Spring Training MLB Prospect Report—March 23, 2021

Riley Greene, OF, Tigers — Greene hasn’t gotten as much attention as Bobby Witt Jr. or C.J. Abrams ths spring, but the Tigers have given him a significant amount of playing time and he’s rarely looked overmatched. Greene hit a 115.8 mph double off of Toronto’s Dany Jimenez on Monday. That kind of exit velocity is rarely seen, as there were only 20 balls hit that hard in all of the 2020 season.

That exit velocity was harder than any hit by any Tiger in any regular season game of the Statcast era (2015-2020). Not only that, there are few balls any Tigers’ hitter has smoked in the past six years that come close to matching it.

Miguel Cabrera hit a single in 2015 off Jered Weaver that had a 115.6 mph exit velocity. That’s the only ball a Tigers hitter had hit over 115 mph in the Statcast era. Tigers hitters had an additional 11 balls in that timeframe that were hit over 114 mph.

To give a little further context, the Tigers pitchers have only given up two harder hit balls than Greene’s double since 2015.

Brent Honeywell, RHP, Rays — Honeywell gave up a walk, a hit and a run in his 2021 spring training debut. But his 9.00 ERA is not nearly as notable as the fact that this was his first official MLB spring training appearance of his career.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Honeywell went into spring training in 2018 with a shot at earning a job in the Rays’ rotation. Instead he blew out his elbow early that spring training in a bullpen session. Recovering from Tommy John surgery cost him all of 2018. He’s had three more surgeries on his elbow since, as he’s had a fractured elbow, a nerve injury and had a bone spur removed.

Honeywell pitched at the Rays alternate training site in 2020, but this year should mark his official return to action after three years. He showed a 93-95 mph fastball and flashed the screwball that has always been an impressive, if rarely used, weapon.

Dylan Carlson, OF, Cardinals — Carlson homered off of Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara on Monday for his second homer of the spring and his second in his past two games. The young Cardinals outfielder is having an excellent spring training. The homer raised his slash line to .294/.385/.529.

J.B. Bukauskas, RHP, D-Backs — Bukauskas has quietly had an outstanding spring. His fastball has been sitting at 94-96 mph, he still has his excellent slider and he just keeps putting up zeroes. Bukauskas retired all three batters he faced on Monday. He’s now retired all 15 batters he’s faced this spring with 10 strikeouts.

A.J. Puk, LHP, Athletics — Puk’s second outing of the spring didn’t go any better than his first. He gave up three hits, hit a batter and walked two while allowing three runs in 1.2 innings. Nine of the 20 batters Puk has faced this spring have reached base, which helps explain his 12.27 ERA.

Nick Pratto, 1B, Royals — Pratto hit his fourth home run of the spring on Monday night. The 22-year-old 2017 first-round pick should enter 2021’s minor league season with much more momentum than he left 2019. After tweaking his swing, Pratto is getting to the power that he struggled to earlier in his minor league career.

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