Winners and losers from Spring Training action on Saturday.
A couple of fellows named Almonte stood out during Spring Training games Saturday, — one for all the right reasons and one for all the wrong ones. Baltimore’s Chris Davis continued to appear rejuvenated from what has basically been a four-year slump.
Finally, the Yankees – in need of rotation certainty – got some from the most certain guy in baseball, Gerrit Cole.
Winner: Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees pitcher
Cole’s second spring start went exactly like his first…superbly. Facing the Detroit Tigers, Cole faced 10 batters and retired eight of them, two on strikeouts. The only two hits off him came on a looping fly ball and a seeing-eye grounder.
In his first 3.2 spring innings, Cole’s stats are impressive: a .154 opponents batting average, a 0.82 WHIP and a highly efficient 1.86 pitches per opponent.