2015 MLB Spring Training: 5 Players to Watch Before Games Matter

Spring training is the best time of the year when it comes to baseball. All of the teams are an equal distance from getting to the promised land of a World Series—except the Philadelphia Phillies; they’re just terrible—and fans have a chance to watch their favorite teams play without the pressure of actual wins and losses.

It is also a perfect time for every mom-and-pop expert to tell you which players you should be watching in spring training, whether it be for the intriguing storylines or just the pure entertainment of watching them play, even though none of it really makes a difference in the long run.

So, without further ado, here are five of those players to keep an eye on before Opening Day.

Alex Rodriguez

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

It says a lot that spring training is less than a week old and yet it feels like the coverage of Alex Rodriguez is already getting a little bit tired.

Perhaps the biggest storyline of the spring, the return of the former superstar will be overhyped but also necessary.

With an aging roster, the New York Yankees need Rodriguez to perform at a competent level from the designated hitter spot he is likely to take over this season. With A-Rod having not played professional baseball in nearly two years before this past Wednesday, there were a lot of unknowns about his return.

The fans don’t seem to have turned on him as strongly as anticipated—some were even cheering when he singled in his first at-bat according to USA Today—but if he starts to struggle as March drags on, it will be interesting to see what the supporters' perception of him becomes.

However you feel about A-Rod after the performance-enhancing drug suspension, this is borderline must-watch stuff. If he succeeds, it will be a great redemption story for a player nobody expected it from. If he fails, though, the fans could turn on him quickly, and it will be equally intriguing to see what the Yankees do with him.

Giancarlo Stanton

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

This isn’t going to be one of those articles that analyzes whether Miami Marlins superstar Giancarlo Stanton can return from a facial injury that sidelined him at the end of the 2014 season.

Spoiler alert: He can, and he will.

No, the main reason you should watch Stanton this spring is because he is an absolute delight to watch play. As the player with the biggest contract in the history of MLB, according to Baseball Prospectus, Stanton lives up to the hype as one of the game's best players.

While players like Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen might be better, Stanton plays for a team that doesn’t get a lot of national coverage because of the poor fan attendance numbers, so a chance to watch him hit should be taken advantage of whenever it crops up.

Plus, his new batting helmet with a football-style facemask is pretty cool—an added bonus to an already entertaining player.

Nelson Cruz

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Nelson Cruz was the surprise of the season last year when he joined the Baltimore Orioles. Although expectations weren’t sky-high, the designated hitter lived up to and outdid all of them, putting together a career year with a league-leading 40 home runs.

Now, after his one-year stint with the Orioles, Cruz is in Seattle on a much larger deal than the year before, as reported by ESPN, with expectations also skyrocketing from a year earlier.

Last year, the Seattle Mariners finished in the bottom half of the league in every major batting category, and they will be looking to Cruz to spearhead a rebound season—and possibly a playoff berth.

It is probably a little crazy to expect the exact production out of Cruz that he had last year with the Orioles, but if he can stay healthy for the entire season, his numbers should take only a slight dip, which is great news for Seattle.

Spring training will give us a first glance at Cruz and whether an extra year has taken a toll on his body or if he is ready to be the offensive juggernaut he was in 2014.

Kris Bryant

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

So much has already been written about the Chicago Cubs’ elite prospect, Kris Bryant. After tearing up the minors last season, the 23-year-old third baseman looks primed to make his debut in the big leagues this year.

But the biggest question is when.

His impact on the Cubs would be immediate with the prolific hitting he displayed in the lower leagues, but as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (h/t CBS Chicago) points out, the team could hold Bryant in the minors for another few weeks in an attempt to keep him from becoming a free agent for an extra year.

Free agency for Bryant is way down the road, though, so for right now, let's just enjoy what he brings to the table in spring. A player who hit 43 total homers last season, and one with the talent to hit 30 home runs and sport a .300 average in the majors, Bryant is one of the more entertaining players on any team in the league.

Since he might not be making his way to MLB Extra Innings for an extra couple of weeks, this is the best time to get acquainted with a player who could be the future of the National League.

Manny Machado

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

When Manny Machado went down last August, there was a dread that set in for Orioles fans across the country. The future of the franchise, and one of the best young players in the league, was going to finish his second straight year early and go through another season-ending knee surgery.

While he's not the best hitter in the majors, Machado makes up for it by being an elite defender and is a vital part of the future in Baltimore. So a return to the lineup Wednesday, per The Associated Press (h/t Fox Sports), was a good sign for many—but there are still worries.

Even if he does return to full strength by Opening Day, there will always be the niggling feeling in the back of minds that this next play could be another knee injury that ends the season before expected.

Machado is worth watching whenever he is on the field because he has the ability to make plays like this one against the Yankees. But in spring training, more eyes than usual will be focused on the youngster and his apparently fragile knees.