It doesn't really matter that the Angels have a team OPS of .872 in spring training, and no one should care that Max Scherzer has an ERA of 5.93, or that postseason hero Steve Pearce is still looking for his first exhibition hit. Exhibition numbers don't carry much weight.
Mostly.
For some players, spring results can be important -- despite being generated in small samples, in the skewed and generally hitter-friendly conditions of the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues. Exhibition performance can represent one final element to consider for the talent evaluators who shape rosters, like that last letter of recommendation for a high school senior rounding out a college application. It probably doesn't matter, in the end, but it could matter.
Here are some players for whom spring numbers might matter in 2019:
Hunter Pence, Texas Rangers: He was constantly hammered by injuries the past four seasons and played just 389 games, and in 2018, he batted .226 with a .590 OPS. He turns 36 in April. So any knucklehead can see what the narrative was on Pence going into spring training, after he signed with the Rangers -- that his career might be at an end. But Pence has gotten good results this spring, with damage. In 35 plate appearances, he has four doubles, three homers and a .486 on-base percentage, and while nobody sane would suggest this is an indication of what's to come in 2019, he's demonstrating he could contribute for Texas.
He's a native of Fort Worth, attended Texarkana College, began his career with the Astros and is a high-energy player who has been a positive clubhouse presence. Even if he wasn't posting crooked numbers, Pence probably would make sense for the rebuilding Rangers.
But if he keeps hitting, he could force his way into the lineup of rookie manager Chris Woodward more often.
Greg Bird and Luke Voit, New York Yankees: Unless the Yankees are blindsided by some weird injuries that alter the expected shape of their roster, they're only going to keep one of their two primary first basemen. They will keep Voit, or they will keep Bird, and the guy they don't keep will go back to Triple-A, a level both already graduated from in the past. Voit did big damage for the Yankees in the 2½ months after they acquired him from the Cardinals last summer, and he opened spring training as the favorite to keep the first base job. So far, he's doing his thing -- two homers in 23 plate appearances, with four walks, for a .970 OPS. Bird has been producing this spring, as well, hitting .348 in 28 plate appearances, with four extra-base hits and five walks.
Victor Robles, Washington Nationals: He will begin this season as the favorite to win the NL Rookie of the Year award, given that the talented center fielder is expected to get a lot of playing time. The Nationals love his defense, love his speed, and love his ability to get on base. The only way he won't play regularly is if he struggles at the plate, and if that happens, Dave Martinez has an obvious alternative: Michael Taylor will probably get more at-bats.
But in exhibition play this year, Robles has demonstrated why the Nationals refused to include him in any offer for J.T. Realmuto -- he's batting .346, with five walks and six strikeouts.
Dexter Fowler, St. Louis Cardinals: The 2018 season represented Year 2 of Fowler's five-year, $82.5 million contract, and even when he struggled, the Cardinals' investment in him assured him of opportunity. Fowler posted an OPS of just .576, but he even with injuries, Fowler played in 90 games and amassed 334 plate appearances. The St. Louis front office needed to give him every chance to hit.
He might not necessarily have that mulligan this year, however, and probably needs to show progress sooner rather than later. The Cardinals' leadership upgraded the middle of the order, trading for Paul Goldschmidt, and augmented the bullpen with Andrew Miller; St. Louis is pushing to win this year in the highly competitive NL Central. If Fowler doesn't hit, the Cardinals have other options, like Tyler O'Neill and Jose Martinez.
Fowler's production so far this spring: 5-for-25, zero walks and seven strikeouts, with a double.
Darwinzon Hernandez, Boston Red Sox: He's left-handed and 22 years old, and the organization has high hopes for him. But with a solid showing in camp so far, he might be accelerating his big league timetable. Hernandez has thrown seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and four walks and striking out 10, and it seems more than likely Boston will follow through on plans to return him to the minors. After all, he has never pitched above Double-A, and he has never thrown more than 107 innings in any season as a pro.
But the Red Sox front office is looking for bullpen heroes, and in a spring when a lot of the Boston relief candidates have had problems getting through innings unscathed, Hernandez is intriguing. He opened some eyes in camp, undoubtedly.
Scott Kingery and Maikel Franco, Philadelphia Phillies: The club's front office is all in, signing Bryce Harper after trading for Realmuto and Jean Segura and landing Andrew McCutchen. The Phillies have established players inked in at every spot in the lineup ... other than at third base, where there is some uncertainty. Franco is the incumbent, in theory, but he had more than his share of ups and downs in recent seasons and it seems inevitable that whoever generates more offense is going to get the bulk of the playing time at this spot.
This spring, Kingery is 6-for-30 with 11 strikeouts; Franco is 5-for-25 with one walk and seven strikeouts. The Phillies front office would probably love for one or the other to start racking up production and seize the job.
Minnesota Twins mashers: Minnesota stacked its roster with good old-fashioned power hitters, with Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron and Lucas Duda all acquired over the winter -- and don't forget about Tyler Austin, picked up from the Yankees last summer, or Miguel Sano, another designated hitter-type who has been sidelined recently. The days of the Twins' first baseman or DH slapping singles to left field probably ended with the retirement of Joe Mauer.
Cruz is going to take up the bulk of the at-bats at DH, presumably, because of the $12 million Minnesota spent on him. But for Cron and Duda, there are at-bats to be won at first base -- and in the first half of spring, Cron has a .971 OPS, Duda .804. Austin is 10-for-25 in exhibition play so far.