Fan News

The crack of the bat, the pop of the ball meeting leather and roster cuts—they're all an indelible part of spring.

While the first two elicit nostalgia, the last one is an undeniable bummer. Writing for Fox Sports, former major league hurler C.J. Nitkowski describes the agony of the annual ritual:

Carlos Gonzalez's career has been plagued by injuries, and the issue is already cropping up ahead of the 2015 season.

Continue for updates.

Gonzalez Leaves Game with Knee Soreness

Friday, March 27

According to Nick Groke of The Denver Post, Gonzalez left the Colorado Rockies' spring training game late Friday night with soreness in his left knee:

Last year, the bullpen was one of the biggest problem areas for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2015 regular season hasn't even started yet, and the team is already down an arm after news that Brandon League will be out for an extended period of time.

Continue for updates.

Watch out, American League. Albert Pujols is coming for you.

That's what he and the Los Angeles Angels would have everyone believe, anyway. And as far as threats go, this one appears credible.

The NFL Scouting Combine is a marquee event in the pre-draft process for some of the nation’s top prospects. It looks like MLB may be following suit. 

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports noted Friday, per sources, that “Baseball is strongly considering a pre-draft combine, to be discussed in upcoming bargaining.”

That's not how ponchos work.

Rain began to fall on Friday during the New York Yankees' spring training game against the Philadelphia Phillies. In the third inning, a Yankees fan tried to put on his poncho.

Unfortunately, the man had some difficulty putting it on, trying to stick his head through one of the arm holes.

Everyone from fans and sabermetricians to teammates and general managers judge baseball players on their April-to-October results, but that forgets the bleakness of a wintry offseason.

While some might choose to spend the time off maniacally shoving an arm into a barrel of rice, a la Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan, these eight players made headlines during the winter and early spring for more significant reasons.

We're seeing some amazing new food items debuting this baseball season.

The leader in the pack has to be the bacon-doughnut hot dog from the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a minor league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

Pitcher Jordan Zimmermann has spent his entire career as a member of the Washington Nationals. That may not be the case after this season.

Continue for updates.

We all know spring training stats don't matter. You can hit .950 in the Cactus League and still hit .150 in the Major Leagues. 

But some spring performances are hard to ignore. That's especially true when a young player trying to prove himself shines or when a guy looking to bounce back from injury suddenly looks like his old self again.

What follows is a look at five players doing the best they can to convince us that how you play in March kind of, sort of matters.