Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
• MLB.com surveyed several front office personnel for rookie of the year candidates. I’d recommend going through the picks since these are likely to be solid options to be productive with an early promotion.
Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (MLB No. 5) had an outstanding first full season of pro ball after being the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 Draft, splitting the year between Double-A and Triple-A and posting a combined .306/.421/.510 slash line with 17 homers and 23 steals. Some were surprised he didn’t get a late-season audition in St. Louis, but you have to figure his bat will work its way into that lineup sooner rather than later. He’s played three infield positions, which should help give the big league staff options for him to make the Opening Day roster.
American League
Guardians
• A reminder that Bo Naylor tweaked his swing towards the end of last season.
Manager Stephen Vogt has insisted the tweaks Naylor made to his swing started to bear fruit by September. That month, he posted a .290/.324/.548 slash line. Hedges, who signed a $4 million deal for the third straight winter, is in line to be the club’s fifth-highest-paid player.
Rangers
• Jacob Latz will get stretched out as a starter.
GM Ross Fenstermaker said at the Winter Meetings that [Latz is] building up to be a starter, but potentially continue to be used in a swingman type role by the time Opening Day rolls around. I think he’ll be one of the more interesting players to watch in Spring Training as the staff figures out the best way to use him.
Red Sox
• Wilyer Abreu will get a chance to face lefties to start the season.
“I truly believe that this year … and I probably said it before … with Willy and some of the lefties, we have to see if they can do it,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora.
By “do it,” Cora means getting the job done against left-handed pitchers. Refsnyder was a security blanket of sorts for the Sox.
Though Romy Gonzalez has become almost as effective as a platoon lefty masher, he gets most of his reps in the infield. Refsnyder’s departure clearly leaves an opportunity in the outfield.
“It’s about that time, especially with Abreu,” said Cora. “And if he can hit lefties and hit for power and play defense the way he’s done the last few years, he can be the guy.”
…
“We need to have Wilyer figure out lefties. We’re going to push him to do that and I truly believe he can do that,” Cora told the Section 10 podcast earlier this offseason.
Twins
• Eric Wagaman will be a short-side platoon bat.
There are a few things that likely drew the Twins to Wagaman, not the least of which is that he’d be minimum-salaried in the majors and still has minor-league options, meaning he can be stashed at Triple-A St. Paul as in-season depth if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster.
And within last year’s poor overall production, Wagaman hit .283/.321/.462 against left-handed pitching. It was a similar story in the minors, where he hit .328/.379/.541 off lefties in 2024. For a lineup that’s always long on lefty corner bats, the righty-swinging Wagaman could fit in a platoon role.
Wagaman is 6-foot-4 with below-average speed, so he’s limited defensively, but he does have experience playing all four corner spots. He could platoon at first base with Kody Clemens, pushing the weak-gloved Bell to DH, and he could be paired with Matt Wallner or Trevor Larnach in the outfield.
White Sox
• Sean Newcomb will get a shot to make the rotation.
To take that idea one step further, Newcomb will have the Spring Training chance to feature that same unofficial position as part of the White Sox rotation.
“He’s going to come in and compete for a starting job, a job in the rotation I should say, which we are really excited about,” said manager Will Venable during a Wednesday Zoom. “We know he had some success in both the starting role and the reliever role, so he is capable of doing both, but he’s going to be in that mix for a starting-rotation job, and we are excited to help support him.”
“I’ve always been a starter, starter mentality,” said Newcomb on the Zoom call. “Over the past few years up in the big leagues, I’ve done a lot out of the ‘pen, but even those outings I’ve had a lot of three-, four-plus innings outings. So, it’s kind of the same mentality for me, just be ready to attack a lineup once or twice, three times through if it gets to that point with five or six innings.”
National League
Cubs
• Jordan Wicks is working on a curveball.
Giants
• Tyler Mahle has been dealing with shoulder issues since 2021 …
Mahle missed three months with right shoulder fatigue last year, but he returned to make two starts in September and said he hasn’t felt this healthy since 2021, when he recorded a 3.75 ERA over a career-high 33 starts for the Reds.
“It was big to make those last two starts and show that I was healthy going into the offseason,” Mahle said during a Zoom call with reporters. “I took a few weeks off after the season and then started throwing again, and it’s felt amazing since. I honestly haven’t felt this good — knock on wood — since probably that 2021 season.”
… and is working on a new breaking ball.
Mahle has a four-pitch mix that includes a four-seam fastball and a splitter, though he said he’s working on developing a new breaking ball that will help him become even tougher on right-handed hitters.
“We’ve been working on that,” Mahle said. “It’s looking good. I definitely think I can pick up where I left off [from 2025].”
