Spring Training starts this week, which might bring a bit of warmth to all of you in Pennsylvania who are dealing with single digit weather (or to us babies in Florida who have the heat on because the temperature is in the 60s). This week we will have all of our Spring Training previews, with a look at the biggest questions from the majors, all the way down throughout the minors.
At the major league level, we will look at every position battle, all of the depth options, and preview how the team looks going into the 2015 season. The minor league previews will look at one team per day, projecting who could be on the roster, and what roster spots are up for grabs. There are 100 roster spots available between the four full-season leagues, and we had about 150 players competing for those spots. It should be a busy Spring. Here are all of the other things you can expect from the site:
**We already have our Spring Training tracker launched. The tracker will show who is in camp and who has been cut. It also projects the 25-man roster, grading players as a lock, as having a chance, or as having no chance at all.
**If you’re coming down to Bradenton, be sure to check out my guide on Things to Do in Bradenton During Spring Training 2015. And for those of you looking for details on the minor league schedule and rosters, I usually post those when I get them, which is the first or second week of MLB Spring Training (since the minor league camp starts later).
**As usual, I’ll be all over Bradenton this Spring, covering both the MLB and minor league portions of camp, with tons of updates throughout the day. There will be plenty of articles from both sides of camp on the site, along with all of the latest transactions. You can also follow the site on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for additional content.
**You’ve probably seen me plug the Prospect Guide many times on the site, while talking about how it allows me to expand the site, and keep all of the content free. We have already sold more copies of the 2015 Prospect Guide than we did the 2014 version, and as a result, we’re adding a new feature this year. In our survey last month, a lot of people who responded said they enjoyed the site video, and wanted to see more. I’ve invested in some new video equipment, and will have a new video feature on the site all Spring. I’m still working out the details, but hope to have the new feature launched this week.
**One other feature that a lot of people asked for is a chat or a Q&A. We used to do weekly chats on the site, but stopped after the software we used went to a paid version that would have cost more than the chats generated in revenue. Then Twitter became big, and it seemed pointless to hold a weekly chat when anyone could ask questions at any time. But there is still demand for a Q&A, so I’ll be launching that feature this week, and will run one article per week, most likely on Friday. The form to submit questions will go live tomorrow.
**I’ll be spending all day tomorrow getting the preview articles finished for the rest of the week (I had a ton of fun making tomorrow’s First Pitch, and hope you enjoy this unique look at the team). A lot of the players are already down here, and so am I, which means that I won’t be waiting until Wednesday to start the live coverage. In fact, that coverage started this weekend, with video and an interview with Jung-ho Kang. If you missed that, you can check it out here:
**Jung-Ho Kang Showing Off His Power At Pirate City
**Jung-Ho Kang Hoping To Pave The Way To MLB For Other Korean Players
Also from the weekend, the Pirates were ranked as the third best team in baseball. And John Dreker kicked off the 2015 draft coverage with the following recaps:
**Draft Prospect Watch: Ian Happ Homers Twice, Dillon Tate Looks Terrific In First Career Start
**Draft Prospect Watch: Kyle Funkhouser Pitches Gem, Josh Staumont Hits Triple Digits
