The Best Players And Top MLB Prospects Seen In Arizona This Spring

MESA, AZ. — This is it, the last day of Spring Training 2024. Baseball’s regular season gets underway in earnest with all 30 teams playing in 15 cities on March 28.

The St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs game at Sloan Park today was the last of 43 games I attended in the last 31 days. I saw hundreds of veteran players along with prospects from 15 Cactus League teams, plus the Florida-based Cardinals.

Those that made the most favorable impressions were Seiya Suzuki, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Julio Rodriguez and Christian Encarnación-Strand among position players. Pitchers Shane Bieber, Garrett Crochet, Jhony Brito and Jordan Wicks stood out, too.

Suzuki was everything this spring that he was touted to be two years ago. He seemed much more relaxed in his third-go-round in American spring training and was terrific in all aspects of the game. He hit .459 with six homers, 12 RBI and 13 runs in 15 games. He seemed to be having fun and just relied on his natural talents to take over. If he can continue this all season, the five-year, $85 million contract he got in 2022 from the Chicago Cubs to leave Japan will be money well spent in 2024.

Betts was Betts, batting .444 and playing fine defense despite being shuttled from the 0utfield to second base and then shortstop by the Los Angeles Dodgers. First baseman and teammate Freeman had 15 RBI in 14 spring games. That dynamic duo simply was a pleasure to watch and with Ohtani became a terrific trio. The $700 million man hit .458 in nine games and everything was going so well until — a betting scandal? Who knows where that is headed, for how long, and how it will affect the Dodgers.

Rodriguez hit .414 in 12 games for the Seattle Mariners. In his third season, his raw talent is being combined with experience and this could be the year where he takes his game to a stratospheric level and the Mariners hitch on for the ride. Not that his 32 homers, 37 steals, 102 runs and 103 RBI in 2023 were an embarrassment.

Encarnación-Strand hit .333 with 5 homers and 14 RBI. Should the Cincinnati Reds’ muscular 24-year-old first baseman do it over the entire season, he is destined to be compared to Tony Perez, the Hall of Famer who was such a key part of the Big Red Machine in the late '60s and throughout the 1970s.

Making Their Pitch

Cleveland Guardians fans have questioned Bieber's future the past couple of years as his velocity dropped and with it his effectiveness. The 28-year-old looked strong and completely in command in every outing this spring, going 2-0 with a 1.56 earned run average, 19 strikeouts and only seven hits allowed in 17 1/3 innings.

Crochet will start the season opener for the Chicago White Sox after 72 career outings, all in relief.. He missed all of 2022 after Tommy John Surgery and was limited to 12 2/3 innings last year by an ailing shoulder. This spring, the 6-foot-6 lefty had a 2.13 ERA and struck out 14 while walking only one. The 24-year-old’s fastball was clocked in the upper 90s from a smooth, easy motion.

Brito, 26, won a spot in the San Diego Padres’ rotation. One of five players acquired from the New York Yankees in the blockbuster trade that sent slugger Juan Soto back to the East Coast, Brito was brilliant all spring. The right-hander fanned 16, walked three, and had a 2.08 ERA in four outings. A tumbling changeup was the best of his five-pitch mix.

Wicks, 24, made the Cubs’ rotation by striking out 16 with only four walks ansd 2.53 ERA in six outings. The lefty got a $3.1 million signing bonus as a first-round pick in 2021. His tumbling changeup at about 83 mph is used in stark contrast to a 96-mph fastball. He’s mixing in a fews breaking balls as well and appears much more poised.

Something’s Not Right

There were a few disappointing players. Many minor-leaguers looked overmatched, as usual. Among established players that I was disappointed with were Dansby Swanson and Kris Bryant.

For the first three years of his career, Bryant appeared on the fast track to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2015, NL MVP in 2016 when he led the Cubs to their historic World Series triumph, and hit a career-best .295 in 2017. He averaged .288, 31 homers, 106 runs, 91 RBI.

Since then, it has been injury after injury to his shoulder, neck, knee, ankle, elbow, wrist, finger, oblique, hand, hamstring, back, foot, heel —some appendages being hurt multiple times.

The Colorado Rockies gambled that Bryant would regain his form and gave him a seven-year, $182 million contract in 2022. He played in only half their games the past two years and looked this spring like half the player he was in spring training 2015, when he crashed nine homers with a .425 average. He hit .212 this spring.

Swanson got a seven-year, $177 million deal a year ago from the Cubs, made the all-star team, then missed time with a bruised right heel. This spring, he just has not looked like his usual sprightly self. He has a .190 average, 0 RBI and 12 strikeouts. No injury is evident. It might just be one of those often unexplained slumps in baseball. But it is disconcerting to see from a 30-year-old in his prime.

The Next Wave ... Or Is It a Tsunami?

Among young prospects that showed something special were Evan Carter, Jackson Merrill, Wyatt Langford, Lawrence Butler, Chase DeLauter, Braden Shewmake, Cole Ragans, Luke Little, Prelander Berroa, Victor Scott II and Nick Nastrini. I’ve written about Merrill, DeLauter, Ragans and Little (click on their linked names).

Several others sparked interest. I’ll catch up with them all in minor-league play this year. There are a lot of really good players coming up soon. We have an entire summer’s worth of prospect previews to come.