The game against Kansas City takes place a week tomorrow
With the D-backs not playing until tonight (a split-squad double bill), this is something to talk about. As last year, part of spring training involves a “Breakout” game, in which teams send out a squad of prospects to face off against each other. Think of it as a team-based version of the Futures Game from the All-Star festivities. These will happen from March 13th through the 16th, with the D-backs taking on the Royals on Friday March 14th. The game will follow the major-league spring game at Salt River Fields, with an expected first pitch of 5:10 pm, and will come as a free bonus if you’re in attendance for that. It’ll then be shown on the MLB Network early Saturday morning, beginning at 7 am Eastern.
It’s definitely more than a token scrimmage, with teams sending a lot of their best. Among the sixty-five players selected in the first two rounds of the 2024 MLB Draft, sixty will play in the Spring Breakout, including all but one of the thirty first round selections. Last year’s rosters included the main who’d go on to be NL Rookie of the Year, Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, as well as Jackson Chourio, Dylan Crews, Jackson Holliday, James Wood, and Masyn Winn. This year for Arizona, you’ll get to see more than half of our top ten prospects (most of the others are playing with the big boys!), including second-ranked Demetrio Crisantes and third-placed Slade Caldwell. Here’s the full roster for the D-backs:
Pitchers
- Phil Abner, LHP
- Yordin Chalas, RHP (#17 prospect on MLB Pipeline)
- Luke Craig, LHP
- Daniel Eagen, RHP (#16)
- Connor Foley, RHP (#23)
- Spencer Giesting, LHP (#18)
- Sam Knowlton, RHP
- Dylan Ray, RHP (#20)
- Zane Russell, RHP
Catchers
- Alberto Barriga (#27)
- Christian Cerda
- Ivan Luciano (#28)
Infielders
- Demetrio Crisantes (#2)
- JD Dix (#12)
- LuJames Groover (#10)
- Jansel Luis (#9)
- Ivan Melendez
- Ruben Santana
- Yassel Soler (#15)
- Cristofer Torin (#14)
- Tommy Troy (#8)
Outfielders
- Slade Caldwell (#3)
- Gavin Conticello (#24)
- Jack Hurley
- Druw Jones (#7)
- Anderdson Rojas
- Ryan Waldschmidt (#6)
Should be fun. Anyone you’ll be especially interested in seeing?