by Jaxon Brunk
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
With six days of spring training done and dusted, we can start to overreact and make predictions for the rest of the season. Although, most of these probably wont be true, it is still fun to speculate how the season will play out based off of early starts in Spring Training.
Alek Manoah is not back.
It is tough to say this as an Alek Manoah fan, but his start against the Tigers on Tuesday were not promising. Manoah pitched 1.2 innings, and gave up 4 earned runs on a walk, and 3 hits. Manoah's issues last year boiled down to control issues and an inability to reach the velocity that carried him to a Cy Young finalist honor in 2022.
This was Alek Manoah's pitch chart today. It does not take a genius to figure out that this is not a good day on the mound even without looking at stats. I still believe in Manoah to return to form, and he has hope with showing the same velocity in his start today that made him effective in his peak season.
Spencer Strider has the NL Cy Young in the bag.
Strider threw two innings on Saturday where he struck out four batters, while giving up a hit and a walk. If you haven't heard yet, Strider plans to feature a curveball this year along with his elite fastball and slider. He has lead the MLB in strikeouts over the past two years, and adding another pitch seems to feed into him being the best pitcher in the world right now even more. Strider should continue to whiff batters with keeping them on their toes by featuring a third pitch to go along with his Fastball and Slider. Strider is the betting favorite to win the Cy Young in 2024, and I would place bets and pick him up in fantasy this year. Here's a look at his new curveball:
Chris Sale is so Back.
Chris Sale threw two innings in a start on Tuesday against an almost full strength Pirates lineup. Sale threw two perfect innings while striking out 4. Chris Sale has been plagued by injuries in the recent years, and had an average season in 2023. In 2017-18, when he was at his best, Sale's fastball averaged 95.0MPH. On Tuesday, he topped out at 97.1 MPH on his fastball which shows we can be in for a very promising return from the Southpaw. I think everyone would love to see Sale return to form, except his NL East opponents.
Cole Ragans will be a top 5 pitcher in the bigs this year.
If you don't know about Cole Ragans, now you do. This kid has all of the tools to become an elite pitcher in the league. In his first spring start on Sunday, he faced a filled Angels lineup, and gave up three hits in two innings while striking out 5. Ragans ended 2023 with a 3.47 ERA, while having an elite 28.8% strikeout percentage. According to baseball savants percentile rankings, Ragans changeup is in the top 3% of offspeed pitches in the league, I project Ragans to be an under the radar Cy Young challenger, and I would project him to have an ERA in the low 3s this season. He has come out hot in spring training and expect him to carry this and last years form into 2024, and carry a subpar Royals rotation.
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