Michael Pineda (SP - NYY) - Michael Pineda made his first start of the spring for the Yankees on Friday and performed pretty well. He only pitched two innings but he struck out four batters. Catcher Brian McCann was quoted after the game saying that "his slider was pretty much unhittable". During his rookie year, Pineda's fastball velocity sat between 94-96 MPH. On Friday, he was clocked closer to 91-93 MPH. Pineda's swinging strike percentage of about 12% in his rookie year coupled with a walk rate below 8% make him an enticing late round flier. He's a high risk/high reward type of guy but there's definitely potential for high strikeout numbers from the former top prospect, if he can regain his form.George Springer (OF-HOU) - Despite an OBP of .368, George Springer has just 1 hit in 13 spring at-bats. One of the Astros' top prospects, Springer hit 37 HRs with 45 SBs with a slash line of .303/.411/.600 between Double-A and Triple-A last season. Springer's power/speed combo should translate to fantasy relevance once he's called up to the big leagues in the middle of this year. He posted a ridiculous ISO of .315 in 62 games at Triple-A to go along with an 88% stolen base success rate. Springer still needs to work on reducing his strikeouts but he has shown double-digit walk rates at each level in the minor leagues. Don't expect to see Springer earlier than June, however. The Astros are in no rush to start his arbitration clock. Manny Machado (3B -BAL) - Coming off a gruesome knee injury in September last year, Machado has been rehabbing for most of the spring. While he isn't expected to be cleared for games for at least another week or two, Machado has been stepping up his activities recently and the Orioles haven't ruled out the possibility he will be ready for opening day. The third baseman got off to a great start last year, hitting 7 HRs, 57 RBIs, and .310/.337/.470 before the all-star break. Machado's sharp decrease in his LD rate in the second half from 24% to 16% could be partly responsible for the drop-off in some of his numbers. His power is still developing, as he's mainly a doubles hitter as opposed to a homerun hitter rightnow. A 6% jump in his contact rate bodes well for continued success in batting average.| David Murphy (OF - CLE). Murphy signed with Cleveland as a free agent after a horribly disappointing final season in Texas, in which Murphy slashed a weak .220/.282/.374. Murphy should post better numbers in 2014, given that his BA was dragged down by a .227 BABIP, which was almost 80 points lower than his career rate. Murphy's other peripherals (12.4% K rate, .154 ISO, 19.3 line drive % and 9.2% HR/FB rate) were generally in line with his career numbers, so his results in 2013 can be summed up simply as bad luck on balls in play. |
Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs:
