SP Roundup: 28 Feb (What I saw)

I watched four starting pitchers yesterday, and below I briefly talk about their outings.

Taj Bradley (Twins)

2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, BB, 4 K, HR, 60 pitches, 6 whiffs

Bradley opted out of the WBC to remain in Twins camp, as he is in a position to secure a rotation spot. He struggled last year with the Twins, posting a 6.61 ERA.

In his spring debut yesterday, his cutter looked great, generating 5 out of his 6 whiffs on the day. Unfortunately, he couldn’t throw many strikes with the rest of his arsenal. His fastball command wasn’t quite right, as he gave up a triple and a home run off his fastball. He had a 17% CSW with his curve and splitter. This put a lot of pressure on his fastball. His stat line looked worse than it should have been as he got unlucky in the 2nd inning. Sogard beat out what should have been an inning-ending groundout double in the 2nd inning.

Look for better fastball command and strikes with his secondary pitches in his next outing.

Sonny Gray (Red Sox)

1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, K, HR, 31 pitches, 2 whiffs

Gray made his Red Sox debut yesterday and struggled. His afternoon began with a four-pitch walk, and he continued to struggle to find the zone. Only 13 of his 31 pitches were thrown for strikes. This is very uncharacteristic of Sonny. In 2025, he had a 5% walk rate. So let’s put this down to some rust from the offseason. His fastball velo was down 0.9 mph. This isn’t ideal, but as it is his first start of the Spring, we won’t be concerned. This is something to watch in his next outing. He threw only 2 sweepers. The first one looked as good as ever, but the second one he threw got clobbered for a homer. Gray is a veteran, and I’m confident he will improve as the Spring continues.

Spencer Strider (Braves)

2 IP, 2 H, ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 HR, 32 piches, 3 whiffs

Strider made his highly anticipated spring debut yesterday, and all the talk is about the drop in his fastball velocity. He averaged 93.1 mph on his fastball yesterday. When he broke onto the scene, his fastball velocity was sitting around 98.2 mph, and in 2023, it was 97.2 mph. It was clear he was focusing on his command and movement instead of velocity, or are we seeing a new Strider here? Less velo but with a different fastball shape? Can this version of Strider still be as dominant as the Strider we came to know and love? It is important not to overreact here. It is his first outing, and he will no doubt be building up over the course of Spring. Lets watch this closely in his next start.

Kyle Bradish (Orioles)

3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 0 HR, 40 pitches, 9 whiffs

Bradish looked sharp in his second outing of the spring yesterday. He threw plenty of strikes. His hard sinker looked nasty. It got 4 whiffs (50%) and touched 95.5 mph at one stage. The curveball looked good, too, generating 2 whiffs. His average velocity was down slightly, but given the good velocity in the 1st inning, I’m not concerned here at all. He gave up only one hard hit and had good command. He is right where he needs to be at this stage, and Orioles fans should be excited to watch him pitch this season.