Greetings from Surprise (and Scottsdale)
Saturday evening, I attended the Spring Breakout game between the Rangers and Giants in Scottsdale. I created a playlist of pitcher videos here. Hitters will be posted down the road.
Unfortunately, I missed most of starter Winston Santosās outing because of unforeseen traffic on US 60. Santos shredded nine consecutive batters on 38 pitches, of which 27 were strikes and 12 missed bats. Admittedly, the Breakout lineups are a broad range of levels. Santos didnāt face anyone with significant AAA experience to my knowledge, and the Giantsā farm is currently drawing somewhat less than rave reviews at the moment. Still, he doesnāt get to choose his opposition, and he made the pitches. I barely had a chance to scribble down anything, but I did see some 96 MPH heaters and an 87 slider. Santos suffered some growing pains upon promotion to AA Frisco, occasionally arriving without control or ability to keep the ball inside the park. In his playoff outing against Midland, however, he fanned 12 in six innings and allowed two runs (one earned). He has a chance to reach the Majors this season.
Righty Josh Stephan was among the busiest pitchers in last yearās Arizona Fall League, including a start in the championship game. It was at least partly an audition for a 40-man spot. Opinions varied on whether heād get one. I was lukewarm, to be honest, as I just didnāt think what he showed at that moment would suffice against Major Leaguers. In two scoreless innings following Santos, Stephan didnāt match Santosās dominance (no shame there) but was nearly as effective. Notably, Stephanās sinker, typically 90-94 in the AFL, was 94-96 yesterday. That added velocity could be helpful, either as an improved weapon by itself or to tee up his broad mix of secondaries.
Caden Scarborough is a fun project with a 6ā5ā frame thatās added some mass but could easily take on more. He offered a level 94-96 fastball, an 81-84 slider that sometimes had some two-plane depth and sometime sharply swept, and (I believe) one 85 change that ran outside. A walk, single and double resulted in two runs. The double was a too-high fastball that Giant Adrian Sugastey swatted oppo to the fence. Drafted in 2023ās fifth round and about to turn 20, Scarborough is learning his craft on the fly. His 2024 line wasnāt attractive, and this yearās might not be either, but his stuff and projectability demand patience.
The box score insists 2024 17th-rounder Joey Danielson pitched on Sunday, but unless he lost two inches and 40 pounds over the offseason, that was David Davalillo making quick work of the Giants in the 7th. On 14 pitches, Davallillo fanned the side swinging around a grounded single. He mixed a 93-96 fastball (a little hotter than I remember), an 82-84 slider, and one hard curve. Davalillo signed as a 19-year old in 2022, so heāll be Rule 5-eligible this winter if unprotected. He reached high-A toward the end of 2024, and Iād guess heāll return there, probably with an eye toward significant time in AA. (I saw and was impressed by Danielson Monday. More on him later.)
Paul Bonzagni did not have a fun day at all, walking his first opponent on four pitches and allowing four hits before recording a swinging strikeout. He wasnāt quite that bad; the first single was an annoying chopper over 3B Cody Freeman, and a grounder to SS Chandler Pollard with two on that might have been a force at any square with a snap decision ended up being an all-safe because of hesitation. A hard fly just eluded CF Paulino Santana for a double. Iām not making excuses, but thereās an alternate universe in which he escaped without much damage. Bonzagni leaned hard on a 94-98 fastball early (again, a little hotter than I remembered, but the gun was accurate) before adding some 85-87 sliders. The 2023 12th-rounder finished last year at high-A.
The AA season begins in 18 days, AAA in just 11, and ostensible stater Emiliano Teodo is still out there dealing short bursts of high-leverage relief. Teodo was slow by his standards, delivering five fastballs at 96-97, four of them outside, before generating an inning-ending double play on 99.
Lefty Bryan Magdaleno entered the 9th for the semi-save opportunity (preserving a 5-5 tie in a game that would not go to extras). With his 94-96 fastball (plus one at 97) and 82-84 slider, Magdaleno was a little unsteady, allowing a lined single and hitting a batter, but a couple of called third strikes and ordinary grounder would strand the runners. Magdaleno rose from the throng of relief prospects to become a dark-horse 40 candidate last summer (but not that dark, say, auburn). He wasnāt protected or picked in the Rule 5 but enters this season with a chance to reach the 40 and active roster at the same time.
On to hitters. Sebastian Walcott struck out and blooped a single off AAA lefty Carson Whisenhunt, San Franciscoās best pitching prospect. He later sharply lined a single to center off 2023 2nd-rounder Joe Whitman, who spent most of 2024 in high-A like Walcott. He would later get picked off. He defended ably.
OF Alejandro Osuna has been busy and successful enough in āAā games this spring that a prospect game almost seems a demotion even though heās yet to reach AAA. Osuna reached on a single and walk.
2024 top pick Malcolm Moore walked and doubled hard to right. 2nd-rounder Dylan Dreiling swatted an opposite-field liner for a single off Whisenhunt. Barely-18 2B Yolfran Castillo also reached off Whisenhunt with an infield single and later lined a single to left off Whitman. 3B Cam Cauley singled on a 98 MPH fastball from AAA hurler Carson Seymour.
CF Anthony Gutierrez made a highlight-reel catch of a soft fly and grounded to right for a single. 2025 is a critical season for the 20-year-old whose talent hasnāt made much impact in games the last two years.
Substitute CF Paulino Santana lined a 100 MPH pitch from Gerelmi Maldonado past first for a single. He reached second on an error but was caught stealing third for the final out. Tsk tsk. Santana will make his stateside debut after batting .292/.465/.364 in the Dominican Summer League. Santana hit for scant power ā not even generating doubles and triples with speed ā but more should be forthcoming.
1B Abimelec Ortiz has a .429 average with a double and homer in 14 āAā plate appearances, but Sunday recalled his sour first half of 2024 at Frisco. Although he fanned only once in four hitless at-bats, some of his misses on massive cuts through breaking stuff just didnāt look appetizing.
OF Yeison Morrobel injured his leg running out a grounder and crumpled to the ground beyond first base. He walked off with assistance and wasnāt limping too badly, but I wouldnāt be surprised to hear of an injury that delays his assignment. Ā
Elsewhere
St. Louis optioned IF Thomas Saggese to AAA.
The White Sox released non-roster invite Joey Gallo. Gallo was 2-for-20 with a walk and 11 strikeouts. In tracked stadiums, he had a 25% swinging-strike rate and missed on 48% of his swings, high even for him. Today, he announced he would henceforth be known as the pitcher Joey Gallo. That is not a joke.
Influenced by a brief conversation with radio voice Matt Hicks before todayās game, hereās all hitters with at least 2,000 plate appearances and a batting average under .200, ranked by OPS:
Joey Gallo (OPS .775, batting average .194)
Mike Zunino (.676, .199)
Austin Hedges (.559, .186)
Jeff Mathis (.551, .194)
Mike Ryan (.532, .193)
Charlie Bastain (.532, .189)
Tim Keefe (.521, .187)
Warren Spahn (.520, .194)
Bill Bergen (.395, .170)
Gallo is the only non-catcher in the top five. He is (was) also the only good hitter, period, retiring from that capacity with a park-adjusted OPS+ of 106 and WAR of 15.6. To find a higher OPS and sub-.200 average, we must drop to just 534 career PA. Ryan Schimpf of the Padres and Dodgers batted .195/.318/.496 with 35 homers and 178 strikeouts across 2016-2018.
Years ago, I recall saying something to the effect that the ceiling for Gallo could be AL MVP if Mike Trout didnāt exist. That sounds delusional in the harsh light of 2025, but for a while, a sadly short while, he really was that good.
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