MLB

It's not just his unreal knack for swiping bags that earns Billy Hamilton the title of best natural base stealer in MLB. It's also the fact that the king of thieves almost never gets apprehended.

In the process of drawing up the rankings of the 10 purest base stealers in the game, let's focus on two key factors:

Chicago White Sox veteran Adam LaRoche abruptly retired this Tuesday due to the team limiting his 14-year-old son Drake's access to the clubhouse.

Four-time All-Star pitcher Chris Sale is one notable teammate who's adamantly come to LaRoche's defense. He spoke about the tricky situation on Friday.

The Chicago Cubs' Kris Bryant sharpened his already-electrifying batting skills in spring training with Arizona's Mesa Community College baseball team.

The team, however, wasn't aware.

The Tampa Bay Rays will be without their closer for the foreseeable future, as righty Brad Boxberger underwent surgery to repair a core muscle injury.

Continue for updates.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Flip your bat, pump your fist, shoot your imaginary arrow and come sit down with us for a few minutes as we investigate exactly how tired baseball is.

Like, take-a-two-hour-nap-each-afternoon tired?

Gulp-a-Red-Bull-or-two-a-day tired?

Enter-a-dance-competition tired?

"I do agree with what Bryce is saying," Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley says. "Maybe his words were a little off. It's not tired.

Nathan Eovaldi was just one inning into his second start of spring training, but New York Yankees television analyst John Flaherty was impressed.

"He looks locked in already," Flaherty said on the YES broadcast Wednesday night.

Oh, we really shouldn't be wringing our hands over bad spring training performances. But sometimes, well, it's just too hard not to.

At roughly the midway point of Major League Baseball's 2016 exhibition season, there's no shortage of bad performances to choose from. And while many of them can and should be ignored [nods in the direction of Paul Goldschmidt], we're going to focus on 10 in particular that are worth fretting about.

If the exhibition slate were a trip around the bases, we'd just be hitting the bag at second—still a couple of 90-foot sprints away from Opening Day, but a lot closer than when we started.

And while the scores of these Cactus and Grapefruit League contests don't matter, there's still plenty of consequential stuff going on between—and outside—the lines.

Free-agent first baseman Justin Morneau underwent surgery in December to repair a tendon in his elbow, and he is experiencing a bumpy road to recovery. 

Continue for updates.

The MLB Players Association may file a grievance on behalf of former Chicago White Sox first baseman Adam LaRoche, per Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times.