MLB Spring Training 2015: Who's Hot, Who's Not Through First Week of Games?

OK, first the obligatory caveat: It's spring training—and the beginning of spring training at that. Drawing firm conclusions now would be like critiquing a movie 26 seconds into the first trailer. On the other hand, Major League Baseball is back!

You want to talk about it. We want to talk about it.

So let's talk. (Before you proceed, feel free to check out my primer on spring training freak-outs to avoid—then come back and call me a hypocrite for even writing this article.)

To further clarify, for our purposes, "hot" and "not" simply mean this: Did the player in question have a good first week of action or a bad one? Those slapped with the "hot" label won't necessarily stay hot (duh), and those on the "not" side of the ledger are far from doomed (double duh).

Still, it's better to charge out of the gate strong and worse to, say, get injured. (In that case "not hot" doesn't imply fault, just bad luck.)

Oh, and bonus points are awarded to players who were looking to make a strong early impression—a newbie on a team, an injury bounce-back case—and have done exactly that in the early (early) going.

All right, enough preamble; on to the hotness and notness!

Hot: Marcus Semien, Oakland A's

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Sorry, A's fans. You know the drill: another season, another crop of cost-controlled players for you to meet, greet and ultimately bid adieu. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Marcus Semien—acquired from the Chicago White Sox as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade—arrived in the Cactus League as the presumptive starting shortstop. If you're looking for early positive signs, you've got them.

Entering play Saturday, Semien is 6-for-9 with a pair of home runs, including a two-run shot off San Francisco Giants ace and World Series hero Madison Bumgarner.

Semien has 300 big league at-bats under his belt in parts of two seasons with Chicago. But he's still just 24 years old with an attendant, hungry youngster's mindset.

"There's always something to prove, no matter what position you're in," he said Tuesday after his power display against the Giants, per CSN Bay Area. "You want to prove you can do it at this level. You want to take advantage of every opportunity you can. Right now, I'm trying to do that."

Not: Hunter Pence, San Francisco Giants

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Unfortunately, if not inevitably, this nascent spring has featured a rash of bumps, bruises and breaks.

Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish exited his Cactus League debut with tightness in his right triceps. White Sox left-hander Chris Sale fractured his foot while climbing off the back of his truck. The Pittsburgh Pirates' Corey Hart cut his foot on a hot tub.

But we're giving the ignoble early-injury nod to the Giants' Hunter Pence—particularly because he's been such an irrepressible iron man.

Pence has played in 383 straight regular-season games, the longest active streak in MLB. That'll almost certainly end after hard-throwing Chicago Cubs minor leaguer Corey Black drilled the Giants right fielder on the forearm Thursday.

X-rays revealed a fracture that will likely cost Pence six to eight weeks, per ESPN.com's Christina Kahrl.

The silver lining? This classy Twitter exchange between Black and Pence, which should serve as a template for all future accidental beanings.

Hot: Carlos Rodon, Chicago White Sox

Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

The aforementioned Chris Sale injury was undeniably bad news on the South Side, but it did open the door for rookie Carlos Rodon to crack the White Sox's Opening Day rotation.

The No. 3 pitching prospect in all of baseball, according to ESPN Insider Keith Law, Rodon made his spring debut Friday and acquitted himself admirably.

Rodon twirled a pair of scoreless frames against the San Diego Padres, surrendering one hit and striking out four.

As Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune reports, "Rodon hadn't been slated for a spring training start other than in a B game or a split-squad game" until Sale went down. So it's no secret that this is an audition.

Rodon credited grizzled backstop Geovany Soto for steadying his nerves. "[He said], 'Just stay relaxed. Do what you do. It's still baseball,'" Rodon recalled after his start, per Kane. "It's nice to have a veteran like that come up to you and calm you down."

Not: Rusney Castillo, Boston Red Sox

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

The Red Sox's outfield competition was supposed to be among the fiercest and most interesting this spring, and it still might be.

For now, Rusney Castillo has some catching up to do.

The touted 27-year-old Cuban strained his left oblique Tuesday, and skipper John Farrell initially said Castillo would be "down for some time," per Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald.

The injury looks less severe than originally feared, as The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham reported Thursday. Still, every game Castillo misses is another chance for the much-hyped Mookie Betts and defensive wizard Jackie Bradley Jr. to gain a step.

Add Shane Victorino, the presumed right fielder—plus fringe contenders Allen Craig and Daniel Nava—and you have a complicated picture.

Ultimately, Castillo will jog between the lines at Fenway. The Red Sox didn't sign him to a seven-year, $72.5 million pact to bury him in the minors.

But if he wants an Opening Day nod, Castillo will have to get on the diamond and produce—sooner than later.

Hot: Matt Harvey, New York Mets

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

That sound you heard Friday? The distinctive pop of Matt Harvey's fastball hitting a waiting catcher's mitt—and a million Mets fans exhaling.

Harvey, you'll recall, made the All-Star team and finished tied for fourth in Cy Young Award balloting in 2013 before undergoing Tommy John surgery that same fall.

Now, at long last, the 25-year-old right-hander has made his return to the mound in front of a crowd that ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin said "resembled more closely the playoffs than an early spring training game."

Harvey didn't disappoint, flirting with triple-digit pitch speeds and tossing a pair of scoreless, hitless innings. We're a long way from Opening Day, but the faithful can be forgiven for drooling over a rotation headlined by Harvey, reigning National League Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom and 24-year-old stud-in-the-making Zack Wheeler.

"I feel," Harvey told Rubin after his exhibition comeback, "like I've never left."