Spring Scouting: Sandy Sunday

Sandy Alcantara, David Festa, Kris Bubic, Kris Bubic, Casey Mize

Feb 24, 2025

Welcome to “Spring Scouting”, a series which aims to highlight any intriguing Spring Training players or storylines. This article will cover some intriguing outings and new pitches we saw from yesterday’s games.

Sandy Alcantara

Sandy Alcantara made his long-awaited return from TJS after missing all of the 2024 season, and it was magnificent. His velocity was right where he left off in 2023 and he showed off his 4-pitch mix. The stuff may even be better than his 2022 Cy Young season!

It was only an inning of work, so there was not much information to parse from the start, but the biggest nugget came after his appearance. Craig Mish reported that he does not believe that Sandy will have any restrictions this season.

Sandy Alcantara was electric in his return from TJS today in Jupiter. Fantastic matchup in Miami on Opening Day against Paul Skenes is a bit over a month away. In terms of pitching restrictions this season, I don’t believe Sandy will have any. Just a unicorn in the sport.

The biggest piece of the puzzle when projecting Alcantara this season was his workload. It seems like Tommy John Surgery and not pitching professionally for nearly 1.5 years won’t deter his workhorse attitude. Sandy stocks are rising!

David Festa

I labelled David Festa as a breakout candidate a few weeks back, but this was before I learned that he added in a new sinker into his arsenal!

I’ve always been intrigued by Festa’s profile thanks to his strong stuff and plus changeup. He struck out batters at a high clip in MiLB and showed much better strike-throwing ability last season. My biggest concern with Festa was his shallow arsenal would be exploited by MLB batters once they got a read on him. That worry was manifested early in his rookie season as he batters jumped on his fastball and hit it hard. Not only does the sinker grade out well (111 tjStuff+), the introduction of the offering gives him another weapon to throw for strikes early in the count rather than relying on his 4-Seam.

Kris Bubic

Kris Bubic is yet another breakout candidate I named in my article a few weeks back, and what we saw from him today only strengthened my convictions. Bubic was incredibly effective out of the bullpen for the Royals last season, but the plan is to return him to a starter role after his last attempt at starting was cut short following TJS in 2023.

It was great to see that Bubic did not suffer a velocity drop in his outing today as he averaged 93.7 MPH on his fastball. The shape of the pitch wasn’t as sharp as last year, but it still graded out as above average. Alongside the sustained velocity, the most notable parts of his start were a seemingly revamped changeup, a new cutter, and a lower release point. Bubic’s changeup was very effective last season, so a change seems surprising, however this “new” one grades out stronger. It exhibited a significant amount of drop with less arm-side movement. The drastic separation between his changeup and fastball could make it an effective put-away pitch against RHH. Bubic mentioned working on a new cutter in the offseason and he showcased it yesterday. The pitch sits in the high 80s and exhibits minimal arm-side action with slight bit of ride which will help bridge the gap between this fastball and slider.

Bubic seems to have lowered his release height (~1”) as well. He mentioned that he spent time this offseason understanding the importance of his release and how it impacts a batter’s perception of his pitches. This will be important to track throughout the Spring, as well as other changes he will make.

Casey Mize

Mize kicked off his Spring on a high note as his stuff graded out much better than last season. His velocity was up across the board and he made a slight change to his delivery. He vertical release point increased ~3” to 6.0 ft which is noteworthy as it led to increased ride of his fastball. He also introduced a new sweeper.

He only threw 1 sweeper, but it did flash plus traits. The offering had 17” of glove-side movement at 83 MPH, which sits it in very good tier of sweepers. With the inclusion of this pitch, it seems like his curveball may have been replaced. This feels like a productive choice as his curve has consistently returned negative run values throughout his career.

The former 1st overall pick had a strong Spring Training in 2024, but his regular season results left a lot of room to be desired. Kicking off Spring Training with velocity kick and revamped arsenal makes Mize an intriguing pitcher to follow.

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