MLB Spring Breakout: Marlins beat Cardinals, Mets beat Nationals and rain beats 6 other teams
The majority of MLB Spring Breakout games were rained out on Friday, with only two games reaching completion.
In Arizona, late afternoon matchups between the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs plus the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics were canceled, while another game between the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners was postponed to March 24.
It was not hard to understand why:
As for the games that were actually played, the first of the day was the St. Louis Cardinals against the Miami Marlins. Marlins prospect Griffin Conine powered his team to a 3-2 win, with a go-ahead solo homer in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the fifth to extend the lead.
Both teams’ No. 2 prospects impressed on the mound, with the Cardinals’ Tink Hence throwing two scoreless innings and the Marlins’ Thomas White striking out three in a hitless inning of work.
Noble Meyer, the No. 10 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft for the Marlins, also saw some action, allowing a hit, three walks and a run in an inning of work.
The other game was the New York Mets facing the Washington Nationals, which had no shortage of minor league talent. The headliners were Dylan Crews and James Wood, the crown jewels of the Nationals’ system. Crews was the No. 2 overall pick in 2023, while Wood was the the biggest asset in the team’s return for the Juan Soto trade.
Both players are in the top 15 of MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects. Crews led the game with a line drive up the middle:
Meanwhile, the Mets’ roster featured No. 44 prospect Jett Williams, No. 53 prospect Drew Gilbert and No. 66 prospect Luisangel Acuña. Gilbert and Acuña were both the results of big trades last season — Gilbert for Justin Verlander and Acuña for Max Scherzer.
It was a close game throughout, with the Nationals taking a 2-1 lead on RBI hits from No. 30 organization prospect T.J. White in the second and fourth innings. The Mets responded with rallies in the bottom of the fourth and fifth to take a 4-2 lead, then closed the game out with four straight scoreless innings.
White seemed to enjoy the tension, via MASN’s Mark Zuckerman:
“To me, it kind of felt like playing a real MLB game,” said White, who drove in both of the Nats’ runs with a pair of two-out RBI hits. “It kind of felt like getting my first big league hit, almost. It was just a surreal experience.”
The next wave of Spring Breakout games is scheduled to hit Saturday with seven games, with teams including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks.
