The Dynasty Digest: March 16, 2024

Grab a cup of coffee and read Chris Clegg runs down everything you need to know for dynasty leagues from the previous days action.

Cover photo with image by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

Welcome to the Dynasty Digest! Baseball is back, and so are we, with our daily reports of everything you need to know from the previous days’ action for you to win your dynasty leagues.

Spring Training is always an interesting time, as box score stats don’t necessarily matter, but I am looking for other things of note. Has a pitcher seen an increase in velo or do they have a new pitch that compliments the arsenal well? Has a hitter simplified their approach, or did they post a new max exit velocity? The little things are much more important than box score stats for Spring Training, and we are going to talk about them. Unfortunately, nearly all of the Arizona games got rained out, but we still have plenty to talk about.

Spring Training Standouts From March 15

Matt Manning, RHP, DET

Mannings's strong spring continues as he held the Braves lineup scoreless on Friday through four innings and allowed just one hit and walk a piece. He struck out four including Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris while having a 31 percent whiff rate.

The fastball velocity continues to hold nearly a tick above where he was last year, even in starts where he is going deeper into games. The four-seam generated five whiffs, good for a 38 percent clip, which is encouraging considering it had just an 18 percent whiff rate last season.

The harder slider has shown a distinctive shape from 2023, but it also generated five whiffs while sitting nearly two ticks above last year’s velocity.

Manning was once a top pitching prospect in the game, but has struggled to find his footing in the Majors and has dealt with injuries. Still just 26 years old, there is plenty of time for Manning to post a breakout season.

Riley Greene, OF, DET

Greene has actively been working on getting his launch angles up because ground balls make him angry. In a recent interview he told Evan Petzold of Detroit Free Press:

"Trying to get the ball in the air is my goal," Greene said. "I'm (expletive) tired of hitting the ball on the ground. I'm trying to get the ball in the air with pure spin, and hit it hard."

He has continued to hit the ball hard this spring, and there have been some encouraging at-bats, but the lift still has not fully come. Greene collected two hits on Friday, both singles, with exit velocities of 107.9 and 108.3 mph. Between his three batted balls, the launch angles were two, four, and thirteen degrees.

Putting the ball on the ground at nearly a 50 percent clip last year led to inconsistent performances from Greene. He has hit the ball hard consistently, but when he gets to the pull side, the ground ball rate jumps nearly ten percentage points.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, TOR

If Spring Training performance is any indication of what we might get from Guerrero Jr in the regular season, it is possible we see him bounce back to 2021 levels in which he hit 48 home runs and posted a .311 batting average.

On Friday, Guerrero smoked a home run and added a single while driving in four. His single left the bat at 113 mph and traveled 371 feet, while the home run left the bat at 108.3 mph. While he has always hit the ball, launch angles have been a bit of a struggle, and he has routinely put the ball on the ground.

While we don’t want to overreact to a spring sample, his current launch angle sits at 14 degrees through 17 batted balls that have been recorded with hawkeye. I will take it as an encouraging sign.

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