MLB Spring Training: February 25 winners and losers
Loser: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds first base.
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The Reds are highly thought-of in the NL Central this summer. They’d be even more highly thought-of if Joey Votto starts to hit like Joey Votto.
Over the past three seasons, Votto’s batting average has tumbled from .320 to .284 and then to .261. He’s 36 this year and there are rumbles. Votto’s early spring performance isn’t quieting them.
Against the Mariners, Votto went hitless in his two at-bats with a whiff and a weak tap to first base. Four spring at-bats is obviously too early to draw conclusions, but the record does show that Votto so far is hitless.
Loser: Tommy LaStella, Los Angeles Angels second base
LaStella and David Fletcher are the principal combatants in a battle for the Angels starting second base position. Nobody’s drawing conclusions yet, but the early stages of this fight are all going Fletcher’s way.
LaStella’s chance opened Wednesday when the Angels took on the crosstown Dodgers. Assigned the leadoff spot in the batting order, LaStella grounded out in the first, grounded out again in the third, and lifted a fly out in the fifth. He is now hitless in five spring at-bats.
For the record, Fletcher is 2-for-4 with a double.
Loser: Tommy Edman, St. Louis Cardinals infielder
Players who have made the team almost never get more than two or three plate appearances during the first week of MLB spring training. Unless it’s a split-squad day, which Wednesday was for the Cardinals.
That meant Tommy Edman, projected to be the Cards’ starting third baseman, had to play all nine innings when his half of the Cards split-squad stood in against the Houston Astros. The result was pure punishment: In the 7-5 Cardinals victory, Edman went hitless and saw his spring batting average drop to .100.