Instead of it’s only February, now we can say it’s only March
The Cubs beat the Guardians in a meaningless game today. So, don’t worry. However, I will say that given that the Guardians’ batting was a concern prior to Spring Training, I guess we can say that nothing that has happened so far has led us to believe that won’t be the case when the regular season starts. But it’s still very early.
-It was Joey Cantillo’s turn to have the command concerns that Triston McKenzie had his second time pitching this Spring. He walked two guys and was behind most batters.
-Cade Smith and Tim Herrin both had good innings, appearing for the first time in 2025, with Smith striking out three in a scoreless inning and Herrin striking out two in a perfect inning. Hunter Gaddis’s command wasn’t there yet as he walked two guys in his first outing.
-Tyler Freeman smacked a double off the wall and got a walk. He also turned a nice double play. He’s certainly winning the second base competition on the field so far, but that only means so much. Gabriel Arias, Daniel Schneemann, Angel Martinez went hitless with two strikeouts and a walk (from Martinez).
-Cooper Ingle just hits, bro. He just hits.
-Parker Mushinski had two strikeouts in a perfect frame so keep that name in mind in the “Replace Erik Sabrowski until his hamstring improves” competition. We can replace one player who has an aggressively Eastern European patronymic with another.
-Kahlil Watson hit a triple, and Yordys Valdes and Juan Brito each hit a home run late. They did it off a major league pitcher, however, in Brad Keller. Brito also struck out in the game.
-Jorge Burgos added a triple to the nice performances he has had late in games this Spring
Guardians play the Brewers at 3:05PM EST and we will get another look at Slade Cecconi