2026 Exhibition Spring Games

[Tiger337]

20 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Not with Keith signed for long term. Its his position in '26. Maybe next year when Torres may be gone. Or if Keith gets hurt...

Keith and Torres were on the roster last year too and they didn't use Keith at third until later in the year and even then he alternated between 3b and DH.  He'll probably get the majority of at bats at 3B to start the season, but I wouldn't say he was rock solid at the position.  

Edited 2 hours ago by Tiger337

[Tiger337]

11 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Nobody ever makes a team with a strong spring...OK. 👍

They can make the team by showing real improvement in skills over past years.  If they have good numbers, but they don't show pysical readiness, they won't make the team.  Often times both will happen at the same time.     

[Tiger337]

x

Edited 2 hours ago by Tiger337

[Longgone]

34 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Nobody ever makes a team with a strong spring...OK. 👍

If Clark goes 6 for 20 and catches every ball, he's still the same player, with the same abilities, at the same level of development, and he'd be in the exact same situation. The coaches understand this and are not basing their judgements on superficial stats.

Same with McGonigle, if he was hitting a buck fifty, but showing the same abilities and development, he'd be in the same position.

Edited 1 hour ago by Longgone

[Sports_Freak]

38 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

They can make the team by showing real improvement in skills over past years.  If they have good numbers, but they don't show pysical readiness, they won't make the team.  Often times both will happen at the same time.     

And sometimes if it's an open competition at a position of need.

[Sports_Freak]

43 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Keith and Torres were on the roster last year too and they didn't use Keith at third until later in the year and even then he alternated between 3b and DH.  He'll probably get the majority of at bats at 3B to start the season, but I wouldn't say he was rock solid at the position.  

Was it his arm still recovering from injuries? I seem to remember fans saying he had a weak arm last season. 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

Was it his arm still recovering from injuries? I seem to remember fans saying he had a weak arm last season. 

IIRC -He hurt his shoulder going into a base while still in the minors so they swapped him and Jung 2nd and third because the shoulder. At the time they said it could take a year or two for it to regain full strength, if it did. So he was tooling along as a 2B then they signed Torres but also figured Tork was toast so he was a 1b, and then when when Tork wasn't, it was  - well share the ABs as best we can, and then finally: "Well how is the arm doing now? Try 3rd again" Last year once they put him back there he seemed to be throwing OK and there were no issues, so he is back where he started. He doesn't have anything like a cannon, but he gets rid of the ball quick and he's accurate.

I'm guessing some people got a little misled looking at statcast data because you just don't try to throw max effort at 2b so his throwing velo looked pretty low, but at third he was  hitting upper 80s, and with regular throwing there who knows he might loosen up and be able to add to that.

Edited 12 minutes ago by gehringer_2