Fantasy Baseball Spring Training: Key Injuries, Closers and Early Draft Takeaways

Spring Training games are nearly here – things kick off Friday at 1:05 pm EST with the Yankees throwing a couple of big-time pitching prospects against the new-look Orioles, while a bunch of other teams will either be facing off against local colleges in exhibition games or kicking off their own Grapefruit or Cactus League action. Either way, we're about to have real (or, mostly real) baseball to watch and analyze in just a few short days.

But of course, Spring Training isn't just about what happens on the field. For Fantasy players, it's just as much about what happens in locker rooms and artificially lit hallways across Florida and Arizona. That's where we learn about injuries, playing time developments, and everything else we really care about for Spring Training. This newsletter will be your one-stop shop to everything you need to know from spring, and in the coming days, we'll be looking at the biggest questions and storylines from every team, plus a little guide to what actually matters during the spring.

But we've already had some important headlines crop up in the first week or so since players reported, and with our recent focus on position previews, it's been tough to catch up with them. So we're hitting pause on the position previews for a few days to make sure you're ready for the games that are about to kick off.

Today, that means catching up on some key news that has already come out, starting, unfortunately, with some significant injury updates:

Pablo Lopez has a torn UCL

Lopez dealt with a forearm injury late last season and couldn't even make it through his first mound work of the spring without exiting with forearm soreness. An MRI revealed a torn UCL, and while the course of action has not yet been determined, Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll acknowledged that "surgery is very much on the table."

Whether that ends up being a full Tommy John reconstruction of the UCL or the relatively less serious Internal Brace procedure – or, as has become increasingly common in recent years, both in a hybrid procedure – remains to be seen. That determination may not come until Lopez actually has the surgery, as is often the case, but either way, he's almost certainly looking at missing the entirety of the 2026 season.

Which is a big bummer for Lopez, who overcame early-career shoulder injuries to throw 180-plus innings in each of the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons. He'll be 31 the next time we see him on the mound, and he'll be coming off a major elbow surgery. He could still be ready for the start of the 2027 season, and it's not like we haven't seen players in their 30s thrive coming off elbow reconstruction in recent years. But it's a lost season of Lopez's prime, and there's no guarantee he'll be back to his pre-injury form by then.

The Twins do have some depth in their rotation, though it is little proven. Lopez's injury would seemingly open up a spot for an open competition to take place, with the likeliest candidates to take that open rotation spot being Zebby Matthews, David Festa, and Mick Abel. All three have shown flashes at the MLB level, but none has emerged as a reliable option yet.

My best guess would be on Matthews taking the job – he has shown the ability to rack up strong strikeout numbers and avoid walks, but has been held back by poor results on balls in play. Those results were earned, as Matthews gives up a bunch of hard contact, but that's also the part of a pitcher's game that tends to fluctuate the most from one year to the next. If he fixes that issue, Matthews still has some breakout potential. If not, they'll cycle through their options, with Kendrys Rojas, Connor Prielipp, and Andrew Morris looming as options in the upper minors.

Blake Snell isn't throwing off a mound yet

Snell is behind schedule as the team tries to manage lingering soreness and fatigue from last year's World Series run. He has been limited to playing catch off the side, but manager Dave Roberts admitted in the early days of camp that he doesn't know when Snell is likely to be ready for the season.

"He's playing catch," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Snell. "He's throwing. Once he gets off the mound, throws a pen, and faces some hitters, we will know more. But obviously, he's not there right now. So until he gets off the mound, I just really don't know."

Snell is expected to throw a bullpen session soon, though even that hasn't been determined yet. It's not clear if Snell is currently dealing with an injury, but the team is taking every precaution to try to keep him healthy in 2026. Which highlights an inherent issue with every Dodgers pitcher that came to fruition in 2025: This is a team that only really cares about October. In his first season with the team, Snell only threw 61.1 regular-season innings due to a shoulder injury, but he was healthy and effective for the postseason as they went on to win a World Series, so nobody considered it a disappointing season.

Obviously, the Dodgers can't get 60 innings from all of their starters – they still need to get through the season and make the playoffs. But they have more than enough to get through the regular season without pushing anyone beyond their comfort zone, and having their best players healthy for October is really all they care about.

Hence, the lack of concern from the Dodgers camp about their $180 million pitcher potentially not being ready for Opening Day. Snell figures to be limited at least early on in the season, and given his track record, even that might not be enough to keep him healthy for a full season – he has only topped 130 innings twice in nine full MLB seasons. The upside when he's on the mound might be worth chasing, but I need a bigger discount than his ~100 ADP in the month of February allows.

Hurston Waldrep might need elbow surgery

The Braves already lost Spencer Schwellenbach to elbow surgery, and it sounds like Waldrep might be following him to the surgeon's table. Waldrep will see Dr. Keith Meister after feeling soreness in his elbow during his first live batting practice session of the spring.

An initial MRI didn't show structural damage, so the injury sounds similar to Schwellenbach's, with Waldrep dealing with loose bodies in his elbow. Sometimes, pitchers can pitch through that kind of issue, but the risk there is it can lead to both poor performance, lingering pain, and ultimately, further damage that requires more extensive surgery to repair.

At this point, it looks like Waldrep could be heading for a similar outcome to Schwellenbach: Arthroscopic surgery to clean up the elbow, with a timetable that could see him back on the mound in about three months. That could see both back on the mound by mid-May in a best-case scenario, though anytime we're talking about a pitcher's elbow, assuming the "best-case scenario" is an easy way to steer yourself wrong. Both could be back after missing a few months, but any kind of setback could restart the whole rehab process – or worse. Schwellenbach is just in the late-round discussion for drafts, while Waldrep, who is both less of a sure thing as a pitcher and less assured of a role when healthy, should be left only for leagues with multiple IL spots to play with.

Edwin Uceta is dealing with a "cranky" shoulder

The Rays entered spring with an expected battle between Uceta and Griffin Jax for the closer's role, but that battle is already up in the air. Uceta wasn't cleared to pitch for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic due to the injury, though right now it is mostly being discussed as a precautionary move.

"It was a difficult decision, but it's a decision that had to be made for me to get ready for the season," Uceta said through interpreter Kevin Vera. "Obviously very upset that I can't represent my country, but it's a decision that we had to make for the start of the season."

Uceta was working in the Dominican Republic during the offseason and started to experience discomfort after taking a week off to attend his arbitration hearing. He had been playing catch during camp before taking a few days off, and at this point, it doesn't sound like the team is too concerned about him being ready for Opening Day.

But given how close the competition between him and Jax is expected to be, any edge for one is a big deal. And Jax now seemingly has an edge, at least early in camp. Both can be high-end closers for Fantasy, and I'd still expect both to figure into the team's plans. But if I were expecting something like a 50-50 split, I would lean more towards a 60-40 split in Jax's favor right now. We might look back in two weeks and see no ill effects for Uceta that could even the score, but right now, Jax has to be the first reliever in the Rays bullpen taken in most drafts.

Five playing time/position battle updates

Sal Stewart is focusing on 1B in camp – Stewart split his time between third and first base last season in the majors and has played second in the minors, but it seems like his slide down the positional spectrum is coming early in his career – which is fine, since the Reds have excellent defensive options at second and third and Stewart probably doesn't have the arm for the hot corner, anyway. Coming off a .907 OPS across Double-A and Triple-A and a stint in the majors where he more than held his own while flashing plus power, Stewart should have the bat to handle first base. There are some mild playing time concerns here, but if he lives up to his upside, he's going to force the Reds to keep him in the lineup. He remains a great draft target outside the top 200 in ADP.
JJ Wetherholt is focusing on 2B – With Masyn Winn locked in as one of the very best defensive shortstops in baseball, Wetherholt always seemed likely to move to either his left or right, and left it is. Wetherholt figures to be very good at second base, and he doesn't seem to have much left to prove in the minors. He played 47 games at Triple-A in 2025, hitting .314/.416/.562 with nearly as many walks (28) as strikeouts (33). He has 20-20 upside with the potential for a good batting average and should be a pretty safe bet for playing time on a rebuilding Cardinals side, making Wetherholt a worthy pick inside the top-200 on Draft Day.
Alec Bohm is the likeliest cleanup option for the Phillies – Bohm made the All-Star game in 2024, but has been underwhelming since. However, he has a good approach for RBI, and hitting behind Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper would be a great spot for him to get back to the 90-plus range he was at in 2023 and 2024. Bohm's ADP is down to 259.9, making him a pretty attractive late-round alternative at third base. At the very least, you should get a pretty good batting average and a bunch of RBI from him.
Brandon Nimmo looks likely to lead off for the Rangers – Nimmo primarily hit fourth or fifth for the Mets last season, but his move to Texas will also see him moving to the top of the order. That'll cause a drag on his RBI numbers, but hitting ahead of Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager should be great for his run scoring opportunities, and Nimmo's on-base skills will fit well at the top of the lineup. I wonder if he could even see a little bump in stolen bases while setting the table, which would help make up for a likely drop in power production with Globe Life Field representing a downgrade in home park from Citi Field.
Marcelo Mayer is starting out at 2B He primarily played shortstop coming up through the minors and third base as a rookie, but with the acquisition of Caleb Durbin, the Red Sox are looking at Mayer at second this spring. He platooned as a rookie and could do so again in 2026, though Romy Gonzalez's spring has been delayed by a shoulder issue, which might open up an opportunity for Mayer to play every day early on. He's a sleeper to keep in mind at either third or second, the two weakest positions for Fantasy.