Spring is a time of change, rejuvenation, and growth. Major league baseball’s spring training has that and more. I had the opportunity to attend two Yankees spring training games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, their AAA-affiliate Tampa Tarpons’ stadium, in Tampa Bay, Florida. I witnessed pitching changes, saw the MLB’s new pitching challenge rules in action, and viewed the growth of the first Yankees beards since 1973.
While the games were in Tampa, my agent (my dad) booked us a hotel on the water in Clearwater Beach. Nice, right? Right, until you consider that the Phillies’ spring training facility is in Clearwater, and our hotel ran direct shuttles for the hundreds of aging fans in our hotel. We were dots of navy and white in a field of red.
We made it to the field for the day game on March 6, where we were safely ensconced among other Yankees fans. A strong wind blew over the right-center wall for most of the game against the Minnesota Twins, but the sun negated any cooling effect. The Yankees’ starting lineup was jam-packed with every (healthy) star on our roster.
Catcher Austen Wells led off, followed by star after star: designated hitter Aaron Judge, right fielder Cody Bellinger, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, second baseman Jazz Chisolm Jr., and shortstop Anthony Volpe. The lineup rounded out with homegrown left fielder Jasson Domínguez, center fielder Trent Grisham, and the underrated, energetic third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera.
As we settled into our seats on the third-base side, we were very excited about Yankees’ pitching for the day. Now we know we saw starting pitcher Gerrit Cole’s first and last start the entire season. A few days after the game, on March 10, doctors recommended Cole undergo Tommy John surgery to reconstruct the UCL in his elbow. He is undertaking the procedure, and the Yankees won’t have him back until sometime in the middle of next year’s season.
All the innocent fans gathered that day didn’t know this would be our fate. Instead, Cole notched three outs in the top of the first, and Judge and Bellinger were on base in the bottom of the inning. Judge walked, and Bellinger’s single to right-center field moved Judge to third. Jazz came up with two outs (Wells and Goldschmidt) and fell down in the count with two strikes. He looked at the next pitch–a ball. However, the Twins’ catcher, Ryan Jeffers, used the new pitch challenge capabilities and patted his head for a review.
This automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system uses a computerized replay review system similar to what is used in tennis matches. It will not be used in the 2025 regular season, but 60 percent of spring training games have featured the system to test its fit among traditional umping. Each team receives two challenges, and, if your challenge is correct, you keep your challenge. If you’re wrong, your team loses one challenge.
Teams have already put regulations in place for how their players can best use the system. Pitchers, batters, and catchers in the play can challenge, but it’s already obvious that batters and pitchers are less objective in challenge calls.
Back to the game: Jeffers challenges the ball call to Jazz. In line with managerial knowledge, the replay showed the ball catching the bottom right corner of the strike zone. Jazz was out to end the inning, leaving two men on.
Cole came back up at the top of the second and tried to challenge a ball on Twins’ shortstop Brooks Lee. Unfortunately, it was a ball, meaning the Yankees were down to one challenge. Lee lifted Cole’s next pitch just short of the right field wall for a single. The bases loaded shortly after thanks to a dinky checked swing single from centerfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. All of this haunted the Yankees following a sacrifice line drive to Grisham in center and a three-run homer, giving the Twins a 5-0 lead the Yankees never recovered from.
That was our first hint that something was off with Cole. Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone pulled Cole before the inning ended but put him back in to start the third. Second baseman Eduoard Julien hit a hard grounder to Cabrera in the shortstop gap, who made a sliding spin play to make the out. However, Lee capitalized off Cole again–this time with a solo homer. Again, Boone took Cole out. For good.
Our other pitchers carry a heavier weight with Cole out. Newly acquired Max Fried is expected to pick up Cole’s superstar mantle. Luke Weaver, who pitched two innings, caught some of Cole’s bad vibes in the fourth and gave up a homer to former Yankee Mike Ford. Last year, “Dream” Weaver put up a 2.89 ERA over 84 innings of relief work. Management needs their bullpen to perform in light of starter injuries.
Yankees’ past top prospect, Jasson Dominguez, started the March 6 day game in left field and had a little scruff–making the most of the new team regulations. He made his MLB debut on Sept. 1, 2023, and played eighteen games last season. He batted .179 with ten hits, two home runs, and eleven walks over fifty-six at-bats. In the 2025 spring training so far, in 54 at-bats he’s batted .278: a promising start.
Friday’s night game came after a long, tiring day relaxing on the Clearwater Beach. At the ballpark, my agent and I were shocked and pleased to notice that Bronx native Andrew Velazquez, who was with the Yankees in 2021 before playing for the Los Angeles Angels, was back on the field as the starting third baseman.
Stroman, another New York local post-stint with the Mets, started the game with his usual fastball velocity (90.0 mph) and mixed it up with a 75-mile-per-hour change-up. He had a one-two-three first inning, and in stark contrast to Thursday’s game, the Yankees immediately got on board with a two-strike home run from catcher Austen Wells to right field.
Judge grounded out to short, but Bellinger hit an uncontested solo homer to deep right. Goldschmidt didn’t have much luck, but in the fourth, Wells had another hit, Grisham and Peraza walked, and the bottom of the lineup worked some successful steals.
The four runs the Jays scored in the top of the fifth took away some of my delights from my first-ever bag of crackerjacks. By the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees had put two more on the board, and Everson Pereira hit another solo shot. He’s batted .333 over twenty-one at-bats in spring training. The score going into the ninth inning was 6-5 Yankees. Minor league pitcher Ryan Anderson gave up a single to Toronto, which, followed by a hit-by-pitch, walk, and wild pitch, allowed two runs in. The Yankees were now down 7-6 with only a half-inning remaining.
The Jays’ pitcher walked the first two batters, and a wild pitch to Pereira moved them to second and third. And while he struck out swinging, Cole Gabrielson, another minor leaguer, ripped a line drive to center field, breaking the tension. The fielder dove, but it was no use. He missed the catch, and major-league hopefuls Garrett Martin and Hans Montero came in to score. The Yankees won a walk-off victory, 8-7.
The Yankees have some promising youngsters on the up within the organization. Hopefully, some of them, as well as Goldschmidt and Bellinger, can prove their worth this season. If pitching can hold strong, and Stanton and Lemahieu return from their injuries, this team will once again be a powerful offseason contender. But that’s a long way off. For now, I hope they all enjoy the Florida sun, some R&R, and their grown-out facial hair.
