On Sunday we were treated to a split-squad day, with Reynaldo Lopez starting at home against the Rays, supported by most of the regulars left in camp after a few WBC departures, and Grant Holmes hitting the road at the Twins facility, supported by mostly Quad-A players and a few prospects.
At home, Reynaldo Lopez’s fastball sat around 92 MPH, a few ticks lower than his averages of 95.5 and 95.7 MPH in 2024 and 2025. He allowed a few hard-hit balls, but struck out three and walked one to three innings. He generated six whiffs and held Tampa scoreless in what was an overall nice performance for Reynaldo, even if the velo remained low in the lower 90s. Tyler Kinley followed Reynaldo and allowed a solo homer, but had a strikeout and three whiffs in his one inning. Dylan Lee followed with a 1-2-3 inning of contact outs and 3 whiffs. Bullpen candidate Dylan Dodd got the sixth and immediately allowed two monster home runs, hurting his chances of making the Opening Day roster against a guy like James Karinchak. Dodd finished with 2.0 innings of work, allowing two home runs, two hits and two strikeouts.
The offense was fairly quiet early in the game, but scored one on an error after a Yastrzemski walk and two on a 111 MPH Michael Harris single. Austin Riley crushed a homer in the sixth as his second pitch hit over 106 MPH of the day, a promising sign. Toolsy prospect Diego Tornes made an appearance in the seventh inning, pinch-hitting for Michael Harris and drawing a nice walk, still at just 17 years old.
Along the way, Holmes gave up some hard contact, but struck out two and walked one through 2.2 innings of scoreless ball, sitting around 93-94 with his fastball. Garrett Baumann started the fourth inning and retired the team with just one whiff, then collected another strikeout, but only three whiffs total over two innings of work, as he was unlucky on soft contact to start his third inning. Hayden Harris continued his strong spring with three strikeouts and one walk in his 1.0 inning outing.
On offense, John Gil struck out and walked one each before scorching a 109.7 MPH line drive homer in the eighth inning while still having a very strong spring showing. Jorge Mateo struckout twice and hit a sharp grounder in his three at bats.
Overall, it was a promising split-squad day for most of the regulars and major major league prospects. John Gil has the look of a guy who could break out and become a top 100 prospect this year, Grant Holmes and Reynaldo Lopez looked generally effective, albeit at reduced speed, and Austin Riley and Michael Harris made hard contact. Dylan Dodd’s rough performance was a tough moment for him, as it seems more likely he’ll be selected than make the Opening Day roster, but there’s still time for him.
We’ll be back tomorrow when the Braves host the Twins and the WBC kicks off.
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