Baseball is back! The trends, teams and faces we can’t wait to see
With pitchers and catchers reporting to major league camps across Arizona and Florida this week, baseball is officially back — and for the first time since 2019, we have a full spring training ahead of us.
The start of camp means a first chance to view stars such as Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Trea Turner in their new uniforms, and this year we’ll get to see MLB’s 2023 rule changes in action as soon as Cactus League and Grapefruit League games begin.
To celebrate the sport’s return, we asked our MLB experts to weigh in on the teams, themes and stars they can’t wait to check out as spring training begins.
After last year’s lockout led to a rushed frenzy to start the season, what is the one thing you are most excited about as a full spring training begins?
Buster Olney: Baseball officials, staffers and players have been talking about the potential impact of the rules changes for years, but now we get to see the actual effects on the field. Some of the early feedback I’ve heard from club coaches and managers is that they believe the larger bases will change the game to a degree that is unforeseen, because the geometry of the sport has always been so precisely ingrained in how the game is played.
Jeff Passan: The pitch clock. If you didn’t happen to see it in play in a minor league game last year, big league games this year are going to look almost foreign: crisp, clean and — dare I say — fast-paced? Here’s the thing: It’s going to take some time for players to get used to, especially considering how many will be playing in the clock-free World Baseball Classic. There will be some ugly moments. A game is bound to be won and lost on a pitch clock violation, and that will not sit well with people. But it’s a small price to pay for what will become a regular occurrence: Major League Baseball games that last 2½ hours.
Alden Gonzalez: I’m psyched about the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which will run simultaneously with spring training. We’ve had stars take part in previous WBCs, but never like this. The rosters include eight MVP winners and 67 All-Stars, 35 of whom took part in last year’s Midsummer Classic. Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw will represent Team USA for the first time. Shohei Ohtani will star for Japan. Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico are all decorated with stars, and the Dominican Republic is absolutely stacked. This is a chance to see intense games in frenzied environments with upper-echelon talent — before the regular season even begins. It’s going to be great.
David Schoenfield: Those first reports and game results from up-and-coming prospects. I think back to last spring training, when we heard a lot of good things about Michael Harris II in Braves camp. His spring performance was one reason the Braves were confident in promoting him to the majors after just 43 games in Double-A. So I’ll be looking at guys such as pitchers Grayson Rodriguez of the Orioles and Andrew Painter of the Phillies and hitters such as Jordan Walker of the Cardinals and Anthony Volpe of the Yankees to see how soon they might impact the big league team in 2023.
Brad Doolittle: The normal rhythms of spring, and a focus on actual baseball. There are always sideshows, and I assume the new rules will serve that purpose this spring. But for the first time in a while, we know when the regular season starts. We have players in camp fighting for spots, working their way into shape. Some hitters will have revamped swings. Some pitchers will be trying out new offerings. The news will come in a steady, undramatic, slow drip. Baseball for many, including me, is kind of like the throughline of the calendar and after a long, long period of general tumult, it’s good to just have it there, at its normal pace.
On the heels of this winter’s wild free agency, which player who changed teams are you most interested in seeing in his new uniform?
Olney: Xander Bogaerts wanted to play his whole career with the Red Sox, and in fact, worked to make that happen with a team-friendly deal signed in 2019. To see him in the Padres’ colors will be jarring, for sure, but also fun — Bob Melvin gets to decide how to arrange his unmatched quartet of hitters in late April. I’d bat Bogaerts in the cleanup spot, behind Fernando Tatis, Jr., Juan Soto and Manny Machado.
Passan: The New York Yankees entered the winter with two priorities: re-sign AL MVP Aaron Judge and add to a pitching rotation that can shut down elite lineups. Six years and $162 million for Carlos Rodon certainly helps with the latter, as the 30-year-old left-hander joins a staff with Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino. It’s a formidable group, and the Yankees hope Rodon’s power stuff — he struck out 237 in 178 innings for San Francisco last season — plays as well against the AL East as it did the NL West.
Gonzalez: I really like the fit of Trea Turner in Philadelphia, hitting atop that lineup. But what I really like is Trea Turner under baseball’s rules in 2023 — more specifically the bigger bases and the limited pickoffs. I want to see stolen bases become prominent in the sport again, and I’m hopeful baseball will begin to get back to that this season. Nobody runs — or slides — quite like Turner. I want more of it.
Schoenfield: I’m going to cheat a little here and go 2-for-1: Jacob deGrom going to the Rangers, and then Justin Verlander going to the Mets to replace deGrom. Given deGrom’s issues staying on the mound the past two seasons, the Rangers’ five-year, $185 million deal with him probably qualifies as the biggest gamble of the offseason — and perhaps a worthwhile one. As for Verlander, in his three full, healthy seasons with the Astros he finished second, first and first in the Cy Young voting. He turns 40 next week and some point will start slowing down, but I don’t think it’s going to be in 2023.
Doolittle: The sight of Willson Contreras in a Cardinals uniform is going to seem incongruous for a while but we’ll get used to it soon enough. It’s not just that he’s moved to a longtime rival. It’s that he’s also trying to fill the shoes of Yadier Molina, on the field and in the clubhouse, and it’ll give St. Louis a different feel. I have little doubt it’ll work fine, but I’m looking forward to seeing this new combination in action.
Which team are you far more interested in today than you were a year ago at this time?
Olney: The Padres, who have caused more discomfort in the owners’ boxes of rival teams than any club. Rival clubs can dismiss the spending of Mets owner Steve Cohen by citing Cohen’s unmatched wealth, but when the Padres spend big — and they’re spending huge, with the additions of Soto, Josh Hader and Bogaerts — well, that changes the context for everybody else. You get two distinct reactions from other clubs about the Padres: that what they’re doing is A) risky and unsustainable, or B) making other owners look bad.
Passan: This is not to suggest Arizona is an immediate threat to the Dodgers or Padres for NL West supremacy. But the Diamondbacks are undoubtedly a team on the rise, and there are few more enjoyable things in baseball than watching a talented group of young players ascend together. Arizona’s roster features a number of players with not only high ceilings but high floors, too. Outfielder Corbin Carroll is one. Catcher Gabriel Moreno, acquired from Toronto in a trade for Daulton Varsho, has multi-time All-Star potential. Right-hander Zac Gallen took the leap last year. And if Brandon Pfaadt (218 strikeouts and 33 walks in 167 minor league innings), Drey Jameson or Ryne Nelson can carve out a rotation spot, perhaps it will be enough to compel ownership next winter to do what it didn’t this time around: invest in free agency and supplement an excellent core.
Gonzalez: The Rangers spent a combined $500 million on two middle infielders in one day last offseason — and that was only half the work. The presence of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien instantly elevated the franchise, but it was clear then that it still needed major help on the pitching side. This offseason, the Rangers opened their wallets once again and signed deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney in free agency, adding them to a group that includes Martin Perez, Jon Gray and Jake Odorizzi to form a very nice rotation. The Rangers might not be legitimate contenders just yet, but they’re getting there fast.
Schoenfield: This is weird to say, since a year ago the Braves were coming off a World Series championship, but last season they added two new exciting stars in center fielder Harris and flamethrowing Spencer Strider. They were a better team in 2022 than in 2021, and they might be better in 2023 than they were in 2022 thanks to the addition of catcher Sean Murphy and what I expect will be a resurgent Ronald Acuna Jr. with more power.
Doolittle: Of all the recent rebuilding teams, I feel like the Orioles have emerged as the most interesting. It’s not just because they were so much better last season (though that’s part of it), because I feel like they played over their heads. But on top of that unexpected success, now the O’s are starting to graduate some of their prospects, and they have more than a few who seem like they can be true impact players. Adley Rutschman already is. Gunnar Henderson is following in his wake. Grayson Rodriguez should be a factor soon. The rebuild in Baltimore looked murky to me as recently as a year ago. Now I’m just excited for the fans there.
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
TIGER, Ga. — Georgia‘s former starting quarterback, Carson Beck, rolled through campus in a sleek Lamborghini, reportedly valued at more than $300,000. The head-turning sportscar was part of a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with a high-end automotive group.
In stark contrast, the Bulldogs’ new starting quarterback, Gunner Stockton, cruises through town in a 1984 Ford F-150. With a four-speed transmission and odometer that clicked past 300,000 miles long ago, the two-tone truck lacks modern conveniences such as air conditioning, power locks and power windows.
For Stockton’s family and friends in the tiny mountain town of Tiger, Georgia (about 90 minutes north of Athens), the old pickup feels like an appropriate choice.
“I think that sums him up,” said Stockton’s uncle, Allyn Stockton. “He’s just kind of a plain-wrapper guy. He’s really a simple guy.”
On Dec. 7, college football fans were introduced to Stockton in the second half of Georgia’s 22-19 overtime victory against Texas in the SEC championship game. After Beck was injured on the final play of the first half, Stockton came off the bench to rally the Bulldogs from a 6-3 deficit.
With Beck undergoing season-ending surgery this week to repair the elbow on his throwing arm, the No. 2 Bulldogs’ hopes in the College Football Playoff now rest partly on Stockton’s right arm and legs.
The third-year sophomore is expected to make his first career start against No. 7 Notre Dame in a CFP quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year’s Day (8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+).
Stockton’s family and friends say he has been preparing for this moment for much of his life.
“The people that watched him play in Rabun County aren’t surprised at all,” Allyn Stockton said. “They knew this was coming.”
IT WOULDN’T TAKE someone long to meet all of Tiger’s residents; its population was 422 in the most recent U.S. Census. The one-stoplight town has a still-operating drive-in theater. The roadside attraction Goats on the Roof on Highway 441 used to sell everything from Amish foods and furniture to homemade fudge and ice cream. And, yes, visitors could feed goats that maintain the lawn on the roof.
The Stockton family settled in Rabun County in 1956 and opened a car dealership; Stockton’s dad, Rob, still works there. Gunner was named after his paternal great-grandfather, V.D. Stockton, who was shot down twice while serving as an aerial gunner aboard B-17s during World War II and was known to his friends as “Gunner.”
Both of Rob’s parents attended Georgia and his late father, Lawrence, also graduated from the university’s pharmacy school. Lawrence was an avid Bulldogs football fan and took his sons to many home games and a few on the road over the years.
Rob and Allyn weren’t with their father when Georgia knocked off No. 8 Auburn 20-16 on the road on Nov. 16, 1985. The aftermath of that upset win became one of the most bizarre moments in the history of the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” because Auburn police used water cannons on Georgia fans who had rushed the field. The police also eventually turned the hoses on Bulldogs fans in the stands.
Jack Walton, the Auburn University police chief at the time, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he didn’t second-guess what his officers did. “My only regret is that we didn’t get every one of them,” he said.
Lawrence Stockton was among 38 people who were arrested that night. He told the AJC that he never went onto the field. According to Lawrence, he was handcuffed and taken to a holding area for asking a police officer why they were spraying the stands. He spent four hours in jail until his wife bailed him out.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have gone down and asked why they were spraying in the stands,” Lawrence Stockton told the AJC. “But you can only watch and take so much before you become a concerned citizen.”
Three days later, Allyn Stockton was sitting in homeroom at Rabun County High when a friend showed him the newspaper article. He didn’t know his dad had been arrested.
“Dad’s rendition of it was probably different from reality,” said Allyn Stockton, an attorney in Rabun County. “His thing was, ‘Hey, it’s one thing to turn the hoses on the people on the field. They turned them up on the people in the stands. There were elderly people up there and they couldn’t get out of the way.'”
V.D. Stockton had been the area’s district attorney for more than a decade, and his son’s charge of disturbing the peace was soon dropped.
Many years later, a stepbrother sent Allyn Stockton another article that included a photo history of the 1986 Auburn-Georgia game, which is still remembered as the “Game Between the Hoses.” He spotted his dad on the field in one of the photos.
“I mean, he’s on the field,” Allyn Stockton said. “One guy’s got a billy stick and there’s about three or four [cops] on him. My understanding was Dad wasn’t on the field, but he’s clearly getting the hell beat out of him on the field.”
On Oct. 30, 2010, Lawrence Stockton died after watching Georgia lose to Florida 34-31 in overtime in Jacksonville, Florida. He walked back to a tailgating area outside the stadium with friends and collapsed from a heart attack. He was 63.
ALLYN AND ROB shared their father’s love of football. Rob was an All-American safety at Georgia Southern and is a member of the school’s athletics hall of fame. Gunner’s mother, Sherrie, a counselor at Rabun County High, was among the all-time scoring leaders in basketball at Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina. Gunner’s sister, Georgia, played basketball at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.
But Gunner is the best athlete in the family. When Gunner was about 6 years old, Rob asked Rabun County High assistant coach George Bobo if he’d start working with his son. Bobo had been a longtime high school football coach in Thomasville, Georgia. His son, Mike, is currently Georgia’s offensive coordinator.
George Bobo moved to the north Georgia mountains at the urging of then-Rabun County High coach Sonny Smart, who is Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart’s father.
When George Bobo saw Gunner throw a football the first time, he said, “Holy crap, you need to make him a quarterback.”
Stockton was the quarterback on teams that went 65-0 in the North Georgia Youth Football League. He didn’t lose a game until the seventh grade at Rabun County Middle School. The next season, he played quarterback for the high school JV team as an eighth grader.
Stockton was a four-year starter at Rabun County High. As a senior in 2021, he completed 71.3% of his pass attempts for 4,134 yards with 55 touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 956 yards with 15 scores. In four seasons, Stockton accumulated 13,652 passing yards with 177 touchdowns and 4,372 rushing yards with 77 scores.
Stockton broke Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence‘s state record for career touchdown passes and Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s state mark for career total yardage.
Stockton ran for seven more touchdowns than current Detroit Lions tailback Jahmyr Gibbs, who had 70 at Dalton High School from 2017 to 2019.
When Stockton wasn’t playing sports, he tended to cattle, hunted deer and bears, and fished for trout in mountain streams. He fished and water skied at nearby Lake Rabun, where former Alabama coach Nick Saban and other coaches had vacation homes. Just before Stockton turned 16, he asked his parents for cows to put on his grandmother’s farm. They gave him four cows and a bull for Christmas.
“The old farm had terrible fencing,” Rob Stockton said. “Everybody in the county helped him and knew that they were his when they got out of the fence. We would get 911 calls and they’d say, ‘Your cows are out, put them up.’ Or people would stop and just put them up.”
Stockton once went gator hunting with a nuisance trapper in Florida, along with his uncle Allyn, Bulldogs safety Dan Jackson and former tight end Cade Brock. He told his family he wanted to beat the Gators in Jacksonville because that’s where his grandfather died.
BEFORE HIS JUNIOR season of high school, Stockton committed to play at South Carolina, where Mike Bobo was working as offensive coordinator. After Bobo left for Auburn, Stockton flipped to Georgia. By the time he enrolled, Bobo was working as an analyst for the Bulldogs.
Stockton redshirted at Georgia in 2022, then attempted 19 passes in four games last season. He had taken the field in only three games before he was thrust into action against the Longhorns.
“He has never stood on the sidelines in his entire life,” Rob Stockton said. “His goal this year was to be the greatest backup and greatest supporter of Carson Beck that he could possibly be.”
Stockton’s time finally came against Texas in the second half of the SEC championship. He led the Bulldogs on a 75-yard touchdown drive on his first possession, then threw a bad interception that helped the Longhorns tie the score at 16 on Bert Auburn‘s 37-yard field goal with 18 seconds left in regulation.
With the Bulldogs trailing 19-16 in overtime, Stockton lowered his shoulder pads at the end of a run at the Texas 4. He was met by Longhorns safety Andrew Mukuba, whose jarring tackle sent Stockton’s helmet flying.
Stockton held on to the ball for a first down, and Trevor Etienne ran into the end zone on the next play to give the Bulldogs a victory.
“It was brutal to watch,” Rob Stockton said. “Watching the replay of it on the scoreboard was worse than watching it live. But seeing him pop back up, it didn’t bother me much.”
Sherrie Stockton hasn’t watched a replay of the hit and “doesn’t intend to.”
The Bulldogs will have had more than three weeks to get Stockton ready to play the Fighting Irish. Regardless of what happens at the Sugar Bowl, his parents don’t expect him to stray far from his roots.
Stockton will still make the 74-mile drive from Athens back to Tiger in the same 40-year-old truck his grandfather once owned. He might even need a few neighbors to push it off when it doesn’t crank.
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