Spring training stories are heating up.
Diamondbacks News
Merrill Kelly, Ryne Nelson Encouraged by Strong Debuts
Kelly returned to the mound after an injury-marred 2024. His velocity was up and there was more life on the fastball. The Diamondbacks are going to need more of that in 2025. Ryne Nelson also debuted and was touching 97 with his fastball, giving the Snakes some heat in the battle for the team’s #5 starter.
“It feels good coming out of my hand,” Kelly said. “It has all spring. I’ve heard some comments from some coaches, they say I look good. They say it looks like I’m putting more effort into it, which I’m not trying to do, so I’m going to take that as a good sign. Not trying to get ahead of myself and think that I’m going to throw 97 during the season. But if we’re hitting [Friday’s] numbers with the effort I’m putting out, it’s definitely an encouraging sign.”
Corbin Carroll’s Minor Tweaks Paying Off Big
Corbin Carroll made some minor adjustments to his batting stance in the offseason. The result is that, while staying compact and short to the ball, he has found a way to generate yet more power without selling out the swing.
Trey Mancini Giving Baseball Another Shot
The cancer survivor and one-time World Series champion took a year off from baseball to reflect. Then, he decided he wasn’t quite done with the game. Now he’s in camp with the Diamondbacks on a non-roster invite, looking to push Pavin Smith to the bench, which will be difficult, as Smith is out of options.
Pfaadt Giving His Best for 5th Starter Slot
It is still early days, but there exists a non-zero chance that last season’s team leader in starts and innings pitched could find most of his opportunities for inning s in 2025 coming from the mound in Reno. This is likely the last season he’ll be competing for starting innings for some time though, as his time has come and the time for others in the rotation is coming to a close.
Other Baseball News
Out of Options 2025
with roster battles starting to heat up across the league, this is a good time to check in on who is out of options. The Diamondbacks enter this spring with three such players. Two of them are almost certainties to be kept on the 26-man roster.
Dinelson Lamet, Socrates Brito Sign with Mexican League’s Águila De Veracruz
After a successful three-year stint in Korea, there was plenty of speculation that old friend Brito would be returning to the States on a minor league deal with an invite to spring. That seems to not have materialized. So, the lefty-hitting outfielder will take his talents south of the border to play in Mexico now.
Did anyone make sure that ball had its passport?
This is where Samuel Basallo’s home run landed
h/t: @ByMattWeyrich https://t.co/WDZprtbL5U pic.twitter.com/W2FekwM9rO
— MLB (@MLB) February 28, 2025
Ohtani Allays Shoulder Fears with First At-Bat Home Run
Shohei Ohtani smashed a first-inning home run off of Yusei Kikuchi in his first at-bat of the spring after having offseason treatment on the labrum he injured in Game 2 of te World Series. Because of course he did.
How the Red Sox Built Spring Training’s Best Prospect Trio
Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer are taking baseball by storm with their hitting acumen and their somewhat new approach to hitting in general that is playing out in real-time as the Red Sox try to find a new path forward to success.