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Jack Leiter SP | TEX
Rangers' Jack Leiter: Continues strong spring
Leiter allowed two hits, walked none and struck out three over three relief innings in Thursday's spring game against the Padres.
Leiter continued an impressive Cactus League, during which he's allowed just two runs over eight innings. More impressively is that he's walked just one while striking out eight. Walks have been the bane of his professional career thus far. The right-hander threw all five of his pitches Thursday, including a new sinker and reworked changeup, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com.
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Tanner Bibee SP | CLE
Guardians' Tanner Bibee: Makes first spring start
Bibee allowed two hits and one walk while striking out three over three scoreless innings in Thursday's spring start against Arizona.
Bibee sparkled in an efficient Cactus League debut, throwing 37 pitches (23 strikes). He made himself into the Guardians' ace in 2024 and looked nearly ready to handle that role again Thursday. A key to the right-hander's development was learning to control his emotions on the mound and not letting one adverse event affect him, Tim Stebbins of MLB.com reports. "I think [I'm] definitely a little more under control than last year's spring training," Bibee said. Evidence of that came in his final inning Thursday. After committing a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, Bibee turned his focus to the batter and got Geraldo Perdomo on a called third strike.
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Merrill Kelly SP | ARI
Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Gets in work Thursday
Kelly allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over 2.1 innings while striking out three in Thursday's split-squad start against the Mariners.
Kelly threw 48 pitches (30 strikes) in his second Cactus League outing. The right-hander allowed multiple baserunners in each of his first two innings and experienced a slight drop in velocity relative to his first spring outing, but his rotation spot isn't in jeopardy and Kelly's focus at this stage of the spring is on getting stretched out.
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Brandon Pfaadt SP | ARI
Diamondbacks' Brandon Pfaadt: Rough second outing
Pfaadt was unable to get out of the second inning in his second spring start Wednesday, Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports reports. He allowed three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out two over 1.1 innings.
Pfaadt elevated his pitch count to 46, even if the results weren't pretty. The right-hander's outing was the first in a line of starters battling for the Diamondbacks' final rotation spot -- Ryne Nelson will pitch Thursday, and Jordan Montgomery (finger) is scheduled for his spring debut Friday. If Pfaadt had a lock on a rotation spot, then Wednesday's performance could be chalked up to a pitcher just getting his work in, but instead his numbers will get measured against his competition.
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Ryne Nelson SP | ARI
Diamondbacks' Ryne Nelson: Makes second spring start
Nelson allowed one run on three hits while striking out three over 2.1 innings in Thursday's spring start against the Guardians.
Nelson toed the rubber for a second Cactus League start and worked up to 51 pitches (30 strikes). The battle for the final rotation spot kicked into high gear this week. Nelson followed Brandon Pfaadt, who started Wednesday, and Jordan Montgomery (finger) will make his spring debut Friday in what is expected to be a multi-inning relief appearance.
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Jordan Montgomery RP | TEX
Diamondbacks' Jordan Montgomery: Will enter as reliever Friday
Montgomery (finger) will follow starter Zac Gallen in Friday's spring game against the Angels, Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports reports.
Montgomery will be making his Cactus League debut but will be used as a reliever. Despite the bullpen role Friday, Montgomery is still in the mix for Arizona's final rotation spot, along with Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo believes the left-handed Montgomery will be ready for the start of the regular season despite his delayed start to spring games.
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Marcus Stroman SP | NYY
Yankees' Marcus Stroman: Likely to begin season in rotation
With Luis Gil (lat) set to miss extended time at the beginning of the campaign, Stroman is likely to be part of the Yankees' season-opening rotation, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.
Gil isn't expected to be able to resume throwing for at least six weeks, which means that he isn't likely to be able to enter New York's rotation until sometime in June, at the earliest. As a result, Stroman, who has 252 career regular-season starts in 261 total outings to his name, is the logical choice to fill Gil's starting spot. Stroman posted a 4.31 ERA and 1.47 WHIP across 154.2 regular-season innings covering 30 appearances last year, and he may have to pitch well early on to keep his rotation role. Among the pitchers who could push Stroman is rookie Will Warren, who struggled in a six-outing cup of coffee in the majors last season but has looked great in spring training so far, allowing just one run while registering an 11:2 K:BB over eight frames.
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Joe Ryan SP | MIN
Twins' Joe Ryan: Looks sharp in spring debut
Ryan threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and a walk in his spring training debut in Thursday's win over the Yankees. "Great introduction to the season for Joe. He looked good," manager Rocco Baldelli told the Minnesota Star Tribune. "He even threw a nice slider or two, that little sweepy pitch that he throws, and showed a little feel for it. He's out there facing a good lineup, and he goes right at them."
Ryan reached 93-94 mph with his fastball and faced most of the starters in the Yankees lineup. Ryan suffered a Grade 2 teres major strain during a start Aug. 9 and missed the rest of the regular season, but he had an MRI in November that showed a "complete resolution" of the shoulder strain and entering spring training health. It looks like he'll be full speed for Opening Day.
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Gerrit Cole SP | NYY
Yankees' Gerrit Cole: Unfazed by rocky spring outing
Cole allowed six runs on five hits -- including two home runs -- over 2.2 innings in Thursday's Grapefruit League loss to the Twins. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.
Despite the result, manager Aaron Boone described Cole's outing as "another really good step in the process," per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "I got my work in," Cole said after the game. "Not great command; I kept trying to work the fastball over and over again." Cole was pulled with two outs in the second inning but returned for the third -- allowed under spring training rules -- and totaled 54 pitches in his second appearance of the spring. While Cole's numbers were down last season following his return from an elbow injury, his track record keeps him on the SP1/SP2 border for many.
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Bryan Woo SP | SEA
Mariners' Bryan Woo: Dominates in short outing
Woo struck out six over 2.1 scoreless innings in Thursday's Cactus League game against the Angels, giving up just one walk and one hit.
Woo dominated in this abbreviated outing, striking out the side in the first inning and generating a 59 percent whiff rate across his 37 pitches. Health concerns have kept the 25-year-old right-hander in the middle rounds of fantasy drafts this spring, but Woo excelled when available last season in the form of a 2.89 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 101:13 K:BB through 121.1 frames (22 starts). With the benefit of throwing at the pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park for home games, Woo carries plenty of upside in 2025 but will need to prove he can handle a full workload before establishing himself as an upper-echelon starter.