Spring Training Recap: March 5, 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.

Tuesday Exit Velocity Leaders

Tuesday Whiff Leaders

March 4 Spring Training Breakdown

Gavin Williams, RHP, Cleveland Guardians

Williams was electric on Tuesday, striking out six batters over 2.1 innings. He generated a daily best, 15 whiffs, while only walking one batter. After a strong rookie season in 2023, injuries limited Williams in 2024 and the results were quite sub-par.

This was the second straight start that it felt like Williams is primed for a breakout. Williams pounded the zone with his fastball, which he threw 40 times out of his 51 pitches, and generated 13 whiffs.

Williams sat 97 mph on his fastball and averaged 17 inches of IVB which is a two inch gain from his average in 2024. He also touched 21 inches of IVB which is crazy ride. He also averaged 12 inches of horizontal movement.

Williams also completely reworked his slider to now have much more depth and sweep, almost playing like a slurve. It sat 86.5 mph after averaging 88.6 last year.

The curveball was similar to what we had previously seen, and Williams threw just one changeup, which generated a whiff. Year three for Williams might be the charm in Cleveland, especially if he is healthy.

Roki Sasaki, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Sasaki’s spring debut could not have gone much better as he was dominant over three scoreless innings with five strikeouts and one walk. He generated eight whiffs on 17 swings and added nine more called strikes for a 37 percent CSW.

The fastball sat 98 mph with below average IVB from his 6’2” release point. The decline in IVB was something to watch coming stateside, and while it is not a major issue, it is something to watch. Velocity will allow the pitch to play well.

The splitter was downright nasty though and missed bats on 7 of the 8 swings against it. It averaged 86 mph and had good shape. The slider averaged 83 mph with 12 inches of horizontal movement.

From a statistical standpoint, there was not much more to ask for from Sasaki in his spring debut. It will be interesting to see how the fastball plays, but with the velocity is not a big worry. The splitter is something special though.

Chase Petty, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Petty was sharp in his inning of work last week and even better in his three innings of work on Tuesday. He struck out four batters and did not issue a walk in three innings of work. He allowed four hits and no walks, with the only damage coming via a Mookie Betts home run.

Petty leads the way with a dead-zone shaped sinker that has 13 inches of both IVB and run. The pitch averaged 97 mph on Tuesday, which was an improvement from 2024, and is notable considering he threw 51 pitches. It also showed more horizontal movement than previous seasons.

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. The velocity has jumped there, but also Savant misclassified the pitch quite a few times.

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.

Tylor Megill, RHP, New York Mets

Megill seems to have a reworked arsenal entering 2025. He struck out two batters over 2.2 innings, but generated just one whiff on 14 swings.

The four-seam fastball sat 96 mph and topped at 98.2 with similar shape to previous seasons. The sinker was also similar. The curveball averaged 82 mph and had six inches less of IVB depth and two inches less of sweeping action. The slider velocity was up and had much more carry than it did in 2024.

Megill is likely locked into a rotation spot with the Mets at this point due to the injuries of Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas. He is a sneaky grab late in drafts.

Landen Roupp, RHP, San Francisco Giants

Roupp is one of the bigger Spring Training breakouts and keeps getting better. Tuesday, it was 3.1 perfect innings with three strikeouts and five whiffs. It is now 8.1 scoreless innings for Roupp to this point. But it is Roupp’s arsenal that caught my eye.

The sinker averaged 19 inches of horizontal movement while sitting 93-94 mph. The horizontal movement was an improvement and Roupp creates a pretty solid approach angle on his sinker.

The curveball averaged 3000 rpm of spin with 19 inches of sweep and -6 inches of IVB. Roupp’s changeup sat in the 88-89 mph range with good depth and 16 inches of fading action.

Roupp is trying to take a rotation spot in San Francisco and looks to be excelling at the task. The stuff is very impressive.

Quinn Priester, RHP, Boston Red Sox

Priester tossed 2.2 innings on Tuesday, allowing just one earned run and walking one batter while striking out four. The lone damage was a Ji Hwan Bae home run in the third inning.

The arsenal is what was most impressive. Priester’s fastball sat 95 mph and topped at 97 mph. The shape on the sinker has improved with the pitch having more carry and 15 inches of horizontal movement.

Priester’s curveball showed improved depth and more of an 11-5 shape while sitting near 83 mph, a two mph jump. The cutter also had three more inches of IVB than previous seasons.

When the Red Sox traded one of their top prospects in Nick Yorke last season for Priester, they truly believed he could be a starter for them soon. It looks like that could be the case soon.

Spencer Jones, OF, New York Yankees

Jones mashed a 104.3 mph home run on Tuesday and added a 102.7 mph single and a 91.6 mph double. It was Jones’ second home run of Spring Training and while it would be easy to get excited about his slash, he is still rocking a contact rate around 60 percent this spring.

The power comes easy, as you might expect from a size frame, but the long limbs create some swing and miss. The 94 mph average exit velocity puts him among the best hitters in the minors in terms of exit velocity alone. His 90th percentile exit velocity is also incredibly high, just shy of 108 mph while topping out at 114 mph. The numbers from 2024 were extremely impressive.

Jones’s contact rates are the issue. He struck out 37 percent of the time in 2024 and struck out 200 times. His overall contact rate of 59 percent and in-zone contact rate of 67 percent are major issues. The good news is there are respectable chase rates, sitting better than average at 28 percent.

George Lombard, SS, New York Yankees

Lombard collected two hits on Tuesday, both singles, but one of them left the bat at 106.4 mph. Making a slight swing change, Lombard is staying inside the ball much better this spring. His upper half is not flying open early and the results are good.

Lombard slashed .231/.338/.334 for the 2024 season with five home runs and 32 extra-base hits. Lombard also stole 39 bases on 47 attempts. The underlying metrics have steadily improved all season. Lombard posted a 102.7 mph 90th percentile exit velocity and had an average exit velocity of 88.3 mph. The contact rates were not ideal, but they were fine, as he had a 73 percent contact rate and just a 76 percent in-zone contact rate. Lombard does show good plate discipline, having a 21 percent chase rate and a 12 percent walk rate in 2024.

Will Warren, RHP, New York Yankees

Warren’s third start of spring was equally as good as his first two. Striking out four batters over three innings with one hit and walk allowed a piece, the only damage was on a Max Kepler home run.

The four-seam fastball was sharp, missing three bats on eight swings. The sweeper was lethal again as Warren registered up to 21 inches of glove-side movement and averaged 3035 rpm of spin and was up to 3225.

Throughout the spring, Warren’s four-seam fastball has been his best bat missing pitch. He has located it well and sequenced his sinker well in the arsenal. The mid-80s changeup and his new-look 78 mph curveball looked good as well.

It is a small sample, but I am buying into what Warren is doing this spring. He has long been a strong arm who hit some bumps in the road in 2024. It looks like his offseason work paid off as the early returns are good.