Spring training storylines continue to unfold, which gives us plenty of MLB news to discuss. Today, let’s focus on a St. Louis Cardinals prospect who is impressing in camp, the San Francisco Giants manager who is not a fan of split-squad games, and a San Diego Padres pitcher fighting for a spot in the rotation.
St. Louis Cardinals news: Masyn Winn is doing it all this spring
Maybe the Cardinals not signing a big name free agent shortstop this offseason wasn’t such a head-scratching move.
Masyn Winn, ranked second among Cardinals prospects by MLB Pipeline, continues to impress this spring with his talents. After making a throw to first base clocked at 99.9 mph following a diving stop on Thursday, the 20-year-old Winn showed what he could do with a bat on Friday in an 8-3 win over the Miami Marlins.
435 feet off the bat of @MasynWinn pic.twitter.com/a3i0MDhAln
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) March 3, 2023
Even if he doesn’t break camp with the team, Wynn is showing that the future is certainly bright in the St. Louis infield.
Read more about his spring so far and his budding rivalry with top prospect Jordan Walker here.
MLB news: San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler not a fan of split-squad games
Split-squad games are as much a spring training tradition as snowbird fans getting sunburned, but Giants manager Gabe Kapler would be fine to see less of them … or at least less of them under certain circumstances.
On Friday, the Giants played the first of consecutive split-squad games and the first of four total split-squad affairs scheduled for San Francisco during spring training. Calling them a “puzzle and a mind-bending exercise,” Kapler said on Friday he wished for a simpler spring training schedule.
“In a perfect world, you’d have all day games throughout camp. You’d have a couple of off days built in like we have and then we would just be able to get our work in in our own ways with our own simulations and not be kind of pushed into this schedule,” Kapler said. “This is no knock on anybody. I understand why it’s scheduled like this, but back-to-back split-squad games, it’s a bear. No, not a huge fan.”
San Diego Padres news: Julio Teheran fighting for rotation spot
After being signed to a minor league deal this winter, the 32-year-old Teheran continues to impress for the Padres. On Friday against the Chicago Cubs, he scattered three hits over 3.0 scoreless innings of work while also striking out three. In two Cactus League starts, the right-hander has struck out four in five scoreless frames.
Teheran started one game for the Detroit Tigers in 2021 and did not see time on an MLB mound in 2022. He has some work to do in order to crack a deep Padres rotation, but he said after his Friday start he doesn’t feel the pressure of needing to perform in order to break camp with San Diego.
“That’s something that I don’t want to put in my head,” Teheran said. “I’ve obviously been in this situation and what I can control is going out there and getting people out. That’s what I’m really focused on. Just go out there and compete whenever I am needed and do to throw scoreless innings, but I don’t really have any pressure on me.”
The Padres would, however, fall to the Cubs by a 4-0 score, with seven Chicago pitchers combining to throw a no-hitter, the first spring no-hitter in Cubs history.