Opening Day is less than 48 hours away, meaning spring training is over, and the focus can finally shift to the regular season. As exciting as it is to have real baseball games to look forward to, let's look back at what went down in spring training one more time and name some of the biggest winners and losers.
Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Several top MLB prospects fought for roster spots during spring training, showcasing their talent and potential impact.
- Highly-touted rookie Kevin McGonigle impressed with dominant performances, securing a spot on the Opening Day roster.
- Spring training wasn't just all roses. The Atlanta Braves, with all their injuries, lead the losers.
Spring training winners: Top prospects take over
Non-debuted top prospects
Spring training is the best time to watch prospects perform, and some of the best prospects the sport has to offer who have yet to make their MLB debuts really opened some eyes this spring.
Kevin McGonigle stole most of the headlines, making the Detroit Tigers' Opening Day roster after posting an .888 OPS and spraying the ball hard all over the diamond, but he was far from the only top prospect to excel. JJ Wetherholt and Carson Benge made the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, respectively, putting up huge numbers.
Even prospects who didn't make their respective teams like Konnor Griffin, Colt Emerson and Leo De Vries looked good. Griffin struck out more than you'd like, but he also showed why he's MLB's top overall prospect right now. Emerson got off to a slow start but went on a tear as the spring progressed. As for Leo De Vries, he was never going to make the Athletics, but he might've been the most impressive prospect performer of all, as his 1.183 OPS would suggest.
It's one thing for prospects who have debuted already like Nolan McLean and even Chase DeLauter to impress in spring, but it's another for those who haven't appeared in a MLB game yet to win a job, especially when they weren't a frontrunner for an Opening Day roster spot, as was McGonigle's case.
2B Matt McLain, Cincinnati Reds
Matt McLain looked like a budding star in his rookie year back in 2023, but he missed all of 2024 due to injury and looked like a shell of the player he was previously in 2025. McLain struggled so mightily to the point where he was hitting ninth consistently for the Cincinnati Reds and seemingly had to earn Terry Francona's trust back.
Well, he did that and then some this spring, recording five more hits than anyone else. McLain went 27-for-51 overall, slashing .529/.571/.1.020 with seven home runs and 16 RBI. He was the best hitter in the sport this spring, and is going to be hitting second consistently for Cincinnati.
Spring training might seem meaningless for most, but McLain really needed to play well for the Reds' sake and his own. Now, he looked primed for a breakout year.
2B Cole Young, Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners entered the spring with a vacancy in their infield, even after the Brendan Donovan acquisition. Cole Young had to battle against Colt Emerson and Leo Rivas to earn a starting role, and he did just that.
Emerson played well this spring, particularly as it progressed. Rivas' numbers didn't jump off the page, but he drew a team-leading 12 walks this spring, looking like an ideal No. 9 hitter to set the table for the top of the order. Young just outperformed them both, slashing .281/.349/.667 with six home runs and 18 RBI this spring, winning the second base job.
It's easy to forget that Young was a top prospect as recently as last year, especially when he didn't do much in his first big league action, but he reported to spring training eager to prove himself and won a starting job on a World Series contender.
RHP Didier Fuentes, Atlanta Braves
A rash of Atlanta Braves injuries gave Didier Fuentes an opportunity to make his MLB debut earlier than anyone had envisioned. While it was impressive for him to debut as early as he did, Fuentes struggled mightily, allowing 20 runs in 13 innings of work (13.85 ERA) across four starts, getting demoted back to Triple-A shortly after getting called up. His big league struggles in August made the idea of him making this year's Opening Day roster far-fetched, yet he did just that.
Fuentes did this by pitching as well as anyone this spring. He allowed just one run on two hits in 13.2 innings pitched, walking one batter and striking out 18. It was rare for Fuentes to even allow a base runner, let alone a run. Spring stats should always be taken with a grain of salt, but the eye test matched the results. His stuff looked truly dominant.
The right-hander will begin the year in the bullpen with a chance to potentially start games for the injury-riddled Braves sooner rather than later. If he pitches as well in the regular season as he did this spring, it wouldn't be surprising to see him begin starting games in late April or May.
St. Louis Cardinals
2026 will likely be a rough year for the rebuilding St. Louis Cardinals, but if spring training is any indication, the future is bright. A lot of key players for the Cardinals really impressed.
Wetherholt obviously excited Cardinals fans the most, but he was far from the only one to play well. Nolan Gorman had a .934 OPS and cut down on his strikeouts. Top prospect Joshua Baez had a 1.179 OPS. On the pitching side, Matthew Liberatore had a sub-2.00 ERA in his four starts, Michael McGreevy pitched really well, and Dustin May looked like a solid buy-low get.
The Cardinals still won't win many games in 2026, but perhaps the future is brighter than we once thought it was.
Spring training losers: Starting pitching injuries are hard to ignore
Atlanta Braves
Yes, the Atlanta Braves finished spring training with the best record in all of baseball, but does that really matter? Why should anyone care when they suffered as many brutal injuries as they did?
Ha-Seong Kim suffered an injury before spring training, but the Braves lost Hurston Waldrep, Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider and Joey Wentz this spring due to injuries. Now, Waldrep and Schwellenbach are expected to pitch this season, and Strider shouldn't miss too much time, but that's 60 percent of their projected Opening Day rotation and a depth option in Wentz. Oh yeah, Reynaldo Lopez's velocity was very worrisome in his last outing, and Grant Holmes is pitching through an elbow injury. This injury-riddled rotation could look even worse in due time.
As if that isn't bad enough, amid the injury madness, Jurickson Profar was suspended for the entire season after his second failed PED test. Mike Yastrzemski is an adequate replacement in left field, but their lineup is without one of its best hitters, and Profar's Braves future is up in the air, if not in doubt.
I wish I could focus on the positives. Holmes, despite his partial UCL tear, looked great this spring. JR Ritchie looks like an incredibly promising pitching prospect. Austin Riley looked like the Austin Riley of old. Drake Baldwin is the truth. Yet, I can't help but think we're headed for a repeat of 2025. Even had Alex Anthopoulos had signed a depth starter as Braves fans had hoped, how can you prepare for three major pitching injuries in one spring training? The Braves still have a lot of talent, but it's hard to feel comfortable picking this team to win a World Series.
OF Dylan Crews, Washington Nationals
It felt as if the Washington Nationals lucked out when Dylan Crews fell to them with the No. 2 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, right after the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Paul Skenes. This couldn't have been further from the truth. Not only is Skenes the best pitcher in the National League, but Crews has really struggled with the Nats. He has a .634 OPS in parts of two big league seasons and looked so bad this spring that the rebuilding Nationals decided it'd be best to send him down to Triple-A.
Crews went 3-for-29 (.103 BA) with 11 strikeouts this spring, looking overmatched most of the times he stepped up to the plate. Crews had to really struggle to get sent down to Triple-A, and he did just that.
At just 24 years of age, he still has ample time to figure it out, and perhaps a fresh start away from the pressure of the big leagues will be good for him. Still, it's hard not to think Crews getting sent down is anything but a bad look.
RHP Roki Sasaki, Los Angeles Dodgers
MLB fans assumed Roki Sasaki had turned a corner when he dominated for the most part in the postseason as a reliever. Sasaki had figured out how to get outs in the big leagues and would display his immense potential as a starter this spring, making the Los Angeles Dodgers even scarier. So far, the fans who thought this couldn't have been more wrong.
Sasaki allowed 15 runs on nine hits in 8.2 innings across four spring training starts, issuing a whopping 15 walks and striking out 12 batters in the process. Sasaki walked nearly two batters per inning this spring, an unfathomable amount. Is this a mechanics issue? Is this a confidence issue? I have no idea what to make of his struggles, but they're alarming.
Yes, he made the Dodgers' Opening Day rotation, but that has nothing to do with how he looked in spring training. His struggles likely mean his leash is incredibly short for a Dodgers team vying for another World Series title, and while Los Angeles will be fine whether Sasaki succeeds as a starter or not, it's getting harder to buy into the idea of the right-hander being successful in that role, at least in the near future.
Cincinnati Reds rotation
The Cincinnati Reds' offense mostly impressed this spring. They ranked sixth in the majors in runs scored, McLain was nothing short of outstanding, Elly De La Cruz looked like the superstar he's capable of being, and even Rece Hinds nearly forced his way onto the Opening Day roster. I wish I could say the same about Cincinnati's pitching, though.
Hunter Greene suffered yet another injury, and this one will keep him sidelined until July at the earliest. Andrew Abbott is coming off an All-Star season and is their Opening Day starter, but he had an ERA approaching 12.00 this spring. Chase Burns made the team, but he struggled with his command and doesn't look fully polished yet. Even Nick Lodolo struggled and might miss the first couple of weeks of the season with a blister.
Might their rotation struggles be nothing more than a blip? Perhaps, but this was supposed to be the Reds' biggest strength. If their starting rotation isn't as elite as it was for most of 2025, will they be able to get back to the postseason?
San Diego Padres rotation
I was down on the San Diego Padres' rotation entering spring training, and can't help but feel even worse about that group now. They weren't hit as hard as the Reds or Braves on the injury front, but their rotation is in very bad shape.
Joe Musgrove was seemingly poised to return from a year on the sidelines, but is now expected to begin the year on the IL as he continues to recover from Tommy John Surgery. Adding onto that, Michael King had a 10.19 ERA in five starts and Nick Pivetta had a 8.25 ERA in four starts. Those are their two best starters by far, and I'm not saying spring struggles mean they'll be subpar in the regular season, but it certainly doesn't give fans reason for optimism.
If Pivetta and King aren't as advertised, who is going to be reliable in this Padres rotation? Randy Vasquez? Walker Buehler? German Marquez? Two of those three pitchers struggled for the most part this spring. I love the top of their lineup and I love their bullpen, but their rotation is a mess right now. It's hard to overcome that.
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