TAMPA, Fla. — The baseball spring is a time of great anticipation, especially for the rookies, and this year there are six of them in particular who are being counted on for various reasons to not only make the grade but to have a significant impact on their teams’ seasons.
Oswald Peraza, Yankees
Aaron Boone can talk all he wants about Isiah Kiner-Falefa still being the frontrunner in a “wide open” Yankee shortstop competition this spring and, accordingly to open the Yankees season at shortstop. But, fair or not, that remains a “been there, done that” proposition. There’s a much better chance of Kiner-Falefa opening the season as somebody else’s shortstop because (1) the Yankees were clearly not satisfied with his wildly inconsistent performance last year, and (2) they are desperate to finally produce their first homegrown regular player since the Jeter/Posada/Bernie Williams ‘90s dynasty. In that regard, it is somewhat unfortunate for them their two top prospects, Peraza and Andrew Volpe, happen to be shortstops, which is why they had no interest in Carlos Correa, Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts on the free-agent market this past winter. Privately, they are committed to Peraza, who hit .306 with a .832 OPS in an 18-game late-season cameo last year after a breakout power (19 HR) and speed (33 SB) season at Triple-A and has a one-year leg up in experience to Volpe. If there is one place in which the Yankees especially need to improve this season to close the gap on the Astros it is shortstop and Peraza would seem to have all the tools to do that.
Brett Baty, Mets
This one may be a little slow to develop. Billy Eppler, strongly fortified with Steve Cohen’s money, had a very busy winter — mostly in maintaining the Mets and not necessarily improving them from the 101-win team of a year ago. At the end of the day, the general belief was Eppler missed the boat in acquiring another power bat. But very possibly that big bat was right there in the person of the lefty-hitting Baty, who tore up Double-A last year, slashing .312/.406/.544 with 19 homers and 22 doubles at Binghamton before winning a late-season promotion to Citi Field where he homered in his debut, and went 3 for 10 in his first three games before being KO’d by a season-ending thumb injury. Though there was some talk of giving him some time in the outfield, Buck Showalter insists Baty will be staying at third base, which initially poses a numbers problem with the popular Eduardo Escobar going into camp as the incumbent third baseman and Daniel Vogelbach slated to get the bulk of the left-handed DH at-bats. But with Escobar away at the WBC, Baty is going to get plenty of playing time this spring and Showalter sounds as if he fully expects the kid to make decisions difficult for him. Best guess: Unless Escobar is traded (a real possibility) Baty starts the season getting all the third base at-bats against right-handed pitching. But either way, he very well may turn out to be the 20-plus homers Eppler failed to acquire this winter.
Vaughn Grissom, Braves
When it comes to developing their own talent, no team in baseball has done a better job than the Braves — which is why they have always allowed themselves to stay within their financial comfort zone when it comes to retaining their own free agents. A year ago it was Freddie Freeman. This winter it was their mainstay shortstop Dansby Swanson, who they are gambling will be ably replaced by top prospect, 22-year-old Vaughn Grissom, who shot through the minors in three years, hitting .319 at Double-A in ‘21 and .324 in Triple-A last year. The only question about Grissom, who played both second and short in the minors, is whether he can handle full-time shortstop duties. But the Braves sent him to New Orleans three times this winter for shortstop crash courses under their estimable infield coach Ron Washington and all the reports have been positive. Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos says Washington is not one to rave about a player, which has reinforced his hope that shortstop is not going to be a problem spot for the Braves.
Grayson Rodriguez, Orioles
Last winter Orioles GM Mike Elias declared “I believe our rebuild is over” alluding to the team’s surprise 83-win season last year. Earlier in the winter, Elias also promised that the Orioles were ready to be players for top free agents, which never materialized. Their Opening Day payroll is projected to be $53.5 million which would be the second lowest in baseball to only the A’s. In particular, Elias needed to substantially upgrade the mediocre Orioles’ rotation of mostly No. 3 or 4 starters, but he made no effort on Carlos Rodon and was out-bid for Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea and Noah Syndergaard. Without saying as much, he is clearly counting on 6-5 righty Grayson Rodriguez, who has projected as a legitimate No. 1 from the time Elias’ GM predecessor Dan Duquette made him the 11th overall pick out of a Texas high school in the 2018 draft. Rodriguez, 25-9 with a 2.47 ERA, 0.949 WHIP and 419 strikeouts in 292 minor league innings, was expected to make his major league debut last season until a Grade 2 LAT strain sidelined him in September. Because of Rodriguez’s limited minor league innings, Elias said the O’s will be monitoring his workload all year, but if they are going to take the next step forward, they are going to need to get the most of his considerable abilities.
Miguel Vargas, Dodgers
Back in December Dodgers president Stan Kasten told reporters: “Earlier in the last decade, we had a wave of young guys who were going to be real contributors. We think we are now on the precipice of the next wave of young guys. We need to make room to allow that to happen.” It was partly true, and partly doublespeak for the Dodgers intentions to scale back considerably this winter in an effort to get under the luxury tax after 2023. Most notable in that effort was the decision to let the popular Justin Turner walk as a free agent after nine very productive seasons in L.A. Making that decision easier for them was the presence of 23-year-old Cuban Miguel Vargas, in many ways a third baseman/outfielder/first baseman Turner clone, who hit over .300 in all of his four minor league seasons. Vargas is a hitting machine and the Dodgers are confident he will be a big factor in their effort to remain atop the NL West.
Oscar Colas, White Sox
After an absolutely horrendous season, in which they led the league in injuries along with maddeningly inconsistent and listless play, the White Sox high command knew they had to make big changes this winter if they were to regain supremacy in the AL Central. And while they did sign Andrew Benintendi to a club record five-year, $75 million deal, enabling them to address their MLB-worst outfield defense by moving Andrew Vaughn to first base, Sox fans have been howling all winter that GM Rick Hahn didn’t do nearly enough, especially in regard to a much needed lefty power bat. To that Hahn has responded: Wait ‘til you see Oscar Colas. Colas, a 24-year-old Cuban, hit a solid .314 over three levels of the minors last year with 23 homers and 79 RBIs. “He’s a guy who has really good hands at the plate, certainly has power, a plus arm and loves to compete. He has a chance to be an impactful major league player,” said White Sox farm director Chris Getz. If he’s right, the White Sox, who finished tied for 22nd in the majors in homers last year, may have addressed two of their biggest flaws — lefty power and outfield defense — from within.
