The Associated Press reports Texas Rangers OF Nelson Cruz hit his fifth home run of the year Wednesday, April 5.
Our instinct: Yeah, but where’s your cycle Nelson? Where’s your 6 for 6 night? huh? huh? Any other night a 2 for 6 night with a grand slam and 6 rbis’ would be the top story. Still, the 20 point night in Baseball Instinct leagues from Cruz is huge. Shame on Ian Kinsler for making us forget about Scotty Pippen..er, I mean Nelson Cruz.
Cincinnati Reds LHP Aroldis Chapman struck out 2 in 2 innings of relief work against the Dodgers yesterday. The outing brings him to 4 Ks in 4 IP on the Spring. His fastball was once again clocked at near 100mph.
TB Jeremy Hellickson SP is not battling for a rotation or bullpen spot, however he showed why he's one of the top flight arms in the minors yesterday throwing 1.1 perfect innings while striking out 4. Our Instinct: Baseball Instinct's top 100 prospect Jeremy Hellickson still has some work to do and will start in the AAA rotation, but he's not far off from being ready.
Baseball Instinct's top 100 prospect Jake Arrieta SP BAL threw an inning of work giving up a 3 runs while walking one and striking out 2. Our Instinct: He's going to need a lights out spring to crack the Orioles' rotation. His strikeout potential isn't in question at this point, but he'll need to reign in his bb% and will need some additonal AAA time to really refine his command.
WAS Stephen Strasburg SP made his Spring Training debut Tuesday, going 2 innings and striking out 2. Our Instinct: Baseball Instinct top 100 prospect Stephen Strasburg worked out of a 2nd inning jam and worked at 96-98mph throughout the appearance and dropped a couple of hammer curveballs as well. He was solid and looked every bit the part of a stud in the making. Check out our Prospect Instinct: Stephen Strasburg breakdown.
