Observations From Week One of Blue Jays Spring Training

Rejoice! There's live baseball for us to (over)react to again, and with the first week of spring training games nearly complete, I've compiled some tidbits on what we've seen from various Blue Jays so far. At this time of year, the results are of little interest to the coaching staff and front office, so the focus shouldn't be on box scores as much as key indicators of underlying process.

While the Opening Day roster is far from a sure thing, there are those with a virtually guaranteed role on this club. Spring training, especially the start, is a time more urgent for those on the bubble, including top prospects looking to make an impression.

The content below will focus largely on some of the newest Blue Jays, as well as those whose initial assignment for 2026 is currently in flux. Most importantly: It's still early days. Beware of the small sample size before jumping to any conclusions about the players below. There's still plenty of preseason to go!

Cody Ponce

Cody Ponce's first outing of the spring went swimmingly, as he retired Parker Meadows, Kevin McGonigle, and Jahmai Jones in order in his only inning of work on Wednesday against the Tigers. The biggest story of the day was his four-seam fastball, which translated better than originally anticipated from a shape perspective. It sat 96 MPH with 17" of carry and 9" of arm-side movement, so he relied on it heavily (42% usage).

More notes on Ponce:

• We also saw a healthy dose of his kick changeup (89 MPH, 5" IVB, 8" arm-side, 40% zone), which was responsible for one of Ponce's two strikeouts, as well as his cutter (92 MPH, 11" IVB, 1" arm-side, 20% zone). Around the big leagues, the cutter is often an early-count weapon to steal a strike, especially for those who have another fastball they throw more often. Ponce, however, was keen to turn to it with two strikes, which I think partially explains the low zone rate.
• He only threw two breaking balls that afternoon, unsurprising since he faced only one righty batter.
• 12" of separation in vertical movement between the four-seamer and the changeup is a great sign early on. Being able to space those two pitch types out in space is key to generating swing-and-miss on both. That difference would've placed in the ~70th percentile MLB last year, similar to Drew Rasmussen, Michael King, and Aaron Nola. When those guys are right, they boast some of the best fastball-changeup combos in the game.

José Berríos

José Berríos was one of the first regulars from last year's pitching staff to get a start. Concerningly, the velocity on his four-seam and his sinker sat in the 91-92 MPH range, down a full tick from last year's average, and he was only in the zone 42.5% of the time. In fairness to Berríos, it was an unseasonably cold afternoon in Dunedin during his start, and it's generally unrealistic to expect every pitcher to be up to speed this early on.

More notes on Berríos:

• Interestingly, the vertical carry on both his fastballs was up considerably compared to last year. Maybe that'll be his MO to make sure they still play at the big league level despite lacking velocity?
• He was also toying with his release point. His vertical release point was higher, while his horizontal release point was closer to third base, which shouldn't change his arm angle too much from the 39° it was last year, but it'll be a different look than the one hitters have gotten used to recently.
• An Eric Lauer trade would improve Berríos's outlook for the coming year, but the Max Scherzer signing adds another name to the starting pitcher carousel. There is much left yet to prove for Berríos this spring.

Eloy Jiménez

Eloy Jiménez is proving his stellar season in the Dominican Winter League was no joke. He's 3-for-5 with a homer so far, and the early returns have sparked a modest debate as to whether he could crack the Opening Day roster. If that happens, it'll likely come at the expense of either Davis Schneider or Nathan Lukes, as the Jays would be carrying two DH-only types in Jiménez and George Springer, further necessitating the need for Myles Straw as defensive depth.

Of course, we're a long way from that actually coming to pass, but his average exit velocity is 98 MPH, and two of his three batted balls so far have been barrels. He has yet to swing and miss on a pitch in the zone, and his chase rate is a manageable 30%.

Yariel Rodríguez

Yariel Rodríguez was somewhat surprisingly designated for assignment earlier in the offseason as the Blue Jays polished their bullpen, but it was made clear at the time that he'd get a shot to win his job back in spring training. His first crack didn't go well, as he imploded in the middle innings against the Red Sox on Sunday. His fastball velocity was down nearly 3 MPH from last year; again, not entirely unexpected at this time of year, but he was only in the zone with it 29% of the time, inducing seven swings on just 26 pitches.

With Angel Bastardo and Spencer Miles holding the upper hand as Rule 5 draft picks, the chances of Rodríguez getting reinstated to the 40-man and added to the MLB bullpen out of the gate appear slim to none at this point, even with the news that Yimi García won't be ready to start the regular season.

Position Player Prospects of Interest

• SS/3B Josh Kasevich is 3-for-6 with a homer. He has missed on just one of his 13 swings and recorded three hard hits (two barrels) on six batted balls.
• OF RJ Schreck is 2-for-6 with just one miss on nine swings. He has struck out three times but does have four hard hits (two barrels) and is elevating frequently with an average launch angle of 22°.
• LF/RF Yohendrick Pinango is 1-for-6 with two walks. His 76.2% contact rate doesn't jump off the page, but two of his three batted balls were hard-hit, and his average launch angle is 23°.

Pitching Prospects of Interest

• Left-handed RP Adam Macko has been leaning a ton on his four-seam fastball (95 MPH, 16.1" IVB from a below-average release height). Its deceptive carry has led to a 30% whiff rate on the pitch in the early going.
• Right-handed SP Chad Dallas is healthy again after Tommy John surgery and has gotten off to a blistering start with a 46.1% whiff rate. He is a true unicorn with some of the wildest movement profiles in the organization; his four-seamer sits just 93 MPH with only 13" of IVB but 1" of arm-side movement, making it decidedly Sonny Gray-esque thanks to its cutting action. The sweeper is downright devastating, averaging 17" of glove-side action so far this spring. Meanwhile, his low-90s cutter gets 7" of glove-side coupled with 10" of carry. He has a rare talent for spinning the ball and figures to start the year in Buffalo, but would fit right in amongst the big league staff and its growing number of strange pitch shapes.

All stats entering Thursday, February 26.