Anne Rogers has the skinny on the Royals Spring Breakout roster:
What is Spring Breakout?
In 2026, MLB Spring Breakout will again be a four-day event showcasing baseball’s future — the current stars of Minor League Baseball – in 16 exhibition games played between teams composed of each MLB organization’s top prospects. The third edition will be held from March 19-22 at Grapefruit and Cactus League stadiums during Spring Training.
In 2027, Spring Breakout will be expanded into a single-elimination tournament
format, with champions being crowned in both the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues.
I give Manfred a lot of grief for, well, the giant pile of stuff he’s earned it for. But I like the Spring Breakout game – it’s a cool idea. And I like that they’re tinkering with it to make it even better. Next year’s format will give something to half pay attention to during that time when Spring Training starts to drag on in the second half of March.
Lots of World Baseball Classic talk. At MLB.com, Mark Feinsand wrote: “There are lots of stars on Team Venezuela — and they all look up to Salvy” and it’s easy to understand why:
“When you play representing your country, it’s different,” Perez said. “It’s a unique feeling. It’s like a seventh game in a World Series; something that players have to be there and to get excited when they hear the fans or the people from Venezuela supporting you, when you hear the national anthem.”
At The Athletic ($), Jason Jones profiles Bobby Witt Jr ahead of the WBC:
In one of the true great American debates, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has taken his stance.
It’s Whataburger over In-N-Out. Regardless of what his West Coast teammates say.
“They’re always on me, like In-N-Out is better, this and that,” Witt said. “I don’t really give them time of day. I know in my heart what I taste.”
We’re going to talk about this for a second. Thankfully, this isn’t a California-based blog or I might get some hate mail. But I don’t get the love for In-N-Out. And I’m grading it against other fast-food burgers – I’m not expecting to find culinary nirvana here. But even on that scale, it’s a really generic hamburger. But, hey, if you speak some secret code language, you can make it slightly less generic. Slightly. Best I can tell is that it’s the local childhood comfort food for a lot of people on the West Coast. And they attach that sentimental value to a really mediocre food product.*
*I could link to all the silliness of us plebes dunking on CEOs awkwardly trying their own food. But it got Mickey D’s more publicity than if they had spent millions on a Super Bowl ad so who really is the sucker, here.
It sounds highly unlikely to pass (as governments love handouts to billionaires), but a Missouri state senator is trying to pull back some of the state’s funding offer for the Royals:
Sen. Tracy McCreery, a St. Louis Democrat, introduced a bill repealing the “Show Me Sports Investment Act,” a bill passed during a special session last year offering state funding for up to 50% of stadium costs for professional sports teams.
The bill was the state’s largest effort to retain the teams after Jackson County voters rejected a proposal to renew a ⅜ cent sales tax from 2031 to 2071 to build a new Royals stadium and renovate Arrowhead.
“The Chiefs have announced they’re moving to Kansas, and as far as I can tell, the Royals have not indicated that this legislation is going to help them stay in the state,” McCreery said.
There were a couple of posts from the Royals about Royals.tv being available starting yesterday. Do with that what you will:
The Royals official Reddit account talked about it, too. (I think that’s the Royals official Reddit account – I guess I have no way of verifying that)
I don’t think anyone linked to this Davy Andews Fangraphs story from yesterday about the Royals signing Starling Marte:
Still, you can see what the Royals are doing here. Caglianone is young and exciting, and despite the ugly numbers, he ran a .321 xwOBA last year, miles above his .239 wOBA. If he learns some plate discipline and breaks out, he’ll break out in a big way, and his ugly outfield defense is likely to improve regardless. If Collins can play at something approaching his 2025 level, if Thomas can raise the meager offensive bar in center, if Marte can chip in some above-average hitting, this outfield could be good. Like, actually good. None of this is guaranteed. Some of it is unlikely. But it’s possible, and it creates a lot more margin for error than the Kansas City outfield has had in a long time.
It’s listicle season.
Also at Fangraphs, but in their fantasy section, Vlad Selder makes bold predictions:
First Base – Vinnie Pasquantino hits 40 home runs
It’s possible we have not yet seen the best of Pasquatch. Pasquantino is a popular player and an easy guy to root for. The big guy is friendly, active on social media, and has a love for baseball analytics. He is one of just eight hitters averaging 105 or more RBIs over the last two seasons, and that’s with missing 33 games. He maintained a BB/K over 1.00 in the minors, and though it’s 0.61 in the majors, that is still above big-league average, and he’s a tough guy to punch out (13.5% career strikeout rate). Pasquantino set a career high in homers with 32 last season. Models project a slight regression, around 27, which is a very reasonable expectation. Those doubting 40 is possible would point toward league-average power metrics, such as a 91 average EV, 9% barrel rate, 45% hard-hit rate, and .191 ISO.
Moreover, his bat speed (72.5) is mediocre, and his launch angle of 16.6 degrees over the last two seasons could use a slight increase. Pasquantino’s plate discipline has been slowly waning over these past few years, and with Kauffman Stadium’s outfield walls moving in, Vinnie P might be interested in selling out a bit of contact (85% career) for more power. Kauffman’s dimension shifts are a big deal. The left and right field fences are coming in by 9-10 feet, and the wall heights are reduced by up to 18 inches. There is no debate about more homers being hit there in 2026 than in past seasons. Vinnie P may not be a batting average stalwart like he was in the minors and his rookie season, but that’s ok because the HR/RBI numbers will be epic. I believe the Royals will win the AL Central, and that Pasquantino crushes 40 this year.
At CBS Sports, Dayn Perry with an AL Central preview. He asks one question about every team:
Biggest question: Will Jac Caglianone be the hitter they need?
There’s a lot to like about the Royals as they angle to notch a third straight winning season in 2026. There’s rotation depth, and ace Cole Ragans is a bounce-back candidate this season. The Matt Strahm signing was a nice targeted strike that improves the bullpen. Bobby Witt Jr. will likely be in the American League MVP race once again and Maikel Garcia is one of the most underrated players in the game. They could, however, use additional power to complement what’s provided by Witt, Salvador Perez, and Vinnie Pasquantino. That brings us to Caglianone. The University of Florida product and the No. 6 overall pick of the 2024 Draft has big-time power, but getting to that power against more advanced competition is an issue thanks to his occasional swing-and-miss problems. Across 232 plate appearances with KC last season as a rookie, Cags had an OPS+ of just 49 and chased pitches outside the zone way too often. None of this is overly concerning for a 22 year old who was facing big-league pitching for the first time, but the Royals need Caglianone to flip the switch in 2026. Last season, KC ranked 26th in MLB in home runs and 18th in slugging, and Caglianone could address those deficits in direct fashion if he finds something close to his expected level of production in 2026.
At MLB, Mike Petriello puts all 30 teams into tiers.
Tier 6: The “what if you have a top-5 pitcher and hitter” zone?
The rosters have questions, but having a pair of superstars would sure paper over a lot of issues.
Royals
PiratesIt’s now been more than a decade since either of these teams did anything of note; the 2015 season where the Pirates won 98 games and the Royals won 95 and a ring seems like it came a century ago. But nor are we in the darkest days of 100-loss rebuild seasons, either, and a big part of that is simple: Superstars…
The Royals already have the hitting superstar in Bobby Witt Jr., potentially a second in Jac Caglianone, who is impressing this spring, and possibly even a third, depending on how strongly you feel about Maikel Garcia’s breakout. What they’re missing is a true ace to lead a rotation that has pretty good depth, but no one you ideally want starting Game 1 of a playoff series. Unless, of course, they do. Two seasons ago, Cole Ragans looked like that ace. Last year, he missed time with a shoulder issue, but also seemingly took a big step back with a 4.67 ERA. But he also increased his strikeout rate by a lot, and the underlying metrics were excellent (2.67 xERA), and so far as the health goes – so far, so good this spring. A healthy, productive Ragans changes everything.
Blogs!
At Inside the Crown ($), David Lesky tries to project the pitching half of the roster:
Overall, I think the pitching will continue to be the number one strength of this club. There are regression candidates at both levels, but I also think there’s enough depth with this group that if someone does struggle or get hurt that there is an ability to cover the innings. I think the two guys who are absolutely needed, and Soren and I talked about this on a recent podcast, are Ragans and Erceg. Losing either is a bigger blow than losing any other pitcher on the staff. I’d argue Strahm could be in there as well, given that he’s the lefty who can get strikeouts, but I think they can figure out how to cover that too. And, truly, they’d cover Ragans or Erceg, but I don’t think anyone has the upside for the season of either of those two. Even with that, the Royals should find themselves in games because of this group, and if the offense can reach its potential, it’ll be enough to win a lot of games.
Cool to see that Mike Gillespie found a new home. They’re assembling quite a writing team over at Royals Keep. Today, Gillespie does roster projections:
No matter what happens in spring games, at least four things are certain about the outfield. Isbel will start in center, Caglianone will get a shot at right field redemption after his horrendous 2025 debut (so far, so good — he’s slashing .400/.550/.733 this spring), newcomer Isaac Collins is the left fielder, and Starling Marte is here to play. Isbel’s defense is too good to pass up, and Caglianone’s potential is too great to ignore. The club acquired Collins to boost its everyday outfield offense, not its bench depth, and newcomer Marte’s .270/.335/.410 line and nine homers in 98 games with the 2025 Mets prove he has something left to offer. Marte and Thomas won’t play every day, but expect Quatraro to get them in the lineup often.
Blog Roundup:
- Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep: Carter Jensen, Kendry Chourio, David Shields, and Blake Mitchell Headline Royals’ Spring Breakout Player Pool
- Jacob Milham at KOK: Royals History: Every straight steal of home in franchise history
- Caleb Moody at KOK: Sports Illustrated ranking of Royals’ Cole Ragans among MLB aces feels disrespectful
We’re going to do a traditional Friday Rumblings OT down below. But if video games aren’t your jam, let’s throw something else out there.
We’re starting to get well clear of the holiday season and into Spring, even if the weather doesn’t feel like it
Do you have travel planning for the upcoming year that you want to share with everyone? Where are you going? Where would you like to go? Anything on that pesky bucket list that you’d like to mark off?
As mentioned above, we’re going to do an old school Friday OT and look at a video game we haven’t before.
Considering the franchise’s place in video game history, we haven’t looked at Super Mario Bros all that much:
- July 14, 2017: Super Mario Bros Theme
- December 8, 2017: Super Mario Bros 2
- May 11, 2018: Super Mario Bros 3
- February 7, 2020: Super Mario 3D Land
My son caught me playing Super Mario Bros 3 one day and he wanted to try. While it’s an amazing game, it’s relentlessly hard with the steep learning curve that many (most) NES games had.
After some frustration, he wanted to know if there was an easier Mario game. While he wanted to try SMB2, it’s not really a true Mario game (Doki Doki Panic reskin). So I suggested Super Mario World, which is (a little) more forgiving. Also, I’m always happy to introduce him to games that have appeared on “greatest games ever created” lists.
He’s had a lot of fun with it, particularly with dad’s help. I’ve caught him trying to grind levels without me, which makes “dad me” proud and “12-year-old me” give a nod of respect. We’re still barely halfway through the game and that’s not even counting the 96 exits. I’m just talking about the levels without the secret exits.
It changed the flying mechanic from SMB3’s raccoon tail to a feather that gives Mario a cape. The cape feather can first be found in Donut Plains 1, and it had a perfect tutorial area to practice flying and get extra lives.
Of course, this is the game that introduced the iconic Yoshi. I loved that different shells gave him four different powers. Then, when you get to Star World, you could get Yoshis of different colors.
Speaking of Star World, anyone who got there remembered what came after that. Yes, it was the Special Zone. Those were the hard levels with 90s names like Gnarly, Tubular, and Mondo.
Finally, there was World 7. There were multiple ways you could get to Bowser. You could go through the straightforward Front Door . Or take secret exits to the Back Door.
For our Song of the Day, you can just skip straight to the end of the game:
