10 players whose huge Spring Trainings foreshadowed a regular-season breakout
There are so many things to love about Spring Training: the sunshine, the shenanigans, the return of actual baseball games, ample opportunity to use that Nicolas Cage bees GIF. Plus, if you pay close enough attention, it might just offer a glimpse into the future.
We know, we know, Spring Training games don't mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. Jobs aren't typically won or lost, starters are out after the fourth inning and most players concern themselves more with getting ready for the regular season than putting up numbers in an exhibition game.
But just because it's mostly meaningless doesn't mean it's always meaningless. Sometimes that Spring Training breakout can foretell, well, an actual breakout:
When the Jays acquired Bautista from the Pirates for a player to be named later in August of 2008, it marked his fifth different team in as many seasons -- and he'd yet to post an above-average OPS with any of them. During Spring Training 2010, however, there were signs of life: Bautista hit a blistering .439/.448/.895 with five homers in 18 games, becoming Toronto's everyday right fielder in the process.
And thus, Joey Bats was born:
Bautista set a Jays record with 54 homers that season, and he quickly established himself as one of the game's premier sluggers.
Wainwright was hardly a stranger to the baseball world in the spring of 2007 -- he was just a few months removed from doing this:
But that was out of the bullpen, and now Wainwright was attempting to crack the Cardinals' starting rotation. No problem: The righty posted a 1.10 ERA -- the second-lowest of the spring among qualified pitchers -- and surrendered just 22 hits in 32 2/3 innings. He won 14 games that season, and would finish third in National League Cy Young Award voting just two years later.
Despite getting picked first overall in the 1999 Draft, Hamilton was still a question mark heading into 2008 -- he'd finally broken into the Majors the previous season with the Reds, who traded him to Texas that winter. Just how good could Hamilton be? How much of that tantalizing potential was left? The answers: Very good, and a whole lot.
Hamilton hit .435/.470/.758 in his first spring as a Ranger, then went on to hit 32 homers and finish seventh in American League MVP Award voting that season. Oh, and he also took part in the Home Run Derby that year:
Arizona took Pollock in the first round of the 2009 Draft, but he struggled a bit through the Minor Leagues, and then posted a 98 OPS+ in his first two big league seasons. He entered 2014 at age 26 with his MLB future very much up in the air. He slugged .667 that spring, then followed it up with a .302/.353/.498 line in the regular season and made his first All-Star team in 2015.
Rizzo pummeled the Cactus League with an .897 OPS in the spring of 2014. His career regular-season numbers prior to that point: .238 batting average, 13 homers per year. His numbers in 2014: .286/.386/.527, 32 homers and his first career All-Star nod.
Marlon Byrd, 2013
After hitting .357/.393/.571 in Spring Training with the Mets, Byrd embarked on a career year, posting an .843 OPS -- nearly 90 points higher than his career total. He hit so well that the Pirates, looking to make the postseason for the first time in two decades, acquired him at the non-waiver Trade Deadline. That October, he hit the homer that sent PNC Park into a "Cueeeeeeeto"-chanting delirium:
Back in 2010, no one knew the dinger-swatting deity that Stanton -- at the time a consensus top-10 prospect -- would become. It didn't take him long to get everyone acquainted:
Stanton played in just eight games before being sent to Minor League camp, but he made them count, slugging .714 with three homers and three doubles. He'd be called up to the Show for good that June, and over 100 games in Miami he posted a 118 OPS+ with 22 homers.
The world got its first glimpse of Harvey back in 2012, when he put up a 2.73 ERA over 10 starts down the stretch in his first taste of the Majors. Everyone wanted to know: Was the former first-round pick really this good?
He gave everyone a hint at Spring Training the next year, leading all qualified pitchers in strikeouts with 33 in just 27 1/3 innings. Then came the regular season, and he was even better: Harvey posted the third-lowest ERA in the Majors, struck out 191 batters and finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting. Before long, every one of his starts was appointment viewing:
Story shocked everyone with his start to the 2016 campaign, hitting seven homers in six games and launching 1,000 lame puns on the Internet.
But maybe we shouldn't have been so surprised: That spring, he'd slugged .792 (!) with six homers and four doubles in 20 games.
So remember: Over the next few weeks, the next fairy-tale Story might be unfolding right before your eyes. (We'll show ourselves out.)
