Spring game previews: Key newcomers, position battles, breakout candidates
A lot has happened in the world of college football since Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines celebrated their national championship win three months ago — not the least of which was Harbaugh departing for the NFL.
Nick Saban, recognized as the greatest college football coach of all time, retired from his post at Alabama, setting off a late coaching carousel chain reaction that left Kalen DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, Jedd Fisch at Washington and San José State’s Brent Brennan at Arizona.
Georgia scored the top-ranked recruiting class in February, and while there are more changes ahead as the spring transfer portal swings open next week, there is action on the field this weekend in the form of spring games at many power conference schools.
To catch you up, our college football reporters offer some intriguing newcomers, breakout candidates and position battles to keep an eye on.
Jump to a conference:
SEC | Big Ten
ACC | Big 12
Position battle to watch: Cornerback — The Crimson Tide will be starting over at cornerback in Kalen DeBoer’s first season as coach. Both starters from a year ago, Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry, are headed to the NFL, likely as first-round picks, and four other corners transferred. The odds-on favorite to be Alabama’s top cornerback next season is USC transfer Domani Jackson. Nick Saban heavily recruited Jackson out of high school, but he chose USC. The former five-star prospect played only one season at USC on a defense that ranked 121st nationally in scoring.
After Jackson, who knows? Jahlil Hurley returns after redshirting last season and has yet to play a snap in college. Alabama brought in three highly rated freshmen — Zabien Brown, Jaylen Mbakwe and Zay Mincey — and all three have elite skills and are pushing to get on the field right away. Mbakwe has run a 10.47 100-meter dash. — Chris Low
Most intriguing newcomer: Bobby Petrino — Petrino isn’t technically a newcomer, but he’s back in a familiar place as Arkansas’ offensive coordinator. There aren’t many more fascinating storylines in college football than Petrino’s return to Fayetteville, where he was 21-5 in 2010 and 2011 as the Hogs’ head coach before he got into a motorcycle accident with an athletic department subordinate with whom he was having an affair, then misled his superiors to cover it up. He was Jimbo Fisher’s offensive coordinator at Texas A&M last season, though it’s up for debate how much of his offense he was running. Meanwhile, Sam Pittman’s future with Arkansas (4-8 last season) started to come into doubt, particularly after the dismissal of offensive coordinator Dan Enos in October following a six-game losing streak.
By now, Petrino’s high-flying offenses and his two straight seasons of 10 or more wins at Arkansas were sorely missed, and the two paths converged. It’s an interesting gambit: If the Hogs don’t win fast enough, a wildly popular interim candidate exists. But if Petrino’s offense is a difference-maker, Pittman (23-25 at Arkansas) will have a shot at getting the train back on the tracks. — Dave Wilson
Most intriguing newcomer: QB D.J. Lagway — After accounting for 74 touchdowns (58 passing, 16 rushing) as a senior in high school, Lagway was the big prize of the Gators’ recruiting class. While Graham Mertz is still in Gainesville after a season in which he completed 73% of his passes for 2,903 yards along with 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions, Lagway is the future.
After Florida’s first spring scrimmage, coach Billy Napier complimented Lagway’s ability to learn and retain information, along with his ability to take lessons from meetings into practice. “He’s picked it up quickly, and now it’s just the game management piece is next,” Napier said. Perhaps we’ll get a good sample of that in the spring game. — Harry Lyles Jr.
Position battle to watch: Free safety — While running back Trevor Etienne, who transferred from Florida, is the fancy new addition in Athens, a position battle folks should be watching is at free safety. Malaki Starks returns at strong safety, but his former running mate, Javon Bullard, is off to the NFL. Experienced players, such as Dan Jackson, David Daniel-Sisavanh and JaCorey Thomas, could fill the void, but there are also younger options, such as Justyn Rhett or five-star KJ Bolden. The Dawgs also brought in Jake Pope from Alabama.
Take it from Starks, who said earlier this week, “That room is very competitive.” And don’t forget about new defensive backs coach Donte Williams, who comes in from USC after Fran Brown’s departure to Syracuse. The Bulldogs will figure it out because they always do, but it should be a fun battle with plenty of talent. — Lyles
Most intriguing newcomer: QB Brock Vandagriff — Vandagriff came to Kentucky as a graduate transfer from Georgia, where he was part of back-to-back national championship teams in 2021 and 2022. Vandagriff spent this spring taking most of the first-team reps and is expected to be the Wildcats’ starter. He has two years of eligibility remaining and has drawn some comparisons within the program to former quarterback Will Levis.
Vandagriff is unproven as QB1, though, as he has played in only 13 total games, completing 12 of 21 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. There is experience behind Vandagriff, as Beau Allen returns to Kentucky as a graduate transfer following one season at Georgia Southern and another at Tarleton State. — Heather Dinich
Breakout candidate: WR Kyren Lacy — Lacy is LSU’s top returning receiver and is poised to fill the holes left by the departures of Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas. Lacy, who has started 12 games for LSU, was the Tigers’ No. 3 receiver last year, and has caught 54 passes for 826 yards and seven touchdowns in two seasons at Baton Rouge.
Coach Brian Kelly said Lacy used to be “easily distracted at times” but has played with a newfound consistency this spring. “What has happened here, more than anything else, is he has found the right zone to be in as it relates to practicing and preparation,” Kelly said. “He learned a lot last year watching Malik and BT and the way they came to practice every day and performed, and said, ‘I can do this, too.’ I’m really proud of him and happy for him because he’s going to have a breakout season because of it.” — Dinich
Most intriguing newcomer: DE Princely Umanmielen — Lane Kiffin has brought in an assortment of intriguing newcomers on both sides of the ball and has worked the transfer portal as well as anyone. The 2024 Rebels will have new faces from several SEC teams, and they’re counting on Umanmielen to make a major impact at defensive end. Edge rushers are always at a premium, and the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Umanmielen has experience and production going for him. He played four seasons at Florida (25 starts) and recorded 11.5 tackles for loss, including seven sacks, last season.
Kiffin made it a priority to get bigger, stronger and faster this offseason, and Umanmielen fits that mold. Kiffin said this spring that Umanmielen has “ideal size, length and speed to be a really good player, one that you don’t have to say, ‘OK, here’s how we’d use somebody to kind of hide some of the deficiencies,’ which we’ve done a lot here.” — Low
Most intriguing newcomer: TE Holden Staes — The Vols needed help at tight end with Jacob Warren and McCallan Castles gone, so they brought in Staes after he spent two seasons at Notre Dame. Look for the 6-4, 242-pounder to become a frequent target for first-year starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
One reason Staes picked Tennessee was the way the Vols have used their tight ends under coach Josh Heupel. Staes caught 15 passes for 176 yards and four touchdowns last season for Notre Dame. He has really good hands and can make plays in space, but his blocking ability jumped out to the Tennessee coaches as much as anything. Staes is still adjusting to the pace of Tennessee’s up-tempo offense, but his versatility should be a factor in both the passing and running games. — Low
Most intriguing newcomer: QB Will Howard — Ohio State fans will get their first glimpse of the Kansas State transfer, who entered the spring as the front-runner to take over at quarterback for Kyle McCord (now at Syracuse). Howard brings the dual-threat element back to the Buckeyes’ backfield, rushing for 351 yards and nine touchdowns for the Wildcats last season.
The pressure is on Ohio State after a third consecutive loss to Michigan, the reigning national champions. But following an aggressive offseason in the transfer portal — coupled with the hiring of offensive coordinator Chip Kelly — the Buckeyes boast the players to pursue their own national title. Still, their hopes figure to hinge heavily on Howard — or his primary competition for the job, Devin Brown — providing improved quarterback play. — Jake Trotter
Position battles to watch: Offensive tackle and wide receiver — Penn State lost starting tackles Olu Fashanu, a projected first-round NFL draft pick, and Caedan Wallace from a line that showed some improvement but lacked the performance needed against top competition. The team added Wisconsin transfer Nolan Rucci, an ESPN top-40 recruit in 2021 from the state, who joins returnees such as Drew Shelton, Anthony Donkoh and J’ven Williams. Shelton is out this spring while recovering from surgery, which has created strong competition between Rucci, Donkoh and Williams, which coach James Franklin said would continue into fall camp.
Wide receiver also will be in the spotlight after a tough 2023 season. KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Harrison Wallace III both return, and Penn State added Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming. Will those three or a group of younger players provide the reliable targets quarterback Drew Allar needs? — Adam Rittenberg
Most intriguing newcomer: RB Reggie Love III — Love is new to Purdue but not to several of the Boilermakers coaches who joined Ryan Walters from Illinois. He had 883 rushing yards and six touchdowns during the past two seasons for the Illini, and will provide a strong complement to Purdue’s lead back Devin Mockobee.
Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell has multiple players who can attack defenses on the ground, as Hudson Card (203 rush yards, five TDs in 2023) brings more mobility than most Air Raid quarterbacks. Although Love had only 15 receptions at Illinois, his pass-catching ability could be amplified for the Boilers. Other newcomers to watch include defensive back transfers Nyland Green (Georgia) and Kyndrich Breedlove (Colorado), and defensive line transfer CJ Madden (Georgia). — Rittenberg
Most intriguing newcomer: Head coach Bill O’Brien — What exactly will Boston College look like this year under O’Brien? It’s a fascinating question. He’s among the most accomplished playcallers in football, but his history — at Alabama, Penn State and with the New England Patriots and Houston Texans — doesn’t suggest a guy eager to throw caution to the wind and play wide-open, backyard football.
But look at BC’s 2023 season under Jeff Hafley, and that’s when the Eagles were most dangerous, with quarterback Thomas Castellanos getting outside the pocket, winging it downfield and scrambling for yards on broken plays. In all, 17.4% of BC’s offense came on scrambles or throws outside the pocket, the third-highest rate in the ACC. So will it be more of the same with Castellanos, or can O’Brien help his QB develop as a pocket passer? — David Hale
Breakout candidate: QB Haynes King — One could argue that the same could have been said last spring, but King is still a breakout candidate for the Yellow Jackets. In his first full year as a starter — also Brent Key’s first full season as head coach — King was electric. He completed 62% of his passes for 2,842 yards, 27 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, and added 737 yards on the ground with 10 touchdowns, averaging 6.1 yards per rush.
King is one of the best returning quarterbacks in the ACC, and after leading Tech to its first bowl win in seven years, it’s fair to expect even more in Year 2. If he’s able to limit turnovers, the Yellow Jackets have an opportunity to take another step in 2024. Saturday’s spring game is one of the most anticipated in Midtown Atlanta in a while, and King is a big reason. — Lyles
Most intriguing newcomer: QB Cam Ward — This is an easy one. Ward’s decision to come to Miami, after initially deciding to enter the NFL draft, is fascinating because it shifted the entire conversation around the Hurricanes. Before Ward, who played at Washington State the past two seasons, shifted gears, Miami signed Albany transfer Reese Poffenbarger to beef up the quarterback room. But now? Miami appears to have one of the strongest quarterbacks in the ACC headed into the season.
The spring game will be our first chance to see how Ward fits into this offense under coordinator Shannon Dawson, and how he jells with his receivers. Miami has two veterans returning in Xavier Restrepo and Jacolby George, and young talent that could be ready to emerge in Isaiah Horton, JoJo Trader, Ny Carr and Ray Ray Joseph. Miami has not had consistent quarterback play since Tyler Van Dyke was a freshman in 2021. If Ward is able to live up to the expectations, the Hurricanes will have a shot to be in the hunt for the ACC title. — Andrea Adelson
Position battle to watch: Quarterback — Technically, there’s no battle here. Head coach Pat Narduzzi insists Nate Yarnell is his guy, and Yarnell seems to be eager to flex some muscle in a new up-tempo offense in 2024. But Yarnell has only two games of serious work under his belt, and his role as the de facto starter was defined mostly on the back of solid performances against BC and Duke to end last season.
That Christian Veilleux, who started six games last season, and Alabama transfer Eli Holstein also are on the roster supposedly just means Pitt has depth at the position. But a strong spring game for Yarnell would help quell any rumblings about a QB battle among the fans this summer, even if Narduzzi is convinced he has his guy either way. — Hale
Breakout candidate: LB Jaden Keller — A redshirt junior, Keller has grown by leaps and bounds from his arrival as an undersized playmaker in the middle of the field, and yet, Virginia Tech still hasn’t seen the best of him. Keller has made four starts in his career and had some nice moments, but head coach Brent Pry said he remains a player the team hopes will emerge as a genuine star.
This spring has probably been the closest to that breakthrough for Keller, who figures to be the starter at middle linebacker in the fall, and Pry said Keller has been at his best during the Hokies’ scrimmages at Lane Stadium. Expect Keller to put on another show Saturday, this time with fans watching. — Hale
Most intriguing newcomer: QB Brendan Sorsby — Sorsby was thrown into the deep end as a redshirt freshman at Indiana last season, and while he didn’t exactly thrive, he did produce numbers similar to those of Cincinnati’s Emory Jones — Jones was 68th in Total QBR, Sorsby 71st — only Jones was a senior.
With a senior-heavy line and a skill corps that features not only a 1,000-yard rusher (Corey Kiner) and go-to receiver (senior Xzavier Henderson) but also a wave of intriguing transfers, such as Ohio State running back Evan Pryor and explosive UTEP slot man Tyrin Smith, Cincinnati’s offense should improve a decent amount if it has a quarterback ready to improve with it. Sorsby showed hints of being that guy last fall, and he could show a few more glimpses in the spring game. — Bill Connelly
Position battle to watch: Offensive line — New Cougars coach Willie Fritz, who replaces Dana Holgorsen, is quite the intriguing newcomer, but much of his offensive line will be as new as he is. The lone exception is right guard Tank Jenkins, who is returning for his seventh collegiate season (two at Texas A&M, four at Houston).
Houston will look to integrate three transfers (Dakota White, a 30-game starter at Lousiana Tech; Jake Wiley from UCLA; and Cedric Melton, who arrived from Ole Miss) along with five offensive linemen the Cougars signed this year. The good news is every position is up for grabs after a coaching change, but the bad news is that’s a lot of new faces at a key position after a 4-8 season in Houston’s first year in the Big 12. — Wilson
Most intriguing newcomer: WR Dorian Singer — Singer also fit this billing at USC a year ago. He was coming off a brilliant 2022 season at Arizona in which he caught 66 passes for 1,105 yards with six touchdowns and was named second-team All-Pac-12. But after transferring to USC last year to catch passes from the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Caleb Williams, Singer’s production regressed. He never quite got in sync with Williams the way other USC receivers did and finished with just 24 catches for 289 yards and three scores.
In hopes of regaining his 2022 form, Singer jumped back in the portal and landed at Utah, which was in desperate need of some offensive playmakers after finishing No. 120 in the country in receiving yards per game (165.8). — Kyle Bonagura
JIM ABBOTT IS sitting at his kitchen table, with his old friend Tim Mead. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they were partners in an extraordinary exercise — and now, for the first time in decades, they are looking at a stack of letters and photographs from that period of their lives.
The letters are mostly handwritten, by children, from all over the United States and Canada, and beyond.
“Dear Mr. Abbott …”
“I have one hand too. … I don’t know any one with one hand. How do you feel about having one hand? Sometimes I feel sad and sometimes I feel okay about it. Most of the time I feel happy.”
“I am a seventh grader with a leg that is turned inwards. How do you feel about your arm? I would also like to know how you handle your problem? I would like to know, if you don’t mind, what have you been called?”
“I can’t use my right hand and most of my right side is paralyzed. … I want to become a doctor and seeing you makes me think I can be what I want to be.”
For 40 years, Mead worked in communications for the California Angels, eventually becoming vice president of media relations. His position in this department became a job like no other after the Angels drafted Abbott out of the University of Michigan in 1988.
There was a deluge of media requests. Reporters from around the world descended on Anaheim, most hoping to get one-on-one time with the young left-handed pitcher with the scorching fastball. Every Abbott start was a major event — “like the World Series,” Angels scout Bob Fontaine Jr. remembers. Abbott, with his impressive amateur résumé (he won the James E. Sullivan Award for the nation’s best amateur athlete in 1997 and an Olympic gold medal in 1988) and his boyish good looks, had star power.
That spring, he had become only the 16th player to go straight from the draft to the majors without appearing in a single minor league game. And then there was the factor that made him unique. His limb difference, although no one called it that back then. Abbott was born without a right hand, yet had developed into one of the most promising pitchers of his generation. He would go on to play in the majors for ten years, including a stint in the mid ’90s with the Yankees highlighted by a no-hitter in 1993.
Abbott, and Mead, too, knew the media would swarm. That was no surprise. There had been swarms in college, and at the Olympics, wherever and whenever Abbott pitched. Who could resist such an inspirational story? But what they hadn’t anticipated were the letters.
The steady stream of letters. Thousands of letters. So many from kids who, like Abbott, were different. Letters from their parents and grandparents. The kids hoping to connect with someone who reminded them of themselves, the first celebrity they knew of who could understand and appreciate what it was like to be them, someone who had experienced the bullying and the feelings of otherness. The parents and grandparents searching for hope and direction.
“I know you don’t consider yourself limited in what you can do … but you are still an inspiration to my wife and I as parents. Your success helps us when talking to Andy at those times when he’s a little frustrated. I’m able to point to you and assure him there’s no limit to what he can accomplish.”
In his six seasons with the Angels, Abbott was assisted by Mead in the process of organizing his responses to the letters, mailing them, and arranging face-to-face meetings with the families who had written to him. There were scores of such meetings. It was practically a full-time job for both of them.
“Thinking back on these meetings with families — and that’s the way I’d put it, it’s families, not just kids — there was every challenge imaginable,” Abbott, now 57, says. “Some accidents. Some birth defects. Some mental challenges that aren’t always visible to people when you first come across somebody. … They saw something in playing baseball with one hand that related to their own experience. I think the families coming to the ballparks were looking for hopefulness. I think they were looking for what it had been that my parents had told me, what it had been that my coaches had told me. … [With the kids] it was an interaction. It was catch. It was smiling. It was an autograph. It was a picture. With the parents, it ran deeper. With the parents, it was what had your parents said to you? What coaches made a difference? What can we expect? Most of all, I think, what can we expect?”
“It wasn’t asking for autographs,” Mead says of all those letters. “They weren’t asking for pictures. They were asking for his time. He and I had to have a conversation because this was going to be unique. You know, you could set up another player to come down and sign 15 autographs for this group or whatever. But it was people, parents, that had kids, maybe babies, just newborn babies, almost looking for an assurance that this is going to turn out all right, you know. ‘What did your parents do? How did your parents handle this?'”
One of the letters Abbott received came from an 8-year-old girl in Windsor, Ontario.
She wrote, “Dear Jim, My name is Tracey Holgate. I am age 8. I have one hand too. My grandpa gave me a picture of you today. I saw you on TV. I don’t know anyone with one hand. How do you feel about having one hand? Sometimes I feel sad and sometimes I feel okay about it. Most of the time I feel happy. I hope to see you play in Detroit and maybe meet you. Could you please send me a picture of you in uniform? Could you write back please? Here is a picture of me. Love, Tracey.”
Holgate’s letter is one of those that has remained preserved in a folder — and now Abbott is reading it again, at his kitchen table, half a lifetime after receiving it. Time has not diminished the power of the letter, and Abbott is wiping away tears.
Today, Holgate is 44 and goes by her married name, Dupuis. She is married with four children of her own. She is a teacher. When she thinks about the meaning of Jim Abbott in her life, it is about much more than the letter he wrote back to her. Or the autographed picture he sent her. It was Abbott, all those years ago, who made it possible for Tracey to dream.
“There was such a camaraderie there,” she says, “an ability to connect with somebody so far away doing something totally different than my 8-year-old self was doing, but he really allowed me to just feel that connection, to feel that I’m not alone, there’s other people that have differences and have overcome them and been successful and we all have our own crosses, we all have our own things that we’re carrying and it’s important to continue to focus on the gifts that we have, the beauty of it.
“I think sometimes differences, disabilities, all those things can be a gift in a package we would never have wanted, because they allow us to be people that have an empathetic heart, an understanding heart, and to see the pain in the people around us.”
Now, years after Abbott’s career ended, he continues to inspire.
Among those he influenced, there are professional athletes, such as Shaquem Griffin, who in 2018 became the first NFL player with one hand. Griffin, now 29, played three seasons at linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks.
Growing up in Florida, he would watch videos of Abbott pitching and fielding, over and over, on YouTube.
“The only person I really looked up to was Jim Abbott at the time,” Griffin says, “which is crazy, because I didn’t know anybody else to look up to. I didn’t know anybody else who was kind of like me. And it’s funny, because when I was really little, I used to be like, ‘Why me? Why this happen to me?’ And I used to be in my room thinking about that. And I used to think to myself, ‘I wonder if Jim Abbott had that same thought.'”
Carson Pickett was born on Sept. 15, 1993 — 11 days after Abbott’s no-hitter. Missing most of her left arm below the elbow, she became, in 2022, the first player with a limb difference to appear for the U.S. women’s national soccer team.
She, too, says that Abbott made things that others told her were impossible seem attainable.
“I knew I wanted to be a professional soccer player,” says Pickett, who is currently playing for the NWSL’s Orlando Pride. “To be able to see him compete at the highest level it gave me hope, and I think that that kind of helped me throughout my journey. … I think ‘pioneer’ would be the best word for him.”
Longtime professional MMA fighter Nick Newell is 39, old enough to have seen Abbott pitch for the Yankees. In fact, when Newell was a child he met Abbott twice, first at a fan event at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan and then on a game day at Yankee Stadium. Newell was one of those kids with a limb difference — like Griffin and Pickett, due to amniotic band syndrome — who idolized Abbott.
“And I didn’t really understand the gravity of what he was doing,” Newell says now, “but for me, I saw someone out there on TV that looked like I did. And I was the only other person I knew that had one hand. And I saw this guy out here playing baseball and it was good to see somebody that looked like me, and I saw him in front of the world.
“He was out there like me and he was just living his life and I think that I owe a lot of my attitude and the success that I have to Jim just going out there and being the example of, ‘Hey, you can do this. Who’s to say you can’t be a professional athlete?’ He’s out there throwing no-hitters against the best baseball players in the world. So, as I got older, ‘Why can’t I wrestle? Why can’t I fight? Why can’t I do this?’ And then it wasn’t until the internet that I heard people tell me I can’t do these things. But by then I had already been doing those things.”
Griffin.
Pickett.
Newell.
Just three of the countless kids who were inspired by Jim Abbott.
When asked if it ever felt like too much, being a role model and a hero, all the letters and face-to-face meetings, Abbott says no — but it wasn’t always easy.
“I had incredible people who helped me send the letters,” he says. “I got a lot more credit sometimes than I deserved for these interactions, to be honest with you. And that happened on every team, particularly with my friend Tim Mead. There was a nice balance to it. There really was. There was a heaviness to it. There’s no denying. There were times I didn’t want to go [to the meetings]. I didn’t want to walk out there. I didn’t want to separate from my teammates. I didn’t want to get up from the card game. I didn’t want to put my book down. I liked where I was at. I was in my environment. I was where I always wanted to be. In a big league clubhouse surrounded by big league teammates. In a big league stadium. And those reminders of being different, I slowly came to realize were never going to go away.”
But being different was the thing that made Abbott more than merely a baseball star. For many people, he has been more than a role model, more than an idol. He is the embodiment of hope and belonging.
“I think more people need to realize and understand the gift of a difference,” Dupuis says. “I think we have to just not box everybody in and allow everybody’s innate light to shine, and for whatever reasons we’ve been created to be here, [let] that light shine in a way that it touches everybody else. Because I think that’s what Jim did. He allowed his light to permeate and that light, in turn, lit all these little children’s lights all over the world, so you have this boom of brightness that’s happening and that’s uncontrollable, that’s beautiful.”
NEW YORK — Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is projected to receive the largest amount from this season’s $50 million pre-arbitration bonus pool based on his regular-season statistics.
Crow-Armstrong is on track to get $1,091,102, according to WAR calculations through July 8 that Major League Baseball sent to teams, players and agents in a memo Friday that was obtained by The Associated Press.
He earned $342,128 from the pool in 2024.
“I was aware of it after last year, but I have no clue of the numbers,” he said Friday. “I haven’t looked at it one time.”
Pittsburgh pitcher Paul Skenes is second at $961,256, followed by Washington outfielder James Wood ($863,835), Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll ($798,397), Houston pitcher Hunter Brown ($786,838), Philadelphia pitcher Cristopher Sánchez ($764,854), Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz ($717,479), Boston catcher Carlos Narváez ($703,007), Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela ($685,366) and Detroit outfielder Riley Greene ($665,470).
Crow-Armstrong, Skenes, Wood, Carroll, Brown, De La Cruz and Greene have been picked for Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
A total of 100 players will receive the payments, established as part of the 2022 collective bargaining agreement and aimed to get more money to players without sufficient service time for salary arbitration eligibility. The cutoff for 2025 was 2 years, 132 days of major league service.
Players who signed as foreign professionals are excluded.
Most young players have salaries just above this year’s major league minimum of $760,000. Crow-Armstrong has a $771,000 salary this year, Skenes $875,000, Wood $764,400 and Brown $807,400.
Carroll is in the third season of a $111 million, eight-year contract.
As part of the labor agreement, a management-union committee was established that determined the WAR formula used to allocate the bonuses after awards. (A player may receive only one award bonus per year, the highest one he is eligible for.) The agreement calls for an interim report to be distributed the week before the All-Star Game.
Distribution for awards was $9.85 million last year, down from $11.25 million in 2022 and $9.25 million in 2023.
A player earns $2.5 million for winning an MVP or Cy Young award, $1.75 million for finishing second, $1.5 million for third, $1 million for fourth or fifth or for making the All-MLB first team. A player can get $750,000 for winning Rookie of the Year, $500,000 for second or for making the All-MLB second team, $350,000 for third in the rookie race, $250,000 for fourth or $150,000 for fifth.
Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. topped last year’s pre-arbitration bonus pool at $3,077,595, and Skenes was second at $2,152,057 despite not making his big league debut until May 11. Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson was third at $2,007,178.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike