Tuesday, March 31
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 is brought to you by David Adler.
There’s nothing like a Two-Way Shohei Day. Literally. So get ready for the first one of the year.
Shohei Ohtani makes his 2026 pitching debutfor the Dodgers tonight against the Guardians (10:10 p.m. ET/7:10 p.m. PT), which means we get to see baseball’s one and only two-way superstar pitch and hit in the same game for the first time this season. And with Ohtani, that’s when the real magic happens.
But let’s focus on the pitcher half of Ohtani for today.
Ohtani was electric at Spring Training, with an 11-strikeout performance in his final tuneupbefore the regular season. Will he be just as nasty tonight? And what new wrinkles will the always-evolving Ohtani have in store for 2026?
Here are three things to watch for when Ohtani takes the mound:
1) Will we see the unhittable Ohtani splitter?
Shohei’s splitter used to be his signature pitch. It was maybe the most unhittable pitch in the big leagues when he first arrived in 2018. But his command of it wavered over the years, and by last season, he had all but stopped throwing it. Until the playoffs, that is, when Ohtani brought back his splitter out of nowhere and used it to dominate both the Phillies and the Brewers. He was throwing it pretty regularly this Spring Training (about 15% of the time). If Ohtani can throw the splitter where he wants it during the season, on top of all the other ridiculously nasty pitches he throws, good luck hitting him.
2) Are we going to get more sinkers this season?
Ohtani has toyed with a sinker before, and it’s looked ridiculous at times, reaching upwards of 100 mph and moving up to 20 inches horizontally. But he’s never really leaned into it, usually letting his normal four-seam fastball do most of the work. There’s room for Ohtani to throw the sinker more — especially as a weapon to attack right-handed hitters inside. And he was finally throwing those sinkers regularly this spring (16% usage), which might be a sign he’s ready to let them rip.
3) How will Shohei deploy his breaking balls?
Ohtani’s sweeper has been his Old Reliable for the last several years. It’s been his No. 1 out pitch by far since the 2022 season, which is when he started to cut down on splitters. But last season, Ohtani introduced a traditional slider alongside his sweeper, and that new slider was one of his best pitches all year. And then on top of all that, as the season went on, he brought his curveball back into the mix — and that curveball, which Ohtani was throwing harder and with sharper movement than before, quickly became a key weapon against left-handed hitters. So if you’re counting, that’s now three breaking balls in Ohtani’s arsenal. It will be very interesting to watch how he uses all three together in 2026.
OKAMOTO CAN SLUG WITH THE BIG BOYS
Speaking of Japanese stars … Kazuma Okamoto’s transition to MLB is going just fine. More than fine, really.
The longtime leader of the Yomiuri Giants — they’re the Yankees of Japan — has now homered in back-to-back games for the Blue Jays as he starts his Major League career. And those home runs have been pretty darn impressive.
On Sunday, Okamoto crushed a 110.4 mph, 420-foot homer to the opposite field for his first MLB homer. His swing speed reached 78.4 mph — Statcast’s threshold for a “fast swing” is a bat speed of 75-plus mph.
And yesterday, he sent a 107.7 mph moonshot 399 feet to left-center off a 99.2 mph fastball from the Rockies’ Chase Dollander. Okamoto had a 78.2 mph bat speed to turn around that high-velocity heater.
The Blue Jays have hit 15 home runs off 99-plus mph fastballs in the Statcast era, which goes back to 2015. Okamoto’s 107.7 mph blast is the second-hardest-hit of those homers, behind only a 110.6 mph home run by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off Seranthony Domínguez on Sept. 21, 2022.
Those bat speeds and all-fields power from Okamoto will absolutely play in the Major Leagues.
IT’S FINALLY PAINTER’S TIME TO SHINE
Andrew Painter — the Phillies’ star pitching prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 26 prospect overall — is finally making his long-awaited Major League debut.
The 22-year-old righty will face the Nationalstonight at 6:40 p.m. ET (MLB Network, subject to local blackout).
When Painter takes the mound for his debut, look for a fastball in the upper 90s — but the real stars of the show are his secondary pitches, namely a slider, sweeper and changeup that all generate big-time swing-and-miss and strikeout rates.
Painter is the Phillies’ most highly touted pitching prospect since Cole Hamels. But it’s been a long road to the Majors. If you want to learn more about it, Todd Zolecki has a really nice feature on Painter’s journey to the big leagues.
DON’T WORRY, DEGROM IS READY TO GO
Jacob deGrom was scratched from his first start of the season on Saturday because of neck stiffness. But have no fear, deGrom is here. It just took a few extra days.
The Rangers ace will make his 2026 debut tonight against the Orioles (6:35 p.m. ET/5:35 p.m. CT).
The 37-year-old is coming off a vintage deGrom season in 2025. deGrom went 12-8 with a 2.97 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 172 2/3 innings, making his fifth All-Star team and finishing eighth in AL Cy Young voting.
IT’S EXTENSION SEASON … FOR PROSPECTS?
There’s this relatively new phenomenon in baseball of teams locking up their top prospects with long-term contracts even before they’ve made their MLB debuts.
It still doesn’t happen all that often … but now it’s happened twice in the last two days.
First news broke yesterday that the Brewers — who had already done the same thing with Jackson Chourio — were on the cusp of an eight-year deal with 21-year-old shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt. Pratt had never even played above Double-A until the start of this season, but Milwaukee is banking on the potential of MLB Pipeline’s No. 62 overall prospect.
Then today came an even bigger one. Actually, it’s the biggest one. The Mariners and their top prospect, 20-year-old shortstop Colt Emerson (MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 overall), are reportedly in agreement on an eight-year, $95 million deal. That contract would be the largest ever for a player who has yet to make his Major League debut, ahead of Chourio’s $82 million deal in 2023. Emerson is one of the best pure hitters in the Minor Leagues today and has started the 2026 season at Triple-A.
Curious about what other prospects have gotten similar deals? Read more about the earliest long-term contract extensions in MLB history right here.
CORBIN CARROLL TRIPLES ARE BACK
They say the triple is the most exciting play in baseball. And Corbin Carroll is the most exciting tripler in baseball.
The D-backs All-Star has led the league in triples three years in a row. His 41 triples over the past three seasons are 12 more than the next-closest player, Boston’s Jarren Duran. And Carroll just got his first three-bagger of 2026yesterday.
Carroll also teed off on Justin Verlander for a three-run homer in the same game — but let’s face it, there’s nothing better than watching Carroll fly around the bases.
On his triple (which was also off Verlander), Carroll went home to third in just 11.12 seconds and reached a sprint speed of 30 feet per second — anything 30 ft/sec or faster is elite MLB speed.
His home-to-third time was the speediest of the 2026 season so far. And the only player last season to have any triples that fast — besides Carroll himself, of course — was Bobby Witt Jr. Witt had two of those triples in 11.12 seconds or less. Carroll had nine.
SOROKA, IMMACULATE
Everyone wants to make a strong first impression at their new job, even veteran big leaguers. With that in mind, Michael Soroka’s first start with the D-backs in their home opener on Monday couldn’t have gone much better.
You could even say it was immaculate.
Soroka, who broke into the big leagues in 2018 and was an All-Star as a rookie a year later, had 10 strikeouts over five scoreless innings in a 9-6 win against the Tigers, and he went out in style. The 28-year-old right-hander fanned the final three batters he faced on nine straight strikes to notch the first immaculate inning of his career and just the fourth in franchise history, joining Wade Miley (2012), Byung-Hyun Kim (2002) and Randy Johnson (2001).
Here’s every pitch of that immaculate inning, which is the first in the big leagues in 2026:
Soroka’s 10 strikeouts were also the most by any pitcher in his D-backs debut, surpassing the Big Unit’s nine vs. the Dodgers on April 5, 1999.
— Ed Eagle
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