With MLB spring training games in full swing, scouts are descending on Florida and Arizona to get their first looks at live action. Plenty of the players they are watching are new versions of themselves, whether they spent the offseason developing a new pitch, remaking their swing or simply adding strength.
As the buzz around those players grows, here are 10 standouts who have impressed evaluators in the early days of spring training.
Cole Ragans, SP, Kansas City Royals
The comparison sounded too ridiculous to be true. One evaluator, smitten by the 26-year-old pitcher, said of Ragans: "He's left-handed deGrom." To comp a pitcher who has thrown all of 136 major league innings with Jacob deGrom, Major League Baseball's undisputed king of stuff, feels like an exaggeration.
Well, look at Ragans' first start this spring: His fastball averaged 99.2 mph. He threw one at 101 with 20 inches of induced vertical break. Not a single starter in MLB last season hit 101 with that sort of vert, which means the ball doesn't drop nearly as much as an average fastball. Ragans throws a four-seamer, changeup, slider, curveball and, perhaps best of all, a cutter that was sitting at 95. In the past, injuries kept Ragans from reaching his promise. If he can stay healthy, he has the makings of one of the best pitchers in all of baseball.
Jackson Merrill, SS/OF, San Diego Padres
Merrill ranked No. 12 on Kiley McDaniel's Top 100 prospects list, although his appeal is as much due to his natural position as his bat. The Padres have a shortstop (for this year at least) in Ha-Seong Kim, but with two outfield spots open alongside right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., 6-foot-3, 195-pound Merrill has dabbled in center and left field. If the Padres sign a free agent outfielder -- former Padre Tommy Pham, Michael A. Taylor and Adam Duvall all remain available -- it could potentially bump 20-year-old Merrill back to the minors. For now, though, multiple sources have lauded Merrill's work ethic, and his left-handed bat is good enough that it would surprise no one if he is in the lineup when the Padres face the Los Angeles Dodgers to start the season in Seoul, South Korea.
Tyler Glasnow, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
After being traded to the Dodgers and signing a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension in December, 30-year-old Glasnow has spent the spring working on a two-seam fastball that's running at 99 mph. Complementing his elite slider and curveball with a blistering sinker to go along with his high-velocity four-seam fastball borders on unfair.
The Dodgers are already excited to reap the benefits of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto's arrivals. A healthy Glasnow, pitching in cavernous Dodger Stadium, could be every bit as important an addition as Los Angeles looks to win its first championship since the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
James Wood, OF, Washington Nationals
Every spring, it seems, one uber-talented prospect comes into camp and bullies himself onto the Opening Day roster. This is not to suggest Wood will break camp with the Nationals, who are in the midst of a rebuild. But he's certainly making the case for a spot.
Wood, 6-6 and 234 pounds, leads MLB with three home runs in spring training, and they're not cheapies. He has Aaron Judge-, Giancarlo Stanton-, Ohtani-level power, and all that's keeping him from the big leagues is inexperience. He ended 2023 hitting .248/.334/.492 as a 20-year-old in Double-A, and perhaps Washington will return him to the minors for a touch more seasoning. Soon enough he'll be in the majors -- maybe in Washington's left field, where the man for whom he was traded, Juan Soto, used to roam.
A.J. Puk, SP, Miami Marlins
Once a top starting pitching prospect, Puk transitioned into the bullpen during his debut season with Oakland in 2019 and has grown into a solid reliever. Now the Marlins are hoping for more. Puk came to camp with a new two-seam fastball and split-fingered fastball to go along with his four-seamer and slider, and the addition of those pitches has emboldened Miami to start him again.
With Jesus Luzardo and Eury Perez, the Marlins already have two of the best stuff guys in baseball, and if 6-foot-7 Puk can come anywhere close to his strikeout-to-walk ratio of last season -- 6-1 -- he's got a chance to be very, very good.
Chase DeLauter, OF, Cleveland Guardians
At one point during the 2022 draft process, DeLauter was in the conversation to go first overall. He was hitting .435/.576/.828 for James Madison when he broke his left foot running the bases; three months later, he dropped to Cleveland with the No. 16 pick. While an ankle injury shortened his first full year in pro ball, DeLauter hit .355/.417/.528 in 57 games.
Cleveland's outfield has long been the weakest part of a strong organization, and 6-4, 235-pound DeLauter -- whose follow-through-free left-handed swing still manages to generate immense power -- could find himself locking down the Guardians' right-field job as soon as Opening Day.
DL Hall, SP, Milwaukee Brewers
When trading a player the quality of Corbin Burnes, landing a strong return is imperative, especially for a team like Milwaukee that consistently operates on bottom-10 payrolls. In 6-2, 200-pound Hall, the Brewers landed a hard-throwing, hyperathletic left-hander whose stuff screams front end of the rotation but whose control has screamed future in the bullpen.
Milwaukee's staff is bullish on Hall as a starter, and a future rotation with him and Jacob Misiorowski -- the 6-foot-7 flamethrower who might have the best raw stuff in organized baseball -- is a scary prospect for National League Central teams.
Cole Irvin, SP, Baltimore Orioles
Already having added Burnes, the Orioles have a supercharged version of Irvin ready to join their rotation. Irvin, 30, debuted in 2019 as a classic control-and-command left-hander, his average fastball not even 90 mph. Last year his velocity jumped to 92, and in his first outing this spring, Irvin was sitting at 94. He popped one heater at 95.9, the hardest he has ever thrown in a game. Velocity isn't everything, but among qualified lefty starters in 2023, only Luzardo, Framber Valdez, Blake Snell and Yusei Kikuchi threw harder.
Kyle Bradish's tender elbow might portend trouble, and John Means' return being behind schedule isn't ideal, but among Burnes, Irvin, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and Tyler Wells, the Orioles have the depth to weather it.
Cristopher Sanchez, SP, Philadelphia Phillies
Wildness had hindered Sanchez until he finally stuck in the Phillies' rotation last season, and he rewarded their patience by allowing just 16 walks in 18 starts. He showed up this spring with two extra ticks on a fastball that's now sitting at 94 mph, and he has added a cutter to his top-of-the-line changeup and effective sinker.
Betting on 27-year-old pitchers to take the leap can be a fool's errand, but the early indications make Sanchez a real candidate to do so. If he can join Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez for a full season in the rotation and continue to generate ground balls -- his 57% rate was fourth among all MLB pitchers with at least 90 innings last season -- the Phillies' hopes of catching the Atlanta Braves in the NL East get that much better.
Owen Caissie, OF Chicago Cubs
The Cubs acquired a pre-pro debut Caissie from the Padres in the Yu Darvish trade, and he finally broke out last season as a 20-year-old who was pushed to Double-A. Caissie combines the two qualities every team seeks in a hitter: huge power and fantastic swing decisions. Although the Cubs don't have room for him right now with Ian Happ in left field and Seiya Suzuki in right, that's only a minor problem for a team with a prospect cache (infielder Matt Shaw, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, right-handers Cade Horton and Ben Brown) that is ranked as the best in the National League by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel.
Five more names worth following:
Colt Keith, 2B, Detroit Tigers: Long seen as a bat-first prospect, his athleticism at second has opened eyes.
Jackson Kowar, RP, Seattle Mariners: The latest Mariners bullpen reclamation project, Kowar is sitting 98 with his fastball and improved his slider.
Nick Burdi, RP, New York Yankees: The 31-year-old could grab a spot in the Yankees' bullpen with his 100 mph-plus fastball.
Colton Cowser, OF, Baltimore Orioles: Huge power, excellent eye. Only question is where he grabs at-bats in the Orioles' loaded lineup.
Bryce Miller, SP, Seattle Mariners: He added a filthy splitter to a big fastball (average velocity last year: 95.1 mph) and dastardly slider. It's a Logan Gilbert starter kit.