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The 2023 spring training season has now been underway for a bit over a week. One of the man things that is cool about baseball's exhibition season is that it takes place every single day. Hell, some teams even play twice in a day with split squad games. There's never a lack of action, that's for sure. 

Obviously, there's only so much to be taken away from games that don't actually matter in the grand scheme of the regular season and postseason. It's been shown time and again that team performance doesn't correlate while many players, especially veterans, are simply getting themselves in shape instead of worrying about results. 

That said, there's always room to highlight some goings-on while also realizing that it's spring and every small sample and "settle down" caveat applies. One of the bigger things that we saw was the debut of Japanese phenom Kodai Senga and we've already covered that. 

Let's take a look at some other things worth knowing so far. 

Jordan Walker is pounding the ball

The Cardinals drafted Jordan Walker 21st overall out of high school in 2020. He enters the 2023 season ranked as the sixth-best prospect in baseball. He's only 20 and hasn't seen Triple-A, but the leap from Double-A to the majors is doable for elite-level talents, and he did play 119 games in Double-A last season (hitting .306/.388/.510 with 31 doubles and 19 homers). Basically, there's a good chance he'll see the majors this year and he seems to be attempting to force the issue so far this spring. 

Through seven games this spring, Walker is hitting .429 with three doubles, three homers and six RBI. 

Walker is a third baseman/outfielder. Nolan Arenado isn't going anywhere, but it's possible Walker wedges his way into an OF or DH spot, where it currently looks like the Cardinals are going to use Lars Nootbar (LF), Tyler O'Neill (CF), Dylan Carlson (RF) and Juan Yepez (DH). 

Dominguez pushing for job, too

Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez is also 20 years old and highly regarded, though on a lesser scale than Walker and further away from The Show (he's only played in five Double-A games and just 40 in High-A). Through six spring games, Dominguez is hitting .417 with a .500 on-base percentage, two homers and four RBI. 

Dominguez is a center fielder by trade, but the transition to a corner spot isn't overly tricky. Maybe a big year for Dominguez means he's seeing reps in left field in Yankee Stadium by September. 

Baty raking as well

Mets prospect Bretty Baty made waves last season when he homered in his first career at-bat. Things didn't go quite as well the rest of the way, but that's not the biggest deal in the world. He was only 22 and players like Anthony Rizzo and even Mike Trout struggled in their first go-round in Major League Baseball. 

Baty seems ticketed for Triple-A to start the year and that makes sense, given that he only has six career games at that level. Still, he's making an impression. Through nine games this spring, he's slashing .471/.526/.706. 

Carroll flashing the skills

Noticing a theme on which players I believe matter in the spring? Yeah, it's the kids. Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll is the No. 2 prospect in baseball and is set to open the season as the leadoff man and center fielder for Arizona. One of the best parts of his game are his wheels.

Carroll played in 32 MLB games last season, hitting .260/.330/.500 (133 OPS+) with nine doubles, two triples, four homers and 1.1 WAR. So far this spring, he's hitting .375 with two doubles, that triple we just watched and six walks in 22 plate appearances. A patient Carroll would be big, big trouble for opposing teams atop that lineup. 

Cubs throw combined no-no

Friday night, the Padres were held without a hit. Obviously, if a no-hitter happens in the regular season it's a huge deal, but in a spring game it's not going to move the needle a ton. Still, this was the first no-hitter in the spring since 2017. If we wanted to zero in on anything, how about Cubs lefty Justin Steele, who threw two perfect innings on just 18 pitches? 

Steele had a breakout season last year in 24 starts, pitching to a 3.18 ERA with 126 strikeouts in 119 innings. 

More pitch clock obsessing

If you ever glance at social media (namely Twitter) -- which isn't recommended, by the way -- during spring training games this season, every single pitch clock violation is a referendum on the rule. 

The formula is simple: 

  • There's a violation, whether by the pitcher or the batter
  • Someone posts a clip on Twitter
  • Legions of people explode, screaming about how this isn't baseball

The thing is, these are games that don't matter and there was always going to be an adjustment period. We still have several weeks of spring training before the regular season hits. And guess what? In the first week of play, MLB announced that there were officially 1.4 pitch clock violations per game. We can reasonably expect that number to drop before the regular season hits and my hunch is that they are being extra strict in the early going to force players to adjust even quicker. 

Meanwhile, games are averaging two hours and 38 minutes with far less dead time. We'll see longer games in the regular season for many reasons -- including longer commercial breaks, because the almighty dollar still rules the world -- but it's less about the full game time and more about cutting dead time with players just standing still while doing nothing. 

Oh, and a lot of people might have seen Max Scherzer remain in his set position after a timeout only to "quick pitch" the utter hell out of Riley Adams. 

This drew a bunch of social media attention because, well, you know. Only it shouldn't have been allowed. Major League Baseball the next day sent a memo to all 30 teams clarifying that the "quick pitch" rule is still in place (via Mark Feinsand). The pitcher can't throw a pitch until a batter is "reasonably set" in the batter's box and the pitch clock rule doesn't change that. 

The over-arching message, as with all things spring training: Settle down.