Fantasy Baseball Spring Training Takeaways: Albert Pujols feeling good, but A.J. Pollock and Carlos Carrasco not so much

A.J. Pollock and Carlos Carrasco are hurting, but should we change our approach to them on Draft Day? Scott White looks at the latest spring happenings.

If A.J. Pollock’s tight groin is what’s preventing you from selecting him on Draft Day, you need to relax.

True, he left Sunday’s game with the injury and hasn’t played since, but just because spring training seems to have lasted forever doesn’t mean we’re nearing the end. We still have nearly three weeks to go.

It’s even sloggier than usual because of the World Baseball Classic, so teams are taking every precaution they can with the players they expect to be in their opening day lineups. Pollock himself classified the injury as more of a cramp.

“It was probably me being a little more nervous because I did it last year,” Pollock told MLB.com. “I think if I didn’t have the thing last year, I probably would’ve stayed in and kind of ran around and it probably would’ve been fine.”  

Rest assured, it’s not lost on him that a groin injury is what ultimately ended his 2016 (after a lengthy rehabilitation from elbow surgery).

“I haven’t really done anything for it because I just kind of thought it was a thing of the past,” Pollock said. “But it might have been a nice little warning to say hey, this has got to be part of your routine, to have a couple of exercises for the groin to keep that activated. But I feel pretty confident about everything.”  

Some of us learn the hard way the importance of pre-workout stretching.

The more alarming injury to pop up in recent days is Carlos Carrasco’s elbow, which came out of Monday’s eight-run debacle with inflammation.

No tearing. Nothing that should require more than just rest, and it’s possible he doesn’t spend any time on the DL with it. But the one thing we could say about all the time Carrasco missed with injuries the last few years was “at least his arm’s OK.” So much for that.

He’s among the riskier SP2 choices on Draft Day.

Claiming victory from de-feet

Here’s one injury situation you can feel good about: The bionic Albert Pujols continues to march along, homering in just his second Cactus League game Tuesday.

He had surgery this offseason to correct a plantar fascia issue that has plagued him for years but never compromised what has become his greatest strength in Fantasy: hitting the ball out of the yard.

“You won’t believe how hard he’s worked to get back to this point,” manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com.  

A clearer test of the foot came in Sunday’s game, when Pujols legged out a double.

“He’s running better now than obviously once he had that injury, once it started bothering him last year,” Scioscia said. “And that’s a positive.”  

Pujols has hobbled around the bases the last few years, so rarely was anything that didn’t leave the park more than a single for him. Seeing as his contact skills haven’t eroded in his old age -- he has maintained one of the 15 lowest strikeout rates over the last three years -- he could be on the verge of one of his better seasons in an Angels uniform.

At the very least, you can trust he’ll be ready for opening day, making him the fallback first baseman 12-teamers were sorely lacking in the middle rounds.

Young guns misfiring early

Blake Snell is presumed to have a rotation spot for the Rays. Tyler Glasnow would have to earn his for the Pirates.

So far, neither pitcher has helped his cause.

Both have shown flashes of potential but have been plagued by the same efficiency issues that have spotted their otherwise stellar minor-league careers.

Snell’s biggest blemish came Tuesday at the Orioles:

He had issued just one walk in three starts prior, but pitching coach Jim Hickey says his struggles have extended beyond that.

“This next outing is an important one for him,” Hickey told the Tampa Bay Times. “He needs to get deep in the ballgame, at least into the fifth inning, because he hasn’t been close yet. We need to get over that hurdle real quick here.”

Glasnow got off to a great start with six strikeouts over two innings back on Feb. 26, but every start since then has been a disaster, including Monday’s at the Braves:

Sounds like he’ll be on the outside looking in come opening day.

“He’s got some more work to do,” manager Clint Hurdle told MLB.com.

Both pitchers still have electric stuff and huge upside. They’re worth selecting late regardless of where they begin the year. But neither looks like he’s on the verge of breaking out.

Seeing Red

One pitcher who has turned heads this spring is Reds prospect Amir Garrett, who has put together a 0.79 ERA across four starts.

It’s not quite as impressive as it looks because he had a start in which he gave up five unearned runs, but he has also had a couple starts as good as Monday’s against the Athletics.

With Anthony DeSclafani shut down with a sprained UCL, the Reds now have three openings in their starting rotation, and other young hurlers Robert Stephenson and Cody Reed haven’t performed at near the level Garrett has. They have plenty of journeymen who could make the rotation as well.

But Garrett looks like the early -- and with at least three starts to go, I do emphasize early -- favorite.

The former St. John’s basketball player made big strides with a 3.11 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings last year, including 1.75, 1.03 and 9.1 at his longer stop at Double-A Pensacola. He was thought to be pretty raw given that he was sidetracked by basketball at a critical age, but performance may be shattering perception here.

Light at the end

With David Price likely to begin the year on the DL, the Red Sox don’t exactly have a rotation battle anymore, but they do have a couple other starting pitchers who need to get healthy.

Steven Wright, who was limited down the stretch last year by shoulder bursitis, pitched two hitless innings in his spring debut Monday, throwing 16 of his 21 pitches for strikes.

That’s a particularly impressive ratio for a knuckleballer, but then, Wright was a special kind of knuckleballer in the first half last year, making the All-Star team with a 2.68 ERA.

He explained Monday how the shoulder injury skewed his second half numbers:

“I felt like last year, when I had all the pain, it wasn’t that I couldn’t make a pitch, it was that I couldn’t repeat it because of the pain,” he told MLB.com. “My arm in my slot was different every time, and it just makes it hard for anybody to pitch. And here I am trying to throw a 73-mph pitch with no spin, and if I can do that right, it can be effective. But if I do it wrong, I mean, it’s batting practice.”

Considering his wins potential with the Red Sox lineup backing him, he may not be getting enough attention in mixed-league drafts.

Drew Pomeranz, who has undergone stem cell therapy for elbow discomfort, wasn’t quite as impressive in his debut Tuesday ...

... but he, like Wright, was an All-Star last year. I’ve assumed that what happened during his 14 appearances (13 starts) after getting traded to the Red Sox, when he put together 4.59 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, was a product of a fly-ball prone left-hander moving to Fenway Park -- and it may well be -- but the elbow injury may be as valid of an explanation.

But is it healthy now? And will the Red Sox resist the urge to move Pomeranz to the bullpen when Price returns? These are the biggest questions hanging over him right now.

Back on track?

Patrick Corbin had looked nothing short of terrible this spring, but the thing about pitching to get ready as opposed to pitching to win is that you can never be sure when a pitcher is revealing his true self.

Hopefully, Corbin was Tuesday:

He was a must-start Fantasy option after Tommy John surgery in 2104, after all, and was still being drafted as a must-start option as recently as a year ago. So his 2016 performance is really the outlier for his career.

And though we can’t be sure he has resolved whatever plagued him then, he did finish last year strong, compiling a 2.70 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings in 12 relief appearances, most of the multi-inning variety.

Those relief appearances give him relief pitcher eligibility heading into 2016, which makes him particularly attractive in the late rounds of points league drafts, where competent starting pitchers will often outscore closers.

You can draft him with a little more conviction in those formats after this start.