal and someone that could pitch in the Yankees bullpen this year.

Clay Holmes, RHP, New York Mets

Holmes did it again, and looks to be transitioning to the rotation quite fine. He threw three scoreless innings with one hit and walk allowed a piece. He struck out two batters and generated three whiffs, but had an impressive 33 percent CSW.

Throwing three new pitches in his slider cutter, changeup, and slider, Holmes has six legit pitches in his arsenal. The sinker looks good still and is playing well with his four-seam fastball which has legit traits. The sweeper is averaging 15-17 inches of horizontal movement and the kick-changeup is a dirty pitch that is going to miss a ton of bats.

How many innings does Holmes get this year? You hope he can get to 140, but 120-130 might be more realistic. Regardless, they should be very good innings.

Brett Baty, 3B, New York Mets

Baty always seems to pull people in before ultimately breaking their hearts. Let’s hope things are different this spring. Mashing his second home run of the spring, it was a shot, leaving the bat at 109 mph at a 21 degree launch angle.

Making some slight adjustments to his stance, Baty hopes to lift the ball more, as ground balls have plagued him for his career despite the solid exit velocity data. Can he earn a role with the Mets? Or does a trade find him every day playing time? Keep an eye on Baty this spring.

Brandon Pfaadt, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks

Pfaadt tossed two scoreless innings on Thursday with one-hit allowed and two strikeouts. That was not what was interesting though. Pfaadt changed his arm-angle and release height, seeing the arm-angle jump from 28 to 43 degrees, raising his release height by six inches.

The fastball played differently, having less IVB and less horizontal movement. The VAA was not as good, but Pfaadt did change his HAA which actually helps how the pitch plays. The sinker is the pitch we want to see more of though. It generated 16 inches of arm-side movement with eight inches of IVB. The sweeper and changeup both looked very strong.

Pfaadt has consistently been an innings eater, but has been beaten by home runs. If he can solve that issue, which could be done by the changes in the fastball shape, Pfaadt could be a mid-rotation starter.

Chase Petty, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Petty was sharp in his inning of work on Thursday, generating three whiffs and showing his deep arsenal of pitches. Petty leads the way with a dead-zone shaped sinker that has 13 inches of both IVB and run. The pitch averaged 96 mph on Thursday, which was an improvement from 2024, but likely due to the inning of work. His slider is the primary used secondary, having a gyro shape with four inches of arm-side movement and two inches of IVB. The pitch was his highest whiff rate of any offering in 2024, sitting between 87 and 88 mph.

While Petty primarily uses two pitches, he will use a changeup pretty much exclusively to left-handed hitters. It sits in a similar velocity band to the slider with heavy arm-side fade, averaging around 17 inches.

On the surface, it looked like a pretty sub-par year for Petty in 2024, logging 137 innings, but posting a 4.20 ERA with 130 strikeouts to 59 walks. The 3.86 FIP suggests he pitched better than the ERA indicated, but the fact that someone with Petty’s stuff struck out just 22 percent of hitters is a bit disappointing.

As the year went on, Petty did improve as he posted a 3.31 ERA over his final 13 starts. The strikeout rate jumped to 23.7 percent over that span but it still came with a walk rate north of ten percent. Petty’s swinging strike rate of 14.2 percent was slightly above-average and he did throw strikes right at a league-average clip, which is positive.

Sebastian Walcott, SS, Texas Rangers

Walcott blasted a 107.2 mph home run that traveled 383 deet and smoked a ground out at 102.3 mph. The fact he is holding his own in big league Spring Training is impressive, but it should not be a surprise given how well Walcott handled High-A and Double-A last year as an 18-year-old.

If you crafted the body of a future star player in a lab, Walcott is what they would look like. Standing at 6’4”/190, Walcott won’t turn 19 until Spring Training 2025 is nearly over, yet he has already reached Double-A. The Rangers have been aggressive with him, sending him from the complex to High-A after he signed in January 2023, and then Walcott spent nearly all of 2024 with High-A Hickory before ending the year in Double-A.

After some struggles out of the gate, and to no one’s surprise, Walcott progressed all year and wound up slashing .265/.344/.452 with 11 home runs, 34 doubles, and nine triples. He stole 27 bases and was caught just eight times. While some reports have quickly written him off as a shortstop, Walcott shows impressive range there and has smooth actions with a big arm.

While the 25.6 percent strikeout rate is a bit concerning and the contact rates, don’t paint a pretty picture, things improved. Over his final three months, Walcott struck out less than 23 percent of the time. The contact rate finished the year at 67 percent and his in-zone mark was a below-average 78 percent. Walcott chased pitches out of the zone at a 27 percent clip. When examining these marks, it is important to remember that he was an 18-year-old in High-A and Double-A

The power and athleticism are off the charts, though. Walcott’s 90th percentile exit velocity of 106 mph was top of the scale for his age, and he paired it with an impressive 116.3 mph max. Nearly 60 percent of Walcott’s batted balls were in the air, and his pull percentage of balls in the air was 90th percentile for all hitters.

Walcott legit looks like a future star.

Landen Roupp, RHP, San Francisco Giants

Roupp is flying under the radar big time, as he looked dominant in his second start. After two scoreless innings with one walk and three strikeouts in his first start, Roupp tossed three scoreless innings with five strikeouts and no walks. He allowed just one hit. Roupp’s arsenal is what caught my eye.

The sinker averaged 17 inches of horizontal movement while sitting near 93-94 mph. The curveball averaged 3000 rpm of spin with 18 inches of sweep and -8 inches of IVB. Roupp’s changeup sat in the 88-89 mph range with good depth and 16 inches of fading action. He even threw a more generic shaped slider. It is a solid arsenal of pitches for Roupp.

Roupp is a name to keep an eye on for the Giants rotation and could have a huge impact.

Bryce Miller, RHP, Seattle Mariners

Miller debuted a new changeup and splitter to an already impressive arsenal of pitches. On top of that, his fastball averaged 97 mph and topped at 98 mph with the elite IVB we are used to. He showed a sinker with 16 inches of arm-side run. The cutter averaged 92 mph with legit pitch metrics.

He literally keeps getting better and looks to build on an impressive 2024 season in which he posted a 2.94 ERA in 180 innings of work. If he improves on the 24.3 percent strikeout rate, he just might be an ace.

Luis Matos, OF, San Francisco Giants

Matos Vatos! It may be too soon to write off Matos, and if he finds himself breaking out, DonHD in the Discord told you so. Just turning 23 years old, there is still plenty to like in Matos’ profile. The hit tool is impressive and even though the approach needs to be cleaned up, he makes it work by how much contact he makes.

While it was just one hit, a double, on Thursday, Matos had three batted ball events 104.6 mph or higher, topping out at 108.4 mph. He just missed a home run on that double, which traveled 414 feet to dead-center. Matos just missed a fourth hard-hit, having a 94.3 mph exit velocity.

Maybe it is time to buy the dip on Matos, a format top prospect.

Caden Dana, RHP, Los Angeles Angels

Dana dominated across three perfect innings on Thursday, in which he had three strikeouts. The stuff looked strong as the fastball got up to 95 mph and his slider and changeup looked strong.

Dana may have been drafted in the 11th round of the 2022 draft but received a massive overslot bonus of $1.5 million. After a strong 2023 season, Dana went to Double-A, where he was a horse, pitching 135.2 innings across 23 starts while posting a 2.52 ERA and a sub-one WHIP. He struck out 27.5 percent of batters while walking just seven percent. Dana went six or more innings in 14 of his starts and seven or more in seven starts.

On the mound, Dana throws a fastball in the mid-90s, up to 97 mph, with a ton of life up in the zone. When he locates it consistently up in the zone, he gets plenty of swings and misses due to high spin and 17 inches of IVB.

The slider sits in the mid-80s with six inches of sweeping action, and Dana is comfortable throwing it to both lefties and righties. The curveball shows more downward movement with a late break when he snaps it off. It averages 67 inches of vertical drop with a near 12-6 shape.

Most of Dana’s pitches show high spin rates, except the changeup, which is a good thing. While not throwing it often, it did show a nice fade away from lefties and has the potential to be a whiff pitch for him while sitting around 85 mph.

Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, Baltimore Orioles

Rodriguez tossed 1.2 perfect innings, striking out two batters. He modified his delivery to put less stress on his lat and the results have been paying off.

A former 11th overall pick and top pitching prospect in the game, 2025 is the year we finally see Rodriguez fully break out. A lat strain ended Rodriguez’s 2024 season in July and might have kept him from fully breaking out then. Across 116.2 innings, Rodriguez posted a 3.86 ERA with ERA indicators that were lower, and Rodriguez struck out 26.5 percent of hitters and walked just seven percent.

Rodriguez's fastball has strong traits, sitting 96 mph with 16 inches of IVB from a 5’5” release height. Getting 7’3” of extension, Rodriguez creates a very flat VAA of -4.2, which is near elite. The 27 percent whiff rate on the pitch was very strong and has room for a higher whiff rate.

There are three strong secondaries as well in a changeup, slider, and curveball. The changeup sits at 83 mph with very strong traits, and it produced a 35 percent whiff rate and 36 percent chase rate.

The slider and curve are distinct pitches, sitting at 86 and 81 mph, respectively. The curve has a beautiful two-plane break with negative ten inches of IVB and eight inches of sweep. The slider has a late horizontal break, averaging around five inches of sweep.

Robert Hassell III, OF, Washington Nationals

Hassell collected three hits on Thursday, including a double. The former top prospect has eight hits in 14 trips to the plate this spring, including a home run. Many think he is back, and we can certainly hope, but I am more skeptical. Hassell also put up decent numbers in the Arizona Fall League, but when you watch, it is hard to see him actually looking like a major breakout or bounce-back.

Maybe Hassell proves me wrong, I hope he does. He was my first big interview I did and knows the game well. He has the speed element, but the hit tool and exit velocities are lacking.

Triston McKenzie, RHP, Cleveland Guardians

McKenzie looked back to his old-self, sadly. He walked five batters in two-thirds of an inning and allowed three runs to score. The velocity is still up as he averaged 94.5 mph after sitting 91 last year. The walks were a major issue and McKenzie is fighting for a spot in the rotation. This outing will not help his case.