There are a couple guys that are doing so good this spring training you'll have to watch out for them when the regular season starts. Alex Rios was picked up by the Kansas City Royals this offseason after he had a slow offensive year. So far in spring training Rios leads in 3 categories and is tied in a few. Rios looks great and will be a perfect fit in that outfield this season if he can carry over what he is doing in spring training to the regular season. The Royals are going to need a little more offensive this year to make up for their starting rotation.
The Yankees are getting some questions answered so far in spring training. Their biggest question was their pitching rotation, because of all the injuries they faced last season. Michael Pineda has pitched very well this spring training, and their new guy from the Marlins Nathan Eovaldi has been blowing hitters away. There still is the question will Tanaka get hurt since he didn't get the surgery, and can C.C. Sabathia return to form now that he has put on weight. Both those questions can't be answered until the regular season starts. Side note; Alex Rodriguez has been impressive this spring training. He has hit the ball well, had good long at-bats, and played the field well. He is making it hard on the Yankees staff to not find a spot for him on the field. Plus, the home fans having been cheering for him in spring training, and seem to have to hard feelings.
The Pittsburg Pirates seem two have the answers to their two questions in spring training. The first question was the new Korean short-stop Jung-Ho-Kang. Could he be able to keep up with the pitching in the major leagues, because the pitching in Korea isn't comparable to the major leagues. So far, Kang was played very well, and showed up that power that got him a contract in the first place. The problem with this is the Pirates like Jordy Mercer, and he is their current short-stop. Where will Kang play, because if they don't find room the 11 million dollars they paid for him isn't looking so good. The second question, will Pedro Alvarez return to form? Pedro struggled terribly at the plate last year with a .231 average, and made 25 errors defensively for the Pirates last season. The good news is most of those errors were throwing, and he is now been moved to first base and won't have to deal with that anymore. The average won't get much better than .250 for Alvarez, but if he can bomb 30 home runs, and 100 RBI's, like he did in 2013, everything will be okay. In spring training Alvarez has shown he has worked on driving the ball the other way, for all three of his first hits went opposite field. The question I would be asking the Pirates is, are the comfortable with their starting rotation. Cole got injured last year, they lost Volquez, and A.J Burnett and Francisco Liriano are both old. Their starting rotation, for me, is their biggest question mark going into spring training.
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