Mining the News (2/20/26)

Syndication: Detroit Free Press

American League

Astros

• The team wants its young prospects to get full-time at-bats instead of sitting on the major league bench.

“I want some of these young players, if they’re not going to have the at-bats at the major-league level, going to Triple A and getting at-bats so we can finish their development,” manager Joe Espada said on Friday, reiterating a refrain he’s sung throughout his three-year managerial tenure. “I think that’s important.”

Houston’s current roster construction may not allow for such a luxury. Smith, Cole and Joey Loperfido — whom the Astros acquired in exchange for Sánchez — all have an inside track to the Opening Day roster, barring a total collapse during spring training. The three players have combined for 911 major-league plate appearances.

• Jake Meyers is the most likely center fielder, and another mention of Matthews playing in the outfield.

It’s difficult, though, to envision anyone but Meyers manning center field regularly, especially after an offensive breakthrough last season. Smith, Cole, Loperfido and Brice Matthews will all see Grapefruit League playing time in center field, Espada said, but more as part of a plan to increase the roster’s versatility.

• Zach Cole adjusted his posture to cover more of the plate.

Cole spent the winter adjusting his posture and now stands more over the plate in hopes of better covering the outer half of the strike zone.

Rays

• Richie Palacios is taking some third base reps.

The Rays are going to get Richie Palacios some third base reps this spring, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Palacios has mostly played second base and the outfield corners in his career. His third base experience consists of ten innings in 2024. Adding some more versatility could help him carve out a bench role, though he does have an option remaining. Junior Caminero will be Tampa’s regular at third but his defensive grades weren’t great, so it could make sense for him to occasionally serve as the designated hitter or be replaced by a better defender late in some games.

Royals

• Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr., Isaac Collins, or Jonathan India could lead off.

Asking Matt Quatraro today who might hit leadoff this year, he obviously did not tell me who will be the leadoff hitter, but he did list names and said he likes all of the "options" — Garcia, Witt, Collins, India. Even mentioned Vinnie Pasquantino has crossed his mind at times.

— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) February 15, 2026

• Jonathan India wants to level his swing.

India admits that Kauffman Stadium’s massive dimensions got in his head – especially after four years calling the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park home – and he probably changed his swing to try to hit for more power. Even with the walls moving in this year, India knows what he was doing last year is not a sustainable answer, so he worked out the mechanical flaws that had been exposed. He’s using his legs more and wants his swing to be more level to generate line drives.
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Above all else, India is healthy now, too, which helps after he battled injuries for a majority of last year along with a few late-season IL stints. He’s also solely focusing on second base instead of learning left field like he did last spring, and he feels more comfortable in the Royals organization a full year after the trade.

Tigers

• Kerry Carpenter pulled his hamstring four times last season.

Talking recently at his locker inside the team’s spring training facility, Carpenter revealed he pulled his hamstring four different times last season.

The first came on Easter Sunday, when Carpenter left a game after beating out a seventh-inning infield single. The Tigers went through the scans and gave Carpenter a couple of days off. They determined the injury was something he could play through. From the outside, Carpenter never looked quite right after the first pull. His speed was hampered. He looked to be fighting through pain. Turns out, that is not just because the initial hamstring pull lingered. Carpenter said he aggravated the hamstring against the Boston Red Sox in May and again a little more than two weeks later against the Kansas City Royals.

Yankees

• Gerrit Cole touched 97 mph with his fastball.

In his first at-bat, Cole struck out Grisham on a 95 mph fastball at the top of the zone. He then induced a groundball to second base from Judge. Domínguez had the hardest contact off Cole, a line drive that may have split the right- and center-field gap in regular-season action. Cole’s fastest pitch of the day was a 96.9 mph fastball, an encouraging sign that his velocity may not be negatively impacted when he eventually makes his season debut.

Cole is about 2 mph under his 2024 peak velocity (99.1 mph).

National League

Cardinals

• Dustin May worked on improving his changeup this offseason.

May was pleased to enter this camp at about 215 pounds. He is intrigued to see how his sparsely used changeup will look after he spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to improve it. He feels good at this point in the calendar for the first time in a long time. Now he’s out to prove that he can be the Dustin May of 2020 once again — even at his “old” age.

Cubs

• Dansby Swanson reworked his mech …. how he swings his bat.

Swanson joked that he is trying to remove the word “mechanics” from his vocabulary, but Kelly shed some light on a couple of tweaks on that front. One change is an adjustment to the shortstop’s setup, having the bat a little flatter on his shoulder. From there, they have worked on trying to keep Swanson’s bat in the strike zone longer.

• Ben Brown plans to add a sinker and changeup this season.

Brown went to Maven Baseball Lab in Atlanta and also worked with people in Nashville, near where he lives during the offseason.

“I developed a sinker and changeup this offseason,” Brown said. “It’s the same changeup grip, it’s a kick. For the first time, I feel really in control of it, especially since it’s a pitch I learned halfway through last year. So having a whole offseason to work on it (helps). The sinker is completely new. It’s never been used in a big-league game.”

• Jordan Wicks reworked his curveball and sinker. Also, he made a change to his windup to stay healthy.

Wicks adjusted a few of his pitches there as well. He tweaked his curveball grip, but said it was less about the grip and more about some cues he’s using to land it more in the zone and make it more competitive.
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Wicks slightly shifted the grip on his sinker, a pitch that he doesn’t use as often but still wants to find ways to incorporate.

“We were able to make it a little bit more seam-shifted,” Wicks said. “So now it has more sink to it. That’s what those guys are so good at, making a minor tweak that can make a big difference.”

Perhaps the biggest change was also a small one. It came in his delivery. When driving off his back foot, Wicks was pushing off his toe. He’s adjusted so he’s more in his heel, which allows him to be less quad-dominant and to sit in his glute. That has allowed him to move better, and he feels it could help contribute to better health while also getting more carry on his four-seam fastball.

• Shota Imanaga added some amount of velocity.

Counsell told us today in Mesa that Shota Imanaga’s throwing his fastball harder, is mostly a product of his hamstring being healthy. Counsell believes the injury created some bad mechanical issues while the pitcher compensated for the injury.

— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) February 19, 2026

Diamondbacks

• Tyler Locklear will return in mid-May.

Diamondbacks 1B Tyler Locklear’s timeline is looking like mid-May to June, per Torey Lovullo.

— Alex Weiner (@alexjweiner) February 15, 2026

Giants

• Carson Whisenhunt added a cutter …

Whisenhunt has opened eyes with a little more life on his fastball and a new cutter he’s enthused about.

… and is hitting “96-97 mph”.

Whisenhunt averaged 92.6 mph on his four-seam fastball in the Majors last year, but he turned heads by consistently hitting 96-97 mph while facing hitters on Thursday. The 25-year-old left-hander struck out three over two simulated innings — all with his signature changeup — and also showed off a new cutter/power slider that he’s excited about.
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Whisenhunt sat at 94-97 mph in the Minors in 2023, but his progress stalled after he suffered a season-ending left elbow injury in July of that season. He returned to the mound the following year, but he then dealt with a back strain that prevented him from reaching his top-end velocity in 2025.

Padres

• Randy Vásquez is likely in the rotation.

So… here’s where things stand in the rotation race: Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Michael King have secured the top three spots. The last two places are up for grabs, though Stammen has indicated that Randy Vásquez has “an inside track.”

Phillies

• Andrew Painter worked on his arm slot this offseason.

Painter returned to Cressey Sports Performance this offseason, and the arm slot was a priority. The Phillies were in agreement. Their assistant pitching coach, Mark Lowy, came from Cressey and worked with Painter over the winter. He wanted to backspin the ball more.

This spring, Painter’s arm slot is higher. “It looks significantly different than this time last year,” Cotham said. It is a more natural motion for the 6-foot-7 Painter. His fastball command has been better in camp bullpens. The real test is actual games; Painter is in his third big-league camp and joked that it’s about time he pitches in the Grapefruit League. He’s made only one appearance — March 1, 2023 — and did it with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.

Pirates

• Konnor Griffin won’t likely make the Opening Day roster.

Pirates manager Don Kelly to excellent Pittsburgh sportscaster Shelby Cassesse on Konnor Griffin cracking the Pirates opening day roster:

"It would be a tough ask. Keep in mind he's only had a handful of at-bats at Double-A."

That doesn't sound like Griffin will be here Day 1. pic.twitter.com/zgNJgOWzYL

— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) February 18, 2026