Yankees RHP Will Warren should break camp in the major league rotation following injuries to Luis Gil and Gerrit Cole, joining Clarke Schmidt and Marcus Stroman to form a trio that’s good enough to keep the team in games. Warren struggled in 2024 but has been excellent this spring, striking out 11 batters and allowing one run and a 0.50 WHIP across eight innings. Stuff is not an issue here; he features two fastballs along with a plus slider and changeup, following the side-to-side pitching path paved in part by Clarke Schmidt.
Yankees OF Everson Pereira might be worth a flier in deep leagues considering the news that Giancarlo Stanton is suffering from boneitis in both elbows and might miss the whole season. Pereira is batting .375 with two home runs in 19 plate appearances, and while he’s striking out 31.6 percent of the time, the Yankees were always going to get strikeouts and power from their designated hitter spot, so Pereira makes sense for an early look while DJ LeMahieu battles his own boneitis.
Yankees OF Spencer Jones could become part of this picture during the summer. He’s striking out at a 38.9 percent clip through 18 plate appearances but slashing .375/.444/.875 anyway because he’s crushing the ball: two homers and two doubles.
Someone is going to take the rotation spot that would’ve been George Kirby’s, and Emerson Hancock looks like he’ll be that someone. He’s striking guys out this spring: nine in 5.2 innings pitched, but he’s also giving up hits and walks to the tune of a 1.94 WHIP. He will test the power of Seattle as a pitcher’s park.
Pirates OF Matt Gorski is batting .333 with three home runs and a 17.6 percent strikeout rate in 17 plate appearances. He posted a 110 wRC+ in Triple-A last year with 23 home runs and 15 steals and appears to have the lead in a roster spot battle partly because he can kick in at first base while Spencer Horwitz finds his sea legs.
Cubs 3B Gage Workman was a Rule-5 pick who would have to be returned to Detroit if he didn’t make this team, so he feels like a lock as he’s slashing .385/.433/.769 with three home runs and a stolen base through 30 plate appearances. I’ve seen the Cubs do a lot of inexplicable things these past few years, so I’m not ruling it out, but if you’re going to cut a Rule-5 infielder after he hits like this in spring, you should’ve just picked a pitcher.
The New York Mets are old and/or injured at several spots, and 3B Brett Baty is flying through spring like he’s finally harnessed his nascent powers of echolocation, slashing .400/.478/.750 with two home runs, three walks and one strikeout in 23 plate appearances. It’s one thing to overreact to a small sample size but another thing entirely to watch a first-round pick with superlative hitting talent come into his own. I’m not saying that’s what this is for sure; just that we’d be wise to keep a Baty breakout on the radar.
Blue Jays OF Alan Roden smoked a smooth-looking home run against a lefty, Tanner Banks, in Saturday’s game. Wasn’t even a bad pitch: breaking ball down. While Roden was circling the bases, I imagined a world where the Jays fans all did The Thinker while he ran around the bases after hitting his 20th home run of the 2025 season.
Royals 1B Jac Caglianone might force his way into the lineup earlier than I’d anticipated. Not that Vinnie P is going anywhere, but Caglianone as a full-time hitter looks impressive enough to share that spot and play some DH. Maybe even play some outfield. He’s only had 11 plate appearances this spring but already has two homers and a slash line of .444/.545/1.111 with two walks and one strikeout. Scary.
So, at one point during the winter, I felt way higher than consensus on Brewers 3B Caleb Durbin, who was at that time Yankees 2B Caleb Durbin. This has flipped. It’s mostly vibes and a few lists I’ve seen, but the fantasy baseball world in general seems super excited about Durbin, and I’m not trying to rain on that party, but I do realize I might be comparatively low now–not because Durbin is slashing .179/.258/.393 through 31 spring plate appearances but because it seems to me the profit window is sliding toward closed. I still like the player, but it was way more fun to talk about when he wasn’t making Pipeline’s top 30 Yankees prospects than it is when he’s cracking Rotowire’s top 100 overall prospects list.
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