Spring training stats might not matter, but try telling that to the players who accumulate them. Baseball for the purpose of getting warmed up is still baseball, and not every on-field accomplishment comes at the expense of some hack who will never make it in the big leagues.
Mike Trout, Kris Bryant among 5 players with eye-opening spring training stats
Five intriguing spring stat lines that the fun police aren’t going to like.
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Okay, so maybe a large percentage of stats do come about that way. But that doesn’t make it any less fun when players rack up insane numbers in March. And, in more than a few cases, spring training stats represent a good indicator of the future.
Yasiel Puig went 30-for-58 in Cactus League play in 2013 before breaking out in a huge way for the Los Angeles Dodgers later that season. Masahiro Tanaka struck out 26 Grapefruit League batters and walked only three in 21 innings last year. Alex Gordon wasn't that good as a major leaguer prior to 2011, when he hit .343/.459/.729 in spring training and went on to have an MVP-caliber season.
Then again, Jake Fox hit 10 homers for the Baltimore Orioles in 2011. Franklin Morales led all National League pitchers in spring strikeouts last year. Mitch Maier posted a 1.344 OPS in 2010.
In other words, if pre-April stats aren’t telling, at the very least, they’re fun. Here are some of the more eye-catching ones from the first half of spring training play this year.
2015 -- .483/.571/.655, 14 H, 5 2B, 6 BB, 7 R
162-game projection -- 227 H, 81 2B, 97 BB, 113 R
Nieuwenhuis has been roughly a league-average hitter in parts of three big league seasons with the Mets, but he’s been a pretty good hitter in the minors. The 27-year-old outfielder was a third-round pick when he was drafted back in 2008, so there’s definitely some talent there that, at some point in his career at least, set him apart from most of his peers.
Maybe Nieuwenhuis is finally putting it together at the same age as Gordon did. Maybe he’s just having a lucky spring. Either way, he’s making a lot of noise on offense for a team that might make an equal amount of noise once the regular season starts.
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2015 -- .419/.486/.710, 13 H, 3 2B, 3 3B, 4 BB, 4 SB, 9 R
162-game projection -- 191 H, 44 2B, 44 3B, 59 BB, 59 SB, 133 R
In roughly a full season’s worth of plate appearances spanning three years, Gose hasn’t been able to put it together in the majors. But he has a second-round pedigree and, as recently as 2012, was a top 50 prospect in baseball. Perhaps a change of scenery is doing wonders for the 24-year-old outfielder. Being on a team that is full of offensive weapons and is a contender year in and year out certainly can’t hurt.
Gose will continue to be an intriguing player because of his speed, which has been on full display in the Grapefruit League over the last few weeks. He's also an above-average fielder, so if the bat can catch up to the other tools, the Tigers might have found themselves a steal just like they did with J.D. Martinez a year ago. Speaking of Martinez, his .344/.417/.719 spring line almost got him on this list, too.
2015 -- 2.79 ERA, 9⅔ IP, 10 K, 0 BB, 5 H, 2 HR
200-inning projection -- 207 K, 0 BB, 103 H, 41 HR
“Who the hell is T.J. House?” That question was probably asked in 2014 a lot more than you think. Despite his status as a 16th-round draft pick and his absence from every notable top prospects list, House quickly made a name for himself last year, posting a 3.35 ERA with 80 strikeouts and just 22 walks in 102 innings as a rookie for the Indians.
House has a propensity to give up home runs, as evidenced by a small sample this spring, and surrendered 10 hits per nine innings last year. But he’s good at limiting free passes and possesses at least some degree of swing-and-miss stuff, so it’s not out of the question that House will build upon his successful debut.
2015 -- .545/.630/.1.136, 12 H, 3 HR, 2 2B, 5 BB, 10 R
162-game projection -- 216 H, 54 HR, 36 2B, 90 BB, 180 R
If anyone in baseball could actually put up the numbers he’s on pace for during spring training, it’s Trout. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
2015 -- .435/.500/1.304, 10 H, 6 HR, 2 2B, 3 BB, 8 R
162-game projection -- 180 H, 108 HR, 36 2B, 54 BB, 144 R
It’s not enough that Bryant leads the world in homers right now; it’s a safe bet to say that the No. 2 pick in the 2013 draft easily leads everyone in distance, too. Bryant has nearly cleared multiple spring training parks with his shot-out-of-a-cannon blasts, and he’s proving that he has the ability to hit those kinds of massive homers to all fields.
The potential 80-grade power reportedly won’t be enough for the Cubs to place him on their 25-man roster out of spring training, but he’s not going to be down for long. Condolences to the Triple-A pitchers who will be unlucky enough to have to face him before the Cubs realize what they’ve done.
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