Thursday, March 19
Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition was written by David Adler.
Spring Breakout is here. Bring on the prospects.
Starting today, you can watch MLB’s top prospects face off against each other in a 16-game showcase that goes through the end of the weekend.
There are six Spring Breakout games today, and three have already kicked off — the top Marlins prospects vs. the top Astros prospects, the Guardians vs. the Angels and the Phillies vs. the Twins.
You can still catch all these games later today:
- Nationals prospects vs. Cardinals prospects (4:30 p.m. ET)
- Rays prospects vs. Mets prospects (7:10 p.m. ET)
- Reds prospects vs. Giants prospects (9:05 p.m. ET)
MLB Pipeline has everything you need to know about Spring Breakout, including the full schedule and how to watch the games.
And here are three of the must-see prospect matchups for the rest of today, courtesy of our prospect expert, Jim Callis:
1) Cardinals INF JJ Wetherholt (MLB’s No. 5 overall prospect) vs. Nationals SS Eli Willits (MLB No. 13)
We’ll start with an elite infielder showdown.
Four of MLB Pipeline’s top five overall prospects are playing in Spring Breakout this year (all but Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle), and Wetherholt is the first one you’ll see take the field. He’s the best contact hitter at Spring Breakout.
On the other side is Willits, the 2025 No. 1 overall Draft pick. He’s just 18 years old, a future five-tool star and was the youngest top overall pick since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987.
2) Reds C Alfredo Duno (MLB No. 38) vs. Giants SS Luis Hernández (SF No. 3)
These are two of the top international prospects at Spring Breakout.
The 20-year-old Duno signed in 2023 out of Venezuela and is now a top-five catching prospect in baseball. Hernández, also from Venezuela, was the headliner of the 2026 international class and is the youngest player at all of Spring Breakout. He just turned 17 years old in December.
3) Rays (No. 10-ranked prospect system) vs. Mets (No. 7)
Rays-Mets is the first Spring Breakout matchup of two top-10 farm systems, so there will be a ton of prospects worth watching.
The Rays have prospects participating like outfielder Theo Gillen (MLB No. 76) and their 2025 first-round Draft pick, 19-year-old shortstop Daniel Pierce, who has yet to make his pro debut.
The Mets won’t have Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong or Carson Benge in the game, but they will have interesting names like A.J. Ewing (MLB No. 97) and 18-year-old shortstop Elian Peña, who was one of the top international prospects last year after Roki Sasaki.
OCTOBER PHENOM TO START ON IL
Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage stole the show last October when he dominated during Toronto’s AL pennant run — despite having made only three career starts entering the postseason.
But news broke today that the 22-year-old right-hander, who’s ranked MLB’s No. 12 overall prospect entering 2026, has a right shoulder impingement and will start the season on the injured list.
Hopefully, Yesavage won’t be out for too long. There’s not yet a timeline for his return to Major League games, but the Blue Jays expect him to keep throwing to build up for the season, and he’s currently scheduled to pitch again next Wednesday. This is an issue Yesavage reported to Spring Training with, but he’s been feeling better. There’s just not enough time for him to be ready by Opening Day.
Still, this stinks for everyone. Yesavage is one of the most fun young pitchers to watch in baseball — not just because he was awesome in the playoffs, but because he has one of the most unique deliveries in MLB.
Yesavage throws from such an extreme over-the-top release point that people say his signature pitch, an extremely nasty splitter, looks like it “comes from the sky.” That arm angle also makes his slider break the wrong way — moving toward his arm side instead of breaking to his glove side like basically every other slider in the world. Get back soon, Trey.
IN CASE YOU FORGOT … SHOHEI’S NASTY
Shohei Ohtani — Pitcher Shohei Ohtani, that is — made his first Spring Training start for the Dodgers yesterday. And in case you got distracted by Ohtani smashing home runs as a hitter for Japan at the World Baseball Classic … he’s still just as filthy as ever on the mound, too.
Ohtani pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Giants with four strikeouts. His fastball topped out at 99.9 mph. His splitter got up to 90.6 mph. His sweeper was breaking up to 16 inches.
Check out some of Ohtani’s nastiest pitches from yesterday:
THIS PROSPECT THREW A 17-K NO-NO (KIND OF)
If you don’t know Braves pitching prospectDidier Fuentes yet … you’re about to.
The 20-year-old right-hander has pitched three games now at Spring Training. And if you add it all up, you get the equivalent of a 17-strikeout no-hitter.
Fuentes has thrown nine total innings over his three outings, allowed a grand total of zero hits and racked up 17 strikeouts. That’s just ridiculous.
So what kind of stuff is this kid throwing? Fuentes has a 97 mph fastball, an 89 mph splitter and an 87 mph slider. But it’s the fastball-slider combo that’s really dominated this spring.
Fuentes has 11 of his 17 K’s on his heater, which is generating a 43% swing-and-miss rate. And he has the other six on his slider, which is generating a 64% swing-and-miss rate. Good luck hitting either one.
BE PART OF OPENING NIGHT ON NETFLIX
Netflix is offering fans the chance to be a part of its Opening Night broadcast. All you have to do is sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
Just record a video of yourself singing the baseball classic and submit it to Netflix for a chance to be featured on the Opening Night broadcast of the Yankees vs. the Giants (Wednesday, March 25 at 8:05 p.m. ET).
Fans can submit their “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” renditions here. But hurry up — the deadline for entries is tomorrow.
DAILY WALKOFF
Put your baseball brain to the test with Daily Walkoff, where you can find 30 brand-new trivia puzzles every day, one for each team. Play Daily Walkoff >>
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RJ Hamster 