Latest news with #SpringBreakoutGame
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Veteran: Red Sox' Roman Anthony ‘the best minor league hitter I've ever seen'
BOSTON — Abraham Toro, who the Red Sox called up from Triple-A Worcester on Saturday, has seen hundreds of talented young players while appearing in 526 minor league games over nine seasons. Toro played in a loaded Astros farm system. He was teammates on the 2019 Triple-A Round Rock Express with Kyle Tucker before the then-top 10 MLB Pipeline prospect was a September call-up. Tucker has gone on to become a three-time All-Star with a career .876 OPS. Advertisement But Toro said Red Sox 20-year-old outfield prospect Roman Anthony has stood out to him offensively like nobody else. 'I don't say this lightly — I think he's the best minor league hitter I've ever seen," said Toro, who has played for five different organizations and appeared in 28 games for the WooSox to begin the 2025 season. 'I think he can be an absolute star in MLB. It just shows what he's doing.' Anthony is batting .305 with a .419 on-base percentage, .514 slugging percentage, .933 OPS, five homers, five doubles, one triple, 17 RBIs, 22 runs, 22 walks and 26 strikeouts in 29 games (129 plate appearances) for Worcester. 'He's patient,' Toro said. 'The way he's hitting it the other way, he's going to be a star one day.' Advertisement In addition to his extensive minor league resume, Toro has appeared in 366 major league games for the Astros, Mariners, Brewers, Athletics and Red Sox. 'The thing that impressed me the most is you don't see young guys going that often for power to the opposite field,' Toro said. 'And he stays there. And he's not really trying to pull the ball. Whenever he does, it's kind of like by accident.' Anthony, a left-handed hitter, has pulled one home run to right field this season, a 412-foot, 109.6-mph blast. He has driven two home runs to left-center field and one to left field. His other blast went to center field. Advertisement He ripped his triple (413 feet with a 100.6 mph exit velocity) to center field. Three of his five doubles have gone to the opposite field in left. He also has doubled to center field. And so of his 11 extra-base hits, nine have traveled either to the opposite field or center. 'If he can pull the ball more often, he'll just be one of the best players,' Toro said. Anthony hits it far and hard when he does pull the ball. He had a 114 mph homer to right field last year. That was the highest exit velocity in the organization in 2024. He also had a 110 mph blast to right field in the Spring Breakout Game in March right after a heckler chanted 'overrated' at him. Advertisement His exit velocities are off the charts. All 11 extra-base hits have had an exit velocity over 100 mph — and eight have left his bat with over 105 mph. Anthony has 'very strong and consistent' bat speed, senior director of player development Brian Abraham said. The Red Sox have focused on increasing bat speed with their minor leaguers, including using overload and underload training bats. Rookie Kristian Campbell has shown quality bat speed so far, ranking in the 71st percentile among major league hitters in that category (73.2). 'It's not always just bat speed but I think bat speed gives you the ability to hit the ball farther, the ability to potentially mis-hit a ball and still hit it hard,' Abraham said. 'I think if you look at Roman Anthony's 90th percentile exit velos, he's a 105-plus pretty consistently. So yeah, you have to swing the bat fast to be able to do that. You have to be strong to be able to do that. And I think they tend to generally go hand in hand. Definitely towards the top in our organization when it comes to that. Kristian certainly is as well.' Advertisement BETTING: Red Sox moneyline is +100 on FanDuel for Monday's game against the Rangers. Our comprehensive list of Massachusetts sportsbook promos will help you find a sportsbook to use. More On Red Sox Prospects Read the original article on MassLive.
New York Times
24-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Top prospect Kristian Campbell to make Red Sox Opening Day roster
The Red Sox informed Kristian Campbell on Sunday night that he would be on the roster when the team breaks camp. One of Boston's top prospects has made the Opening Day roster. Campbell, who can play several positions, is expected to get regular playing time at second base. At the outset of camp, the 22-year-old was viewed as a favorite to win the second base job but struggled to find consistency early in the spring, going 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts and having a less balanced approach at the plate than last year when he made a dramatic jump through the team's farm system. Advertisement In 115 games across three levels last season, Campbell hit .330 with a .997 OPS and 20 homers, playing his final 19 games of the year in Triple-A Worcester after a late-August call up. But spring training numbers being poor indicators of in-season success, the Red Sox kept playing Campbell and by the final few weeks of camp, he started to show signs he was the prospect who won Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year and The Athletic's Prospect of the Year. The Athletic's Keith Law ranks Campbell the No. 9 prospect in all of baseball. Manager Alex Cora didn't hide that early in camp Campbell had struggled, but he and the coaching staff gave him near constant instruction in the infield on drills and with footwork. About two weeks ago, Campbell fell into a better rhythm, seeming more comfortable at the plate and particularly in the field making diving plays, turning double plays more smoothly and making more natural feeds. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told it wasn't a single play that turned the switch for Campbell, but the Red Sox started to see more consistency out of him, giving them confidence he was ready for the next challenge in the majors. When Campbell played in the Spring Breakout Game in mid March, he belted a long home run and seemed to snap out of his early camp slump. By appearing on the Opening Day roster, Campbell will make the Red Sox eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive, which is meant to deter teams from holding back prospects in order to accrue an extra year of service time. The rule stipulates a team can earn an extra draft pick after the first round if an eligible player accrues one year of service time as a rookie and either wins Rookie of the Year or places in the top three for MVP or the Cy Young Award. Players with little or no service time like Campbell need to break camp with the club or be called up within the first two weeks of the season (players need to accrue 172 days of service time by the end of the year) to qualify. Advertisement Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll earned their teams extra picks in the 2024 MLB Draft, as both were promoted at the start of the 2023 season and won their respective league Rookie of the Year awards. At this point, Boston's other top prospects, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony, are expected to begin their seasons in Triple A, but might not be too far behind Campbell. Campbell is currently with the team in Mexico while they play two exhibition games before the season begins in Texas on Thursday. (Photo of Campbell: Danielle Parhizkaran / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
New York Times
21-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Scouting Jac Caglianone, Travis Bazzana and more Royals and Guardians prospects
A few notes from my final day in Arizona before I headed home … I went to the Double-A and Triple-A games between the Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals on the back fields in Surprise on Wednesday, with the higher-level game featuring two of the top six picks from the 2024 MLB Draft. Jac Caglianone, the Royals' first baseman and the No. 6 pick, hit a towering homer to dead center off a pitch from a right-hander that was coming in towards his hands. Caglianone pulled his hands in and absolutely unloaded on the ball, with unbelievable power; most hitters would either swing around and hook the ball, or keep their hands inside but only be able to push it the other way. Caglianone took good at-bats the whole game, including an eight-pitch walk where he spoiled a couple of pitches and then took a pitch fairly close to the zone for ball four — a good sign, even if it's just one plate appearance, because his tendency to chase stuff out of the zone was by far his biggest flaw as a hitter in college. Advertisement I saw 10 plate appearances from Cleveland second baseman Travis Bazzana, No. 1 pick last July, between the Spring Breakout Game and this Triple-A game, and he went 0-for-8 with two walks and four strikeouts. It was … not the ideal look, to say the least. He's opening his front hip early, but he did some of that in college too — it's just more pronounced right now, for whatever reason. I'm not trying to be some Prophet of Doom here, just to be clear. I think this is something to monitor, because if he keeps doing that pitchers will see and exploit it. The Royals had a couple of guys from their top-10 prospect list starting the two games, one who was very good and one less so. Right-hander Steven Zobac was dynamite in the Double-A game, working 94-96 mph with a hard changeup at 85-88 that had plus fading action and an above-average slider at 84-88, along with one cutter (that I saw, at least) at 91. He threw strikes, he attacked with the fastball, he used the changeup really well to hitters on both sides, and he can miss some right-handers' bats with the slider. It's better velocity than he showed last year, at least on the fastball. Even though Zobac only has 10 starts above A-ball under his belt, I really don't see why this wouldn't work in the big leagues if during the first month or two of the season the Royals need to call up a starter. Lefty Noah Cameron started the Triple-A game and his stuff was meh, unfortunately, even though he can really pitch. He was 90-92 mph without much life on the fastball along any axis, with a full assortment of fringy pitches led by a 76-78 mph changeup that would be much better if he kept it down consistently. Cameron's got some deception to his delivery and clearly has a plan, so I'm not writing him off, but he needs more of something — more velocity on the heater, or some run or cut to it, or more spin to either of the breaking balls, both of which look pretty but aren't especially tight, so hitters are going to pick them up. He's been effective everywhere he's pitched, up through Triple A, so maybe I'm being alarmist, but I worry he's going to get very homer-prone in the majors with this arsenal. Advertisement Guardians shortstop Milan Tolentino also homered in the Triple-A game — it wasn't as impressive as Jac's, sorry — and he looks like he's added some good weight since I last saw him in the Arizona Fall League. He's always been more of a tweener for me, as he can definitely play shortstop but isn't the kind of defender who could support what would likely be a sub-.300 OBP without power in the majors; he hit .241/.313/.370 in Double A last year at age 22 and .202/.352/.274 in the AFL. More strength and power won't help him cut down on his swing-and-miss issues, but it could mean better results on contact, and that would at least give him a shot to be a utility infielder because he can play all over. (Photo of Caglianone: Travis Berg / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
New York Times
17-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What I learned from scouting Rockies-White Sox, Reds-Brewers Spring Breakout Games
PHOENIX — On Sunday, I caught a Spring Breakout Game double-header, as the Colorado Rockies took on the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds faced the Milwaukee Brewers. Below are observations from both games The Colorado Rockies-Chicago White Sox spring breakout game was dominated by pitching with neither team getting a hit until the bottom of the fourth inning. The final score was 3-1 with hitters reaching base less than 25 percent of the time. Advertisement The most impressive pitcher was easily Rockies right-hander Brody Brecht, Colorado's second overall pick in 2024, who threw an effortless 95-97 mph in his one inning with a slider at 87-88. The former Iowa starting pitcher and wide receiver had trouble with control as an amateur, so it was good to see him throw a perfect inning with seven of his 10 pitches going for strikes. It is a tiny sample, but the Rockies knew he was a project when they drafted him. Both his delivery and his slider looked better on Sunday than they did when I saw him with Iowa. He's got a very wide variance in potential outcomes, but if you told me that in June we'd be calling him the Rockies' best pitching prospect, I would be zero percent surprised. The White Sox rolled out their two big lefties to start the game in Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz, with each tossing two hitless innings. Smith was 92-97 with four pitches, the slider above-average at 78-82 and the changeup a little too firm at 88, with below-average command on the day. Schultz was 93-94 on the four-seamer and threw what I believe was a sinker at 89-90 along with three other pitches, showing some good feel for the changeup. He pounded the zone, especially with the fastball, even though his release point seemed to waver across all of those pitch types. The Rockies made an announcement in July 2023 that three of their top pitching prospects were all undergoing Tommy John surgery, and two of those guys pitched in the Breakout Game. Righty Gabriel Hughes started and was 92-93 on the two-seamer with a 55 slider (on the 20-80 scouting scale) at 86-88 and a hard changeup at 85-88 that you could see him turn over — and I assume hitters could see it too. The fastball velocity is lower than it was pre-surgery and I think his slot might be a few ticks higher. The second, right-hander Jordy Vargas, threw an inning later in the game and was 91-94 with a big, loopy curveball, retiring three batters on 13 pitches, most of them fastballs. The third was right-hander Jackson Cox, who didn't pitch in the Breakout Game, but I was told by a scout that Cox's velocity is back while his command isn't. Advertisement The one big hit of the day came from Rockies second baseman Adael Amador, who got a hanging breaking ball from right-hander Riley Gowens and saw it all the way, knocking it over the right field fence. It was an awful pitch, but Amador has proven over the last year or so that if you make a mistake up in the zone, he will recognize it and pummel it. He also drew a walk, which is his other superpower. The White Sox lineup managed just three hits, led by a double that catcher Edgar Quero hit the other way past a shifted third baseman off a 96-mph fastball on the inner third while he was batting left-handed. He also flashed a plus arm multiple times, catching two of four would-be basestealers. Outfielder George Wolkow had a very hard-hit line-drive single to center off a 95 mph fastball that came after he'd whiffed on two straight sliders at his back foot. (Let's just say there was some very questionable pitch calling on both sides of this game.) His other plate appearance ended with a very high flyout the other way to the left field warning track. Shortstop Colson Montgomery was 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts, whiffing on 94- and 96-mph fastballs up and getting caught looking on a 2-2 fastball right down the middle. He did make an excellent throw from the hole even as his body was taking him the other way. Outfielder Braden Montgomery — no relation — was also 0 for 3, putting the ball in play three times and showing above-average running speed on one groundout, although he didn't react well to breaking stuff from Hughes. White Sox lefty Jake Eder threw an inning in relief, striking out two and walking one, with two above-average pitches in his slider and changeup while his fastball was enough at 93-94. Relief might just be the spot for him, as he has never had close to the command or control to be a starter since he returned from 2022 Tommy John surgery. I left the White Sox/Rockies game a little early to get to the start of the Brewers/Reds Spring Breakout Game, which was the opposite sort of contest; the Reds won 9-7 and it took nearly two hours just to get to the bottom of the fifth. Neither starter threw strikes, and that got everything off on the wrong foot. Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski was 96-98 with a plus slider and power curveball, but he needed 47 pitches to get five outs. I'm going to say, for the 85th time, that he is not a starter, not with that delivery, certainly not with that lack of control. Advertisement The Reds started lefty Adam Serwinowski, whose delivery is even uglier, with a big pause and huge effort to get to 94-97, although he spins a good enough slider that he should crush left-handed batters. He walked a pair and needed 39 pitches to finish his two innings. He was followed by a parade of mostly similar-looking right-handed relievers until the last three innings, when things picked up a little. Righty Cole Schoenwetter, the Reds 2023 fourth-round pick who had a dismal year in 2024, was 94-95 with some potential to the curveball and a changeup that would be good enough if he got more velocity separation. It's a full windup but then some effort in the delivery and a stiff landing, so it's relief all the way. Then it was the big guns, literally: 240ish-pound Luis Mey threw 100-102 mph with a slider at 87-90, and Zach Maxwell, who might weigh three bills at this point, was 98-101 with a slider at 86, and both of those guys threw strikes. The hitters were all fighting at the bat rack in this game. Reds third baseman Sal Stewart was the only player with two hits in the game, including a triple to deep center off a curveball that stayed up a little and later a groundball right back up the box off a fastball. He also made a couple of nice plays at third base. Defense is probably the biggest question about his game, as he could easily end up at first base with that build. Reds shortstop Edwin Arroyo reached base three times, with a walk, a hit by pitch, and a stand-up triple to right-center off a 95-mph fastball, all of which came when he was batting right-handed, before he struck out on a changeup in his last trip to the plate. He took good at bats all day long — and it was a long day. On the Brewers side, outfielder Jose Anderson just turned 18 in November and hasn't played a game outside of the Dominican Summer League yet, but he hit the game's only homer off a hanging breaking ball from right-hander Luke Hayden. Anderson struck out looking on a 94-mph fastball in his only other plate appearance. Shortstop Jesus Made led off and was 1 for 3 with a strikeout; the hit was a soft liner that Reds second baseman Leo Balcazar snagged for what would have been a great play, but he couldn't hold on to it. Based just on two games of seeing Made against good pitching — I saw him the other day against Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Cristian Mena on the back fields — my gut reaction is that he's not ready to go out to low A yet. He won't turn 18 until May and hasn't played outside of the DSL yet either. There's no reason he can't start out in extended spring training and go to the Arizona Complex League for at least a few weeks, even with his tremendous showing in the DSL last summer and the attendant hype that has followed. I don't know what the Brewers' plans are for him; I'm just hoping they take it slow. Right-hander Brett Wichrowski was 93-94 with a slider and changeup that both flashed above-average, along with a curveball that was more of a show-me pitch. It's a rough delivery for a starter and I doubt he'll have the command to stick there, but it's a big-league arsenal already. Also, the Brewers' roster had Misiorowski, Wichrowski, and Josh Adamczewski, while the Reds had Serwinowski Someone needs to start scouting in Poland. Advertisement Brewers right-hander Bishop Letson struggled, retiring one batter and allowing five runs, but the stuff wasn't bad at all — he was 93-96, showing four- and two-seamers, with a slider at 85-86 and changeup at 86. His delivery is pretty good, and he looks athletic, but he didn't have it on Sunday, walking two of the six batters he faced, and an error behind him by Luke Adams seemed to unravel him. Right-hander Craig Yoho was 90-94 with an above-average changeup that wasn't that consistent, finishing his outing with one slider that he back-doored to a lefty for a called third strike. It's a very long arm action with early pronation, coming from a low three-quarters slot, although the changeup should mitigate the platoon-split issues that often come with that release point. It's a 55 changeup, no more, and it's certainly not 'Airbender 2.0.' It was great to see Brock Wilken in the game and taking good at bats. He was hit in the face by a pitch last April and didn't hit well after he returned very quickly despite multiple facial fractures. He walked once and took a slider from a right-hander to left for a line-drive single. Before the Spring Breakout Games, I caught about three innings of a Reds-Dodgers A-ball game on the backfields at Camelback Ranch. Dodgers right-hander Eriq Swan was 95-96 with a plus slider and a hard changeup at 89 with big fading action, but in the second inning he threw two fastballs to the backstop, rubbing and shaking his pitching hand between pitches, and then exited the game. Of course, it's the Dodgers, so the next inning's pitcher was Brooks Auger, who was throwing 96-97 with tremendous ride on the pitch along with a mid-80s slurve that had good tilt to it. The Dodgers took Auger in the sixth round last year off a spring when he was mostly a reliever for Mississippi State in his first year back from Tommy John. He's 23 now and hasn't pitched a ton, but that is a starter look all the way and he might be able to do some fun things with the fastball alone. I was there long enough to get two at-bats apiece from Kellon Lindsey, Chase Harlan, and Joendry Vargas, who batted 1-2-3 in that Dodgers lineup. Lindsey is still very fast and I really want to see if he can hit Low-A breaking stuff. Harlan hits the ball extremely hard; he fouled a ball off the metal fence that was just exceptionally loud, and then struck out. Vargas has a furious swing with great bat speed and doubled off the outfield wall against a lefty (he's a right-handed batter) in his second at-bat after striking out in the first, and he looked fine at shortstop in a brief look with a 50 or 55 arm. (Top photo of Hagen Smith: Tracy Proffitt / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Spencer Jones reaches three times, Ben Hess pitches in Yankees' Spring Breakout loss to Orioles
The Yankees were defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-4 in their Spring Breakout Game on Saturday night. - Carlos Lagrange took the mound for the Baby Bombers. The 21-year-old was terrific as he showed off his 70-grade fastball, touching 100 mph consistently from the get-go. After allowing a leadoff single, he retired the next 11 hitters in a row before Vance Honeycutt beat him to left-center for an inside-the-park homer. Lagrange finished with a final line of two runs (one earned) on two hits, one walk, and two strikeouts across 4.0 innings. - Spencer Jones almost made a nice running grab ranging over to left-center on the inside-the-parker, but he wasn't able reel it in. The slugger reached base three times but his only serious damage came in the top of the seventh as he was gifted a double after the left fielder lost it in the lights. - George Lombard Jr. was quiet at the plate over his first three at-bats, but then he reached in his next two with a walk and a single. The 19-year-old first-round pick was really impressive this spring -- demolishing a pair of homers, including a 414-foot blast that left the bat at a whopping 108.4 mph. - Jesus Rodriguez drove in two of New York's four runs with a run scoring groundout and an RBI single. - Ben Hess, the Yankees' first-round pick from last year, made his unofficial pro debut. He cruised through a perfect first inning of work but then allowed a run to score on Dylan Beavers' RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. The 22-year-old struck out 106 batters in 68 innings last year at Alabama. - Alexander Vargas made a terrific over-the-shoulder running grab on a pop up in shallow right in the ninth. The Yankees split up to play a pair of 1:05 p.m. games on Sunday, staying in Port Charlotte to face the Rays and in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
