MLB spring training 2024: Key storylines, breakout teams
Believe it or not, the 2024 MLB regular season begins in one week — when the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres open play in Seoul, Korea on March 20 and 21 before all 30 teams take the field on March 28.
Before we turn our focus to the long season ahead, we asked ESPN MLB reporters who have been all over Arizona and Florida to break down what has stood out most to them during spring training.
Who is one player who has impressed you most in spring training?
Jorge Castillo: There’s a guy named Juan Soto the New York Yankees acquired over the offseason, and he is smashing baseballs in spring training. We all expect Soto to rake. But he’s made quite the impression on the Yankees in less than a month — on and off the field. Gerrit Cole said he loves watching Soto in the batter’s box. Aaron Boone said he expects Soto to kill the ball every time he’s at the plate. Everyone seems to be raving about him.
Hitting in front of Aaron Judge should, on paper, give Soto plenty of pitches to hit. Playing at Yankee Stadium should provide him the intense environment he covets. It could be the recipe for an MVP performance — and the ideal platform season entering free agency.
Alden Gonzalez: I know he isn’t necessarily lacking in coverage, but still — what Shohei Ohtani is already doing, less than six months removed from another major elbow surgery, is quite impressive. He was wowing Dodgers coaches and teammates with his first few rounds of on-field batting practice in early February, and he has been locked in throughout Cactus League play, with four walks and 11 hits — including two homers, a double and a triple — in 23 plate appearances.
Keep in mind: Ohtani missed the season’s first month coming off his first Tommy John surgery in 2019. Now there is no question he’ll be the Dodgers’ designated hitter when they open up in South Korea, even though they’ll start a week early.
Buster Olney: Reynaldo Lopez threw three hitless innings in our exhibition broadcast against the Red Sox and his stuff was absolutely filthy. Lopez was an under-the-radar signing with the Braves, who moved aggressively in locking him down for $30 million over three years even before Thanksgiving turkeys went into the oven.
Lopez bounced around last year among three teams, from the White Sox to the Angels to the Guardians, and he seemed to get better at every stop; in Cleveland, he didn’t allow any runs in 12 appearances. He seems poised to play a significant role for the Braves, who are expected to ramp up his innings in a hybrid role this year.
Jesse Rogers: Eloy Jimenez has always been a slugger but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Now fully ensconced as the Chicago White Sox designated hitter, this is his chance to put together a career year. His timing is in midseason form right now and the only concern is if he can keep it up until the season starts.
Jimenez has been slowed by myriad ailments during his career, some fluky, so keeping him out of the outfield might get him in the lineup often enough to form a dynamic offensive duo with Luis Robert.
David Schoenfield: James Wood was the top prospect acquired by the Nationals in the 2022 Juan Soto trade and he has blasted three home runs this spring — including one mammoth moon shot in first at-bat. The 6-foot-7 outfielder will likely always be strikeout-prone (he fanned 173 times in the minors last season), but he’s drawn as many walks as K’s this spring.
