2/20 - 2/22 Spring Training Prospect Notables

MLB Spring Training kicked off on Friday, and while there should be little to no stock put into Spring Training results, there are some things we can pull from it that holds some meaning - specifically in the world of prospects. For a number of top prospects, it could be their first time in big league camp, giving evaluators their first look at prospects in front of legitimate MLB talent. At the conclusion of each week in Spring Training, we’ll take a look at some performances of prospects - more specifically the prospects on the Baseball Focus top 50 - and how those performances effect their outlook moving forward.

Michael Arroyo, SEA, Baseball Focus #47

• The fifth of five Seattle Mariners ranked on the Baseball Focus top 50 prospect rankings, Michael Arroyo started his spring off with a bang, hitting the first home run and driving in the first runs of the spring for the Mariners. It was a 406 foot home run to right center field at a 26 degree launch angle and 102.4 mph off the bat on an 85 mph changeup out of the hand of Padres left-hander, Jagger Haynes. He then added a double that nearly left the same part of the field. It was hit 393 feet at a 25 degree launch angle and 103.3 mph off the bat off of an 89 mph slider from Wandy Peralta, also a lefty. Arroyo’s two extra-base hits features his above-average raw power as well as his good feel for the barrel.

  Arroyo isn’t competing for a roster spot as he will either return to Double-A Arkansas or debut in Triple-A Tacoma, however, a strong spring could help speed up his big league timeline.

Trey Gibson, BAL

• Baltimore’s Trey Gibson is not ranked on the Baseball Focus top 50, but you will be able to find him ranked fourth on the Orioles top 10 prospect rankings upon its release. The 23 year old right-hander threw three shutout innings against the Yankees on Friday afternoon, giving up just two hits while striking out three.

  Gibson threw a total of 35 pitches and featured a five pitch. His sinker led the way with a 40% usage rate, sat in the low-90s, and featured a lot of arm side run. He complimented the sinker with four different glove side offerings - a mid-80s slider, sweeper, and cutter along with a low-80s curveball. Although all four of his secondaries worked to the glove side with similar velocity, he separated them well via shape. The slider was a gyro shape while the sweeper featured far more horizontal movement with over ten inches of vertical separation off of the sweeper. The cutter worked on the same plane as the sweeper but with less sweep and was about four ticks faster. He only threw two curveballs that flashed a lot of downer break and got whiffs on each. His cutter was the only pitch that didn’t get any whiffs and was in the zone 48.6% of the time overall, roughly average command. All three of his put-away pitches on the strikeouts were via the slider. Expect to see a lot of Gibson this spring as he could be competing for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Elmer Rodriguez, NYY, Baseball Focus #49

• Yankees #2 ranked prospect on the Yankees top 10 made his spring debut on Friday afternoon in the same game as Trey Gibson. The 22 year old right-hander threw three scoreless innings for New York, allowing three hits while striking out one. The one strikeout victim was Samuel Basallo, Orioles consensus top prospect and one of the top debuted prospects in the game.

  Rodriguez threw 42 pitches across his three innings of work, flexing a six pitch mix. He was primarily fastball-changeup, but also threw three other offerings over 10% of the time. The fastball and the sinker, which he threw five of, were both working in the mid-90s, while the sinker looked like the better pitch. The fastball shape was not great due to a lack of spin, but the sinker featured an above-average amount of arm-side run at 18.7 inches. He threw the sinker exclusively to right-handed hitters, while the fastball was thrown primarily to left-handed hitters. By pitch metrics, his slider which he only threw three times was his next best offering as it was his highest spun pitch and had a lot of glove side movement, likely fitting better in the sweeper bucket. He mixed in the changeup to both right-handers and left-handers despite it’s weaker shape and lack of separation off the sinker. Working about seven mph off the sinker, it does a good job of inducing a lot of soft contact. The high-80s cutter lacked in shape but was a good bridge between the slider and curveball and was thrown primarily to left-handers. The high-70s curveball was a bit slurvy and also thrown only to left-handers.

  Rodriguez struck out more hitters than any other pitcher in Minor League Baseball in 2025, so he knows how to make the deep arsenal work. The pitch-ability certainly stands out and gives him a high floor outlook as he pushes towards a 2026 MLB debut. This is Rodriguez’s first big league spring training and first spring camp in a Yankees uniform as he spent the last three with the Red Sox.

Carlos Lagrange, NYY

• Unranked on the Baseball Focus top 50, but coming in at #4 on the Yankees top 10, Carlos Lagrange turned heads in his spring debut. In 2.2 innings of work on Saturday afternoon against the Tigers, it was all about stuff for the 6’7”, 250 pound right-hander. The results were a bit scattered as he gave up one run via the long ball along with three hits and two walks, but there was no denying the electricity of his pitch mix.

  His fastball averaged 99.8 mph, reached triple digits seven times, and topped out at 102.4 mph. He spun it up to 2500 RPMs at times , an elite number and a reason why he was able to return an average IVB of 17.6 on the pitch with some cutting action at times. It’s a genuinely elite fastball when located properly. He threw three more pitches at least 15% of the time, mixing and matching well. His sweeper worked in the low-80s with up to 15 inches of glove side break and landed in the zone 46.2% of the time. His slider/cutter could use some additional vertical separation off the rest of his arsenal, but yielded a 50% whiff rate and landed in the zone 70% of the time. His changeup was tagged for the home run, a 92 mph changeup that floated through the middle of the zone and parked by Corey Julks. From a metric stand point, the changeup performed well, working nearly ten inches vertically and 8-10 mph off of the fastball with a lot of arm side run.

  Lagrange is another Yankees pitcher you should expect to see a lot of this spring. Improved command and use of the arsenal will be the two main factors to keep tabs on throughout the month.

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