Elmer Rodriguez, RHP, Yankees: The Yankees tapped pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez to be the spring training Opening Day starter, and Rodriguez responded well to the challenge. Rodriguez mixed five pitches to shut down the Orioles for three scoreless innings. He sat a 93-94 mph and touched 97.

Rodriguez did allow three hits, all singles. He struck out Samuel Basallo to end the first. He got into a bit of trouble in the second as Tyler O’Neill and Adley Rutschman both singled, but a Heston Kjerstad double play erased the threat. Rodriguez allowed one more single in the third before exiting with a perfect 0.00 ERA.

Tanner McDougal, RHP, White Sox: White Sox righthander Tanner McDougal made a very emphatic 2026 spring training debut, as he showed off excellent velocity in a two-inning save.

McDougal sat at 99.5 mph with his four-seam fastball and he touched 100.7, although he struggled to locate it. He threw just six of 14 fastballs for strikes. He had no such problem with his mid-80s slider as he threw eight of nine of them for strikes.

McDougal did allow a double to Brewers prospect Josh Adamczewski to lead off the eighth, but he then struck out Brewers’ 2025 first rounder Brady Ebel and got a line out and fly out to end the inning. He didn’t allow a baserunner in a quick ninth inning, striking out Luis Castillo.

Rainiel Rodriguez, C/DH, Cardinals: Rodriguez is getting his first taste of MLB spring training and so far, so good. The Cardinals catching prospect had an impressive Sunday as he doubled down the left field line off of Roddery Muñoz, and he also walked and reached on an error. The Cardinals didn’t ask Rodriguez to catch in his spring debut, but he started at DH and wasn’t lifted until the seventh inning.

Rodriguez ranks No. 3 on the Cardinals Top 30.

Kade Anderson, LHP, Mariners: Anderson, the Mariners’ first-round pick last summer, gave fans some exciting highlights in live batting practice, as the former LSU ace and College World Series star struck out both Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez:

Jacob Melton, OF, Rays: Newly acquired outfielder Jacob Melton is battling for a starting spot in the Rays outfield. He made a solid case on Sunday with a no-doubter home run as he lifted a Yohan Ramirez cutter, depositing it far beyond the right field wall. It was measured at 104.7 mph off the bat.

It was Melton’s first hit of spring training. He was 0-for-4 before his homer with three strikeouts, so it was also a nice way to turn around a (small sample) slow start.

Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF, Twins: The big question with Emmanuel Rodriguez is whether he can stay healthy in 2026. He’s spent significant time on the injured list in every season of his pro career. But when he’s on the field, you can count on him to draw walks and hit the ball hard.

The lefthanded hitter went down to golf an Anderson Pilar pitch over the right field wall for a two-run homer in the seventh inning of the Twins 8-1 win over the Braves. Rodriguez also singled in his other at-bat.

Editor’s Picks

RoboScout’s Top 125 Prospects: RoboScout returns for 2026 with a look at the top 75 hitters and top 50 pitchers entering the season. Read more…

‘Not Top 100’: We also recently published Eli Ben-Porat’s annual Not Top 100 prospect team highlighting players who could be major leaguers but aren’t ranked. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Each day, we’ll pick a prospect that has our attention.

Eric Booth Jr., 2026 Draft Prospect: Few prospects in the 2026 MLB Draft class have a better combination of speed and power than Booth. He’s a center fielder with near top of the scale speed and he has a great first step to go with that. He also can drive the ball with plus raw power and plenty of projection remaining.

But the questions about Booth for this year’s draft will revolve around his swing and hitting ability and how it translates to being able to hit for average and power consistently.

Carlos Collazo has more with a look at scouting assessment of the outfielder. Read more…

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Esmerlyn Valdez, the Pirates OF/1B who showed off big power in the Arizona Fall League last year, hit his first spring 2026 homer.

• Speaking of the Pirates, Jhostynxon Garcia, who was acquired from the Red Sox this offseason and should help the big league club sooner rather than later, laced two hits, drove in a run and stole a base on Sunday.

• Brewers RHP Bishop Letson looked good in his 2026 debut, averaging 96.6 mph with his fastball to strike out two in a scoreless inning.

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