The North Port Report: Mike Yastrzemski and Dominic Smith Make Cases for More Playing Time

Here's everything you need to know from Braves Spring Training in North Port, FL from Thursday

Welcome to The North Port Report, your nightly notebook from Braves spring training. Each evening, we’ll run through the biggest developments from camp: roster battles, injury updates, standout performances, and the small details that matter more than they seem in March. The games may not count yet, but the information does.

Here’s what stood out today

Chris Sale threw three innings with one run on three hits, but Spencer Strider’s outing will get more attention. He continued to show more improvement and growth, proving that last week’s lower velocity was just him taking his time ramping up. Strider averaged 95 on his four-seamer and touched 96.7 multiple times, averaging 17 inches of induced vertical break and frequently touching 18, 19, and even 20 inches as the outing progressed. He also finished with five whiffs on his slider, getting a fair amount of chase with it. While he’s not 100% back to his 2023 Strikeout King ways, he continues to get closer every single week.

On the offensive side, leadoff man Mauricio Dubón (3-3, R, RBI) was the most productive hitter, but Mike Yastrzemski was the big star of the day for me. Scheduled to start against righty Dylan Cease and then left in the lineup for Cease’s replacement, lefty Eric Lauer, Yaz put together some good bats against southpaws today. He ripped a line drive the other way on a 1-2 fastball just above the zone in his first time up before getting beat on a 0-1 slider below the zone that he weakly ground out to second. He then ripped a line drive to right field at 102.3 mph his second time up, again on a lefty slider, before finally seeing a righty late and dumping an up-and-away fastball into right field for a single. The final tally was two hard-hit balls against lefties in his three ABs against them, with a weak groundout to Javen Coleman as the only blemish on his line for the day.

Other noteworthy lines include Dominic Smith, now one of the presumptive favorites for early DH reps, hitting a two-run homer and coming around to score from second on a Dubón double, and John Gil going 1-2 and scoring twice late in the contest.

Quick Hits

• Was happy to see prospect Luis Vargas make his healthy return to the mound. The 2018 IFA is a late bloomer that developed top-of-the-scale velocity…before going down with a blown-out elbow, a tumor that required surgery, and other maladies. He averaged 95 on his heater today in his first action since last summer.

• Reynaldo López is the starter for Friday on the road versus the Twins. No word on if Grant Holmes is scheduled to follow or if he’ll get the Saturday start at home against a split-squad Orioles lineup.

• More cuts out of camp came down the pipe today, with RHP Jhancarlos Lara getting optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett and the quartet of RHP Austin Pope and infielders Jim Jarvis, Alex Lodise, and Luke Waddell are being reassigned to minor league camp. The spring training roster is now at 54.

  • Interestingly to me, the only prospects that survived the first round of cuts were JR Ritchie and John Gil. Almost immediately, Gil got some reps at shortstop now that his competition for the future MLB spot was sent down this morning.

• Braves legends Chipper Jones and Dale Murphy were present in uniform for today’s game, with both greats joining the broadcast from the dugout to talk about what they’ve seen and their thoughts on the pending 2026 season. One of the best parts of camp is when the team’s past gets to interact with the present (and work with the future).

Roster Battle Tracker

Stock UP

Drake Baldwin’s bat might need to be in the lineup every single day. Last year’s Rookie of the Year put four balls into play today and the softest contact he made was 97.2 mph. While he picked up only one hit, a 6th-inning single, his 3rd-inning flyout had an expected batting average of .780 and was knocked down by the North Port wind to be caught at the warning track in right. As long as Jonah Heim (and later, Sean Murphy) is able to handle himself offensively and be respectable, one of the paths to replace Jurickson Profar might be letting Baldwin be the designated hitter any day he’s not behind the plate. Get that man 600 plate appearances.

Stock DOWN

Jacob Kroeger has been named a potential breakout arm this year by some, but despite getting the hold today, he struggled in the 7th inning. After a leadoff walk, he allowed three consecutive hits, the final being a double, to put up two runs for Toronto and narrow Atlanta’s lead to one. He rebounded with two consecutive strikeouts, the second on an ABS challenge, before a walk prompted Walt Weiss to call on Anderson Pilar to finish the inning. As we’ve seen at times with Bryce Elder, a fellow sinker/slider guy, the walks are sometimes your undoing and Kroeger just wasn’t reliably around the zone enough early in counts to avoid them.

Observation of the Day

Maybe Atlanta’s offense can weather the loss of Jurickson Profar after all. Yastrzemski’s hard-hit balls off of lefties and Smith’s home run are signs that, while some of the internal options to replace Profar may either be flawed players or have struggled in recent seasons, there’s potentially more in the tank than their previous stats may automatically lead you to assume.

The organization will have three weeks to evaluate the internal options before needing to make a final decision. With camp cuts pending and XX(B) free agents¹ being able to opt out of their minor league deals five days before Opening Day, it’s possible one of the many veterans looking for a job in other camps will make their way to Atlanta’s roster before they take on the Royals in Truist Park on March 27th.

Tomorrow’s watch list

With frequent shortstop substitutes Jim Jarvis and Alex Lodise now in minor league camp, is tomorrow the day John Gil gets penciled into the lineup as the starting shortstop for the road trip to Sarasota?

1. An XX(B) free agent is someone who has six years of service time and finished last season on either an MLB roster or the 60-day IL. If they’re on a minor league deal in spring, they have the ability to opt out and become a free agent unless the team adds them to the 26-man roster. That opt-out decision can come on any of three dates: Five days before Opening Day, May 1st, and June 1st