FORT MYERS, Fla. — Exhibition play begins Friday when the Red Sox face Northeastern University in the annual spring opener. On Saturday, the Grapefruit League schedule will kick off and run for roughly four and a half weeks.
Fans are advised to pay special attention in the first week of the scheule. After that, things won’t look the same.
By next weekend, the landscape will look different. Across the game, you’ll find Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Shohei Ohtani and Roman Anthony on your TV screens, but not at your local spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida.
They’ll be busy, away from their teams, getting ready for the World Baseball Classic at various sites. Ultimately, their participation will be good for baseball as the sport markets itself internationally.
In the short-term, however, it could well change the makeup of teams on Opening Day.
First, there’s the obvious risk of injury, which of course exists every spring, but seems to increase when athletes compete at a high level of intensity. Simply put, there’s more at stake in a game in which you’re playing for your country on the international stage than in conventional spring training settings.
Injury concerns aside however, the WBC will have an effect on what goes on back in spring training camps — the Red Sox included.
About a dozen Red Sox players will be absent for long stretches, and nearly every one will be in the starting lineup for the March 26 season opener. That includes the entire outfield group (Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wiyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida, Nate Eaton), a quarter of the infield (Willson Contreras), 40 percent of the starting rotation (Brayan Bello, Ranger Suarez) and three key members of the bullpen (Greg Weissert, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman).
Together, that’s almost half of the projected 26-man roster.
Those absences will create a vacuum for evaluators. It stands to reason that with so many established starters out of camp and unavailable, more opportunities will exist for those on the bubble, or younger players who might otherwise get few chances to perform in major league games.
“It’s a good chance for kids to come here and play, for guys to get at-bats,” said manager Alex Cora. “It’s a chance to show who they are. If you think about the guys who are leaving (to take part in the WBC), they’re part of this. It’s not like someone is going to (get a chance) to be the starting center fielder.
“But (seeing them perform) in games is different than (reading about them). You can talk about projections and all the cool stuff we rely on to evaluate players, but it’s different when you see them in between the lines.”
Cora and his coaches want as much information on depth players and prospects, and so, too, do members of the front office.
“I do think it affords some younger players, some players who would otherwise be competing for some at-bats in spring training more runway,” added Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “We just have to try to contextualize that the best we can.”
In addition to players on the bubble, the absence of six Red Sox outfielders could mean that some younger players, not part of major league camp, could be brought over to the big league side and get at-bats in Grapefruit League games.
The outfield situation being what it is, Kristian Campbell will get plenty of looks as he further adapts to playing out there. Then, there are younger players like Allan Castro, who’s in camp as an NRI (non-roster invitee). It could even mean a brief look for someone like Miguel Bleis, who remains in minor league camp.
For evaluating purposes, little can match game competition.
“Game play is an opportunity for us to expose some guys who maybe aren’t formally in big league camp,” said Breslow, “but could potentially impact our major league roster at some point over the next couple of years, a chance to get some exposure to our major league staff and some of the players. I think that’s always a benefit, to try to micro-dose this so that when a player gets called up, it’s not the first time they’re meeting Alex or (pitching Andrew Bailey) or Pete (Fatse, hitting coach) or any of those guys.”
The staring rotation is another interesting area. With Suarez and Bello missing for a good chunk of camp, the Red Sox can take that opportunity to see more of the likes of a rehabbing veteran like Patrick Sandoval, or get additional glimpses of younger arms such as Payton Tolle or Connelly Early.
Decision-makers can watch all the bullpens and live batting practice sessions they wish, but there’s nothing like seeing how a pitcher looks against established big league hitters to determine their development and see how they might perform later this year or next.
The next three weeks will provide those windows more than ever.
