Spring Training Stars It's Not Too Early to Hype for 2016
We've been told for years that spring training stats don't matter, that buying in to the hype they produce only leads to disappointment once the regular season gets underway. More often than not, that tends to be the case.
Yet there are always a handful of players who prove that theory wrong, and we've honed in on five of the spring's biggest stars—four position players and a pitcher, listed in no particular order—who are poised to do just that.
Aside from outstanding performances this spring, their past performance and potential impact at the game's highest level make this select group stand out from the rest of the crowd.
They're all within the first few years of their big league careers, and not all of them are locks to break camp with their respective clubs. But no matter their estimated time of arrival in the majors, one thing is for sure: They're all going to be difference-makers for their respective clubs in 2016.
IF/OF Hector Olivera, Atlanta Braves
1 of 5
Spring Training Stats: .419 BA, 4 XBH (0 HR), 5 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 6 R, .934 OPS
It'd be far easier for some to buy in to Hector Olivera's spring performance if he were in his early 20s and not his early 30s, but the Cuban import is in excellent shape to carry over his torrid exhibition play into the regular season for Atlanta.
Of course, this doesn't mean we should expect him to hit .419 during the regular season. But he is a career .319 hitter as a professional, and unlike last season, Olivera finally feels comfortable with his surroundings.
"Everything was new," he told Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Now I'm set up better and I know what I need to do. I'm not in a rush like I was last year. I'm very happy that my family is here. It's something that I need to have."
That wasn't lost on Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who admitted he still has no idea whether the power Olivera flashed in Cuba—96 home runs over parts of 10 seasons in the Cuban National Series—will translate to the big leagues.
"We've seen him juice some balls, but we don't know if this guy is going to be a nine-home run guy or a 15-18-home run guy," Gonzalez told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's David O'Brien. "We might not know that until later this year. But it's nice for him to get comfortable in the United States, all those things we've talked about. Get his family here, just think about baseball."
Even if he comes in on the short end of the power spectrum, Olivera knows how to put the barrel on the ball consistently. Hitting .300 with a handful of home runs and proving to be a reliable run producer in the heart of Atlanta's lineup are goals that are well within his reach.
3B Maikel Franco, Philadelphia Phillies
2 of 5
Spring Training Stats: .325 BA, 7 XBH (7 HR), 17 RBI, 2 BB, 6 K, 8 R, 1.222 OPS
If you're of the opinion that Maikel Franco, baseball's spring home run (and RBI) king with seven and 17, respectively, can't possibly keep this up during the regular season, you're wrong.
Over 80 games last season, Franco hit .280 with 37 extra-base hits (14 home runs), 50 RBI and a .840 OPS. Not bad for a guy who didn't arrive in the big leagues until mid-May, was sidelined by a fractured wrist in mid-August and returned for the season's final three games.
And as MLB.com's Mike Petriello points out, those numbers were pretty darn close to those of another 23-year-old third baseman, one with a significantly higher profile: Baltimore's Manny Machado.
- Franco: .280/.343/.497, 7.8 K percent, 15.5 BB percent, 128 wRC+
- Machado: .286/.359/.502, 9.8 K percent, 15.6 BB percent, 134 wRC+
While it might be unfair to compare Franco to Machado, considering that the Orioles are a perennial contender and the Phillies are rebuilding, Franco has that kind of upside—at least offensively. It wouldn't be at all surprising to find him with 30-plus home runs and close to 100 RBI at the end of the season.
"The sky is the limit with Maikel, man," Ryan Howard, who knows a thing or two about being a run producer in the middle of a lineup, remarked to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. "His ball gets small, really quick."
SP Aaron Sanchez, Toronto Blue Jays
3 of 5
Spring Training Stats: 2-0, 1.98 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 11 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 15 K
Aaron Sanchez has always struggled to control his electric stuff, with 4.9 walks per nine innings over parts of six minor league seasons and a more respectable but still on the high side 3.8 BB/9 in 125.1 major league innings.
This spring, he has an impressive BB/9 of 2.0, issuing three free passes over 13.2 innings of work. And two of those came in his most recent outing against Houston, with A.J. Jimenez behind the plate instead of Russell Martin, on curveballs that broke too sharply, according to Sportsnet's Jeff Blair.
As Sanchez told Blair, he's learning how important his secondary stuff is to having sustained success in the big leagues—and how to make sure he puts it where he wants it earlier in the game.
"I think you'll see later in the game that as I fatigue, the off-speed stuff gets better," he said. "It might just be a matter of taking a step back and working on it [the curve] a little more in the eight to 10 pitches I throw between innings. I need to find a way to drop that curve in on more counts."
It remains unclear whether Sanchez, who has held the opposition to a .224 batting average this spring, allowing three earned runs and striking out 15, will open the season in Toronto's rotation or head back to the bullpen, where he spent the majority of the 2015 season.
Regardless of where he starts, this newfound attention to the rest of his arsenal will help Sanchez finally live up to the hype that made him one of baseball's top pitching prospects.
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SS Trevor Story, Colorado Rockies
4 of 5
Spring Training Stats: .321 BA, 6 XBH (4 HR), 10 RBI, 5 BB, 6 K, 9 R, 1.281 OPS
Trevor Story's .321 spring batting average doesn't jump off the screen like Nolan Arenado's MLB-best .606 mark. Rather than his more established teammates Arenado, Charlie Blackmon or Carlos Gonzalez, though, it's Story who has been Colorado's top run producer, leading the team in home runs (four) and RBI (10).
"One of the reasons he's doing so well is that he's taking every at-bat one at a time, a day at a time," Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich told the Denver Post's Patrick Saunders. "He's showing everybody just how talented he is, the type of talent that we've seen out of him for many years."
Story, 23, hit a combined .279 with 70 extra-base hits (20 home runs), 80 RBI and an .863 OPS in 2015 while swiping 22 bases in 25 attempts between Double-A and Triple-A. In fact, his numbers at both levels were nearly identical.
When you consider the boost he'll get from playing half his games at Coors Field, a 20-20 rookie campaign doesn't seem far-fetched at all. If anything, that might be selling Story short.
IF/OF Jose Peraza, Cincinnati Reds
5 of 5
Spring Training Stats: .361 BA, 3 XBH (1 HR), 4 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K, 9 R, .906 OPS, 5-of-6 SB
More of a table-setter than a run producer, Jose Peraza finds himself without a clear path to playing time in Cincinnati despite a strong spring that finds him hitting .361, leading the club in stolen bases (five) and runs scored (nine) and tying for the lead in hits (13).
Blocked by Brandon Phillips at second base, Zack Cozart at shortstop and Billy Hamilton in center field, the versatile 21-year-old looks destined to start the season at Triple-A. But his ability to serve as a table-setter and game-changer atop the lineup—a role Hamilton has struggled to fill—is real.
"He's got really good discipline in the strike zone," Reds hitting coach Don Long told the Cincinnati Enquirer's Zach Buchanan. "He's not a big chaser, which I really like. Generally, when he moves the bat it's on a really good pitch to hit."
That disciplined approach to hitting, coupled with his big-time speed, bodes well for Peraza's future as a fixture in the Reds lineup. It's only a matter of when, not if, he arrives for good.
Unless otherwise noted, all spring training statistics courtesy of MLB.com and are current through March 20. All other statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.
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