Cole Ragans is healthy and ready to compete, writes Jaylon Thompson.
The All-Star lefty — who missed a significant time in 2025 — is back. “I’m healthy and I feel good,” Ragans said.
“I’ve got some things to work on, obviously, but going into the offseason with a clear conscience of being healthy is a big thing.”
Anne Rogers writes that he wants to improve his slider.
“It was really good and performed really well to both sides, lefties and righties,” Ragans said. “I could take it in the zone, out of
the zone. It was firm. It was exactly what I wanted.”
In ‘24, the pitch was more inconsistent for Ragans, but he made do with what he had and still got fairly good results with it. He tweaked the grip heading into last year, and it was back to getting swing and miss and some chase in Ragans’ limited time on the mound – but the movement wasn’t what Ragans wanted.
“It got super depthy and was almost a baby curveball,” Ragans said. “… It was bigger and inconsistent. And just depthy, just straight down. I got some chase with it, some swing and miss with it, but it’s more so about putting it in the zone. I could never throw an 0-0 slider last year. In the grand scheme of things, I didn’t do well with that. And it’s something I do want to do.”
Craig Brown was blown away by the exit velocity on a ball hit by Jac Caglianone last week.
Add up the instances and what Jac Caglianone did to that baseball on Thursday has happened just 27 times in the regular season since 2008.
Sure, it’s spring training, but Jac Caglianone hit a baseball 120.2 mph! It was 120.2 mph!!! That moment, that destruction, is why the Royals are going to put him in the lineup pretty much every single day. Oh, and the fences at The K are coming in. What I’m saying is that when it comes to Cags, keep the faith. This could be quite fun.
David Lesky looks at how the Stephen Kolek injury could affect the rotation depth.
I think Bergert is the clear six right now, fighting with Noah Cameron to make the Opening Day rotation and ready if any of the others get hurt during spring. The seven now is either Luinder Avila, who Matt Quatraro continues to rave about, Mason Black, who has been outstanding this spring, or Bailey Falter, who is said to look great. I mentioned Kudrna had a tough day yesterday, well, he’s had a tough spring overall with eight runs on nine hits allowed in 3.1 innings with three walks. He’s…out. Steven Zobac is the other starter who could enter the fray, but I think he’s more of a midseason depth add.
Luinder Avila has been added to the Team Venezuela roster.
Carter Jensen is the only Royals prospect who was named on a composite of top 100 prospect rankings.
The Cardinals extend manager Oliver Marmol for two more years.
The Padres add outfielder Alex Verdugo on a minor league deal.
Mike Trout wants to have elite speed again.
Will the NL East be a three-team race?
Who will be the closer for the Rangers?
Which teams have the most 26-and-under talent in baseball?
The Rockies are embracing analytics to figure out how they can use their unique home field to their advantage.
Ryan Yarbrough joins the Team USA World Baseball Classic roster to replace Joe Ryan.
How Negro League ballpark Hinchliffe Stadium was brought back to life.
The Cardinals are unveiling “all-you-can-eat” seats.
Paul Skenes once caught a no-hitter thrown by Pete Crow-Armstrong and Masyn Winn as kids.
Former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini is sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Longtime umpire Bruce Froemming died this week at age 86.
Why eligibility and contracts over college athletes will continue to be litigated.
The Atlanta Falcons fire assistant coach LaTroy Lewis following sexual assault allegations.
Why have concert ticket prices gotten so expensive?
After taxing sugary foods, Thailand is set to tax salty foods.
Most cities aren’t getting as much winter weather as they used to.
Your song of the day is Spoon with Wild.
