Major League Baseball announced the creation of “Spring Breakout,” a four-day series of exhibition games in which an organization’s top prospects will participate in Spring Training contests against the best minor league talents of other teams. Next year’s event will take place between March 14 and 17.
“Spring Breakout will provide a new opportunity to showcase the future stars of the game as they continue on their journey to the Major Leagues,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in the press release. “Our fans will get unique opportunities to meet our best prospects, get autographs, and see the next generation of Major Leaguers up close. We are thrilled that Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and all of our Clubs are working closer than ever to grow the game and to shine a brighter light on our future All-Stars.”
While it’s not uncommon for highly-regarded prospects to participate in Spring Training contests, they’re frequently plugged in as late-game substitutions alongside the MLB roster. Lower minors players are often in the minor league portion of Spring Training while playing on the backfields at teams’ complexes.
Before today, there hadn’t been anything specifically designed to get a club’s most talented young players (regardless of age and level) all on the same field in front of a larger audience. This won’t dramatically change the spring season but sets aside a few days to give fans a look at the future of the organizations.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the news shortly before the league announcement.
Cool concept. I’m sure everyone will complain when a prospect gets hurt though
They’d be playing anyways?
rols – Teams will NOT be happy that their top prospects will be managed and coached by those outside their organization.
As an example, Rodney Linares wanted Devers to play 1B in the WBC. When Cora found out about it, he said “Diablos no”.
Hopefully the managers of these top prospects will have some say in how they are utilized during this new series.
Then I guess it’s a good thing that each team only consists of prospects within the same org
Fletch – That wasn’t mentioned in the above article, so I looked it up. Each team will be comprised of 20-25 of their franchise’s players.
Which means 600-750 minor leaguers participating. Talk about watered down, what a clown concept bro.
“Future All-Stars” my ___.
Are Nationals fans really gonna complain when Zach Brzykcy comes in to pitch? No, they’ll be happy they got to see Crews, Wood, House, Yoyo, etc. on the same field.
I doubt MLB’s goal was to make people think this was some kind of all star game, but rather to get fans a bit more invested in their team’s farm.
Would you say minor league ST games are a clown concept?
They already have the futures game, don’t they?
Fever Pitch Guy: Don’t throw water on manfred’s latest assanine idea. This is his lame attempt to recreate the WBC with minor leagues. I just hope at least some of those guys are still ambulatory by the end of the season.
@Fever from the way I read it in a different article, it sounded as though each Franchise will field their own tea of 25. I could be wrong bur that is way it sounded to me.
This is more in depth as you’ll get to see your favorite team’s top 25 guys.
I’m extremely familiar with the Braves top 40 prospects, but I’m curious to see which 25 guys are picked.
Also, I’m guessing the franchise picks which 25 prospects participate??
That alone will be pretty fun in itself seeing which guys they select and which ones they leave off.
Honestly, I think this is one of the best ideas MLB has had in a VERY LONG TIME!!
Agree. This is an excellent idea.
Which means 600-750 minor leaguers participating. Talk about watered down, what a clown concept bro.
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You better be fracking wrong. I thought this was a great, great concept. I assumed it would be the RS sending their 4 best prospects to compete against other teams best 4. I thought I would see matchups between a top-5 ranked SP against Mayer.
If it is 20-25 from each team, then this is exactly AAA teams.
But they already have a whole season of AAA games. How will this differ?
They will be managed by their own organization…this isn’t an “all-star” type set up. The organizations will field their own top prospects team and play other organizations. MLB Trade Rumors just did a piss poor job of explaining that. All 30 teams will have their own prospect team.
Tigers – You are correct. Unfortunately the above article obviously wasn’t clear, and I gave too much credit to Manfred by believing “future All-Stars” would be the ones competing against “the best minor league talents of other teams” ….when in fact it will be 600-750 minor leaguers and 28 of the 30 teams will be playing only 7 innings.
Joe – You know I always have sources to back up what I write.
mlb.com/news/spring-breakout-prospect-showcase-to-…
This is all hype and YES it’s a money grab for the games that are not part of a regular ST game doubleheader.
Joe – What makes it even more absurd, guys like Rafaela and Mayer are already penciled into real ST games.
Rafaela played in 16 ST games this year and Mayer played in 5 games. So it’s not like Manfred is giving fans a unique opportunity to see prospects play, that already happens EVERY spring training.
Yea that’s exactly my thought when I read this article. It’s a AAA game in spring training.
Technically Matt is correct. Someone is just as likely to get hurt running to first in a ST game as they are in an exhibition, but that doesn’t mean people won’t complain. It is like an American entitlement.
Joe – I agree now that we know the setup of this breakout series.
But the WBC is different. Players get over-emotional and over-extend themselves because of a strong desire to win, that’s why WBC injuries are more common than regular ST game injuries.
Get used to it. WBC, exhibition games, they’re part of the game now. Players can get injured on their own time too, so you can’t just back on injuries as an excuse. I’m sure I’ll take heat for this comment.
Just as long as the player does not celebrate too exuberantly or get lost in the ecstasy of victory to such a degree where they’re leaping upwards or banging elbows and breaking limbs while doing so.
Yea you are over exaggerating Diaz’s celebration when he got hurt
The result is the same
I like this idea. It’s a great showcase for MLB. The sport needs better marketing overall, and this is a very small start but a good one nonetheless.
Exciting?, or Money Grab?
It can be both
Can’t grab money if you don’t generate excitement.
Neal – Most will be the first game of a single-admission doubleheader before the regular ST game is played. But I assure you the seats will be mostly empty while the kids are playing. They will be 7-inning games therefore the substitutions will be insane.
I think MLB organisations are pretty OK with it. It gives them the opportunity to see their best prospects together for a few days and assess them. It is ST, the teams won’t run their prospects out there to win but to see how they have returned from an off-season and how they respond to a competitive environment.
This is a great idea…
What is the most affordable way to get autographs? I’m hoping for one of Seager, deGrom, or Wyatt Langford’s autograph.
Cute kid or good looking under 25 woman in person for free.
deGrom – Have the clubhouse attendant forge their autographs like many players do, it will be much cheaper that way.
Get there when gates open and go right next to the dugout. Obviously, be polite and thank them if they sign.
We shouldn’t try to spin this as a negative. This is legit awesome
Agreed – love this!
brush – You gonna love it when a team’s top two position prospects play just a couple innings each before getting pulled? And pitchers get pulled after every 3 batters?
Love this idea
This actually sounds awesome and it makes me want to go to ST to see these games. Maybe they’ll be on YES Network or ESPN or MLB.tv. A very fun concept, I love it.
Gardy – They’ve been doing an abbreviated version of this for more than two decades.
It’s called the All-Star Futures Game, and it began in 1999.
Facts!
Guys out here celebrating a “new” event that pretty much has existed for over 20 years. Watching prospects who are at completely different levels of maturity and development is worthless. There is a reason why there is rookie ball, A, AA and AAA. Your “best” prospect might be 4 years away from the majors. Do I need to see him against somebody 22 years old and about to go to the show?
Barry – Maybe in 2025 they’ll have some sort of new competition in spring training where players try to hit the baseball over the outfield wall as often as possible …. almost like hitting homeruns, but in some kinda derby format.
Nobody needs to watch spring training. This is just a marginally more exciting subset of it.
What a weird question.
Do you need to? No. Do I want to? Yes.
This is literally just a minor league ST game being played on the complex’s main field. Still cool that it’s more top prospect oriented instead of org fodder.
It’s wild that FPG so badly misinterpreted the announcement to think this was some kind of allstar team like the futures game
Fletch – It’s gonna be 600-750 minor leaguers playing a grand total of 112 innings, and you actually think it’s “top prospect oriented instead of org fodder”?
Keep track of the names in the box scores, then in 6-8 years come back and tell me how many of those 600-750 players had more than a cup of coffee in the majors, if they appeared in the majors at all.
PT Barnum was right, there’s a FletcherFan born every minute.
Are you saying you don’t recognize any names from the back half of this list?
mlb.com/prospects/redsox/
Organizations are allowed to carry 165 minor leaguers between all stateside affiliates and 35 on each DSL team. I don’t think you truly understand how many non-prospects reside in the minors. Nor do I think you understand how many prospects in that 20-25 range make the majors.
I don’t blame you for not realizing this, you’ve clearly never been all that bright. You’ve always seemed like you’re a fan of a team that happens to play baseball instead of a baseball fan
Fletch – How many times do I have to prove you wrong? Are you competing with Pads Fans for being wrong the most often?
If I have one flaw, it’s that I continue to spend time proving you wrong because I enjoy it too much.
Here is the list of Red Sox Top 30 prospects in 2016.
mlb.com/prospects/2016/redsox/
Guess how many had at least a cup of coffee in MLB.
Nobody wants to see career minor leaguers and indies, except you of course.
The only thing sadder than caring about spring training is caring about the people who care about spring training.
How did you prove me wrong lol
Challenge: FPG trying not to constantly defend his asinine position because he lacks basic reading comprehension. Difficulty: Impossible
Wait till someones top prospect gets hurt..
They’d be playing anyways?
Difference between playing and competing…
There is a difference between playing and competing
That doesn’t really add up. Prospects who get invites to spring training compete to get mlb jobs. Prospects playing in the minors compete to advance and get promoted to the show. And in general pro athletes compete every time they play. I don’t know where you get the notion that Prospects who are being continually evaluated consider any game they are involved in as an off day or time when they aren’t interested in producing numbers and results.
Not for prospects trying to make a roster….
Wasnt the same things said about the WBC when it first started. Now, its an accepted norm. This doesnt have nearly as big of names in it. It will be fine.
Could even make a playoff between Florida and Arizona
Love this, already bought game tickets for these days.
We don’t yet know where the games will be held though?
skins – We do, here is the schedule. A lot was omitted in the above article.
Thursday, March 14
Reds @ Rangers*, 6:05 p.m. ET/3:05 p.m. PT
Orioles @ Pirates*, 7:05 p.m. ET/4:05 p.m. PT
Friday, March 15
Marlins @ Cardinals*, 2:05 p.m. ET/11:05 a.m. PT
Mariners @ Padres, 4:10 p.m. ET/1:10 p.m. PT
White Sox @ Cubs, 5:05 p.m. ET/2:05 p.m. PT
Nationals @ Mets*, 3:10 p.m. ET/12:10 p.m. PT
Giants @ Athletics*, 7:05 p.m. ET/4:05 p.m. PT
Saturday, March 16
Braves @ Red Sox, 1:05 p.m. ET/10:05 a.m. PT
Phillies @ Tigers, 1:05 p.m. ET/10:05 a.m. PT
Blue Jays @ Yankees*, 4:05 p.m. ET/1:05 p.m. PT
Rays @ Twins*, 4:05 p.m. ET/1:05 p.m. PT
Dodgers @ Angels*, 4:10 p.m. ET/1:10 p.m. PT
Guardians @ Reds*, 7:05 p.m. ET/4:05 p.m. PT
D-backs @ Rockies*, 7:10 p.m. ET/4:10 p.m. PT
Sunday, March 17
Astros @ Cardinals*, 10:05 a.m. ET/7:05 a.m. PT
Brewers @ Royals*, 4:05 p.m. ET/1:05 p.m. PT
* — paired with Major League game as traditional doubleheader
Thanks Fever! I didn’t realize it was released yet.
skins – You’re welcome! My team is one of the few that isn’t doing the doubleheader, so I won’t be catching it.
Look what the NBA has done with the in season tourney. Changed some colors and did social media. Boom. Big hit. MLB needs a kick up the arse every now and again. This could be really good methinks.
Not a big hit. NBA is doing a marketing campaign to make you think that. The best teams tanked and took the extra days off. Nobody cared!!
Teams are running up the score in NBA Tourney. That is classless. Rules need to be changed.
nesn.com/2023/11/how-bulls-billy-donovan-felt-abou…
Weak comments. It was effectively a 7 point game with the required differential.
Did you bother to actually READ the article to find out why?
Some of the colors on the court where pretty hideous tho lol
Sounds good.
I’m intrigued if the level of talent brings matchups like Skenes vs Holliday. But if it’s just low level talent, eh… I’ll pass.
I’m intrigued if the level of talent brings matchups like Skenes vs Holliday.
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That’s what I was hoping it would be. If this was the best 5 players from each team in the ALE against the same from the NLE, basically a minor league AS game, I’d have paid serious money for a ticket.
If it is the RS minor league system against the NYY, then I will wait for a regular RS/NYY game.
Joe – I agree with you 100%, and I think most everybody except Fletcher also agrees with you.
Further risking young arms with added stress all to make a few extra dollars selling ads on television.
I sincerely doubt this is WBC-level competition. It’ll be no different than any other ST game, except the names might be more prominent.
Giving a professional pitcher the opportunity to pitch in an optional exhibition game. How offensive.
Like there wouldn’t be load management and pitch limits etc like in any other situation like this or in general.
These games will b held during Spring Training. The pitchers partaking in These games would ve been pitching anyways. You say it as tho they ll have starting pitchers out there on 3 days rest.
If anything if These games are over and above that of what MiLB had played during past Springs, it ll just give extra innings of work to some players who otherwise would not have gotten the opportunity if accommodating the additional rest did not occur. Or they could just be taking away a few games and it no way affects the workload of those partaking and actually would decrease the workload of those not.
Any notion that this is wanton disregard for risk of injury is just foolish. These are pro athletes or those aspiring to be pro athletes. Training and playing a physical game is a year round thing. So there will always be injuries or risk there of, it’s nothing added or new it is just a reality.
Further risking young arms with added stress all to make a few extra dollars selling ads on television.
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So you think a Yankee AAA SP pitching to the RS in a ST game is less dangerous than a Yankee AAA SP pitching to other minor leaguers?
My guess is that it is exactly the opposite.
Is this the first time Manfred got something right?
LOL! Manfred gets EVERYTHING right. Labor peace and rising revenues is the daily double of sports management.
Joe – Manfred does find ways to appease the union because he’s good at finding new sources of revenue.
But you have to wonder when the new revenue sources will dry up.
Will MLB uniforms look like Nascar uniforms someday?
Will the postseason expand to 16 teams after MLB expands to 32 teams?
Will MLB rosters expand to 35 in the regular season?
I see several Mets prospects getting injured and missing the season.
My thoughts exactly.
It’s like in final destination.
Even if they were locked at home, they’d sever a tendon opening a can of cat food.
Tear a capsule bringing groceries in.
Etc etc
Yea the ones they bought in their trade deadline deals last year lol
I get why they are doing it, but teams have programs the prospects are going through in spring. This could disrupt some of that.
4 days isn’t going to cause a problem. Many minor league players arrive in camp in late January.
If anything, it may help these teams and players see what they have since they’re playing other top talent.
Each org is playing one game. This basically just takes the place of what they would have done on the backfields
Fletch – You are wrong. Both the Reds and Cardinals are playing two games each, I posted the schedule to help you.
Well the Angels won’t be represented. They send any top prospect to Anaheim right away. The big league team is the Quadruple A team.
Why watch this contrived “competition” when you will see the same top prospects in their debut for any one of the 6-7 MLB teams who are tanking later that year? Off ye pop Commish
Almost as pointless as the NBA mid season tournament
They are spring training exhibition games.. wouldn’t you expect them to be less relevant than regular season games?
This event is definitely overhyped. It’s basically the series version of the Future’s Game. We’re more likely to see guys in AA and AAA, that are a year away, than anyone who has a realistic shot of making their organization’s Opening Day roster.
Isn’t that kind of the point though? It seems like they are trying to showcase guys that are top prospects but might not be getting regular playing time during spring games.
If a prospects is contending to break camp with a club, they probably aren’t likely to participate.
free – The Futures game is much, much better. It’s 50 of the top minor leaguers, while this spring breakout garbage is 600-750 players.
MLB needs to play the Japanese champion at the end of the season.
Bad News Bears style lol
Meh, they’re only prospects. Even if they get injured, they were probably not going to make it. I hope they play hardnosed baseball like we saw with Pete Rose in the All-Star game.
MLB should be announcing voiding the Ohtani contract.
Why? The contract is perfectly in the rules of the CBA. There is no limit to the amount of deferred money the contract can be.
There is also nothing in the CBA that says an opt out can’t be triggered by a certain front office or ownership change.
I love how so many people just operate under this assumption that everyone is made of glass and is prone to break at any second.
You’re the people who see a fireworks show and just think about what might happen if there’s a malfunction.
Try to enjoy something for once.
I know right? The grumpy killjoy vibes in the comments are off the chain rn. They’re athletes not action figures that must be kept in their original packaging lol
Pete – I kinda agree with you, but then again we are talking about top $102M players missing the entire season because they injured themself celebrating a win in the WBC.
It doesn’t get anymore pathetic than that.
People aren’t made of glass, but doctors are way too risk-averse and/or arrogant to understand that or to apply that knowledge.
I’d enjoy it except for the fear of a meteor knocking the beer out of my hand.
Should be called the “Orioles Prospect Showcase”, at least for this season, right?
Id wish mlb bring back exhibition games in non mlb cities – Nashville, Montreal New Orleans, etc
Would you care to air it?
Spring breakout spring breakout forever
With all of the prospects wrapped in 20 layers of bubble wrap, I am anticipating low scoring games. Like it or not, we are living in the era of the brittle player.
Don’t we already have something like this called the Arizona Fall League? Not trying to be a jerk, just saying isn’t it similar?
Similar, except that I don’t think it’s televised and nobody would watch anyway because it’s right after the World Series, and basketball/football are also on. Spring is more baseball-oriented.
But the wnba is after the regular nba season, not many viewers, the xfl arena league was after the nfl season and had fewer viewers but tv bumped mlb over xfl football. I see a pattern.
It’s the Futures Game nobody watches but for four days.