Baseball welcomes another season, with most pitchers and catchers reporting Wednesday

There’s a new No. 2 in the New York Yankees’ rotation behind Gerrit Cole. A familiar face is getting a fresh start leading the Cincinnati Reds. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani and Co. already have their title defense underway.

There’s plenty to see as baseball returns Wednesday for most MLB clubs, with pitchers and catchers officially reporting at sites across Arizona and Florida. The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers got an early spring training start ahead of their season-opening series in Tokyo, and a few clubs don’t get going until Thursday. But for most, Wednesday marks the start of a new season.

That includes the Yankees, who are welcoming back Cole, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner, after he chose to remain with the Yankees rather than opt out of his contract. He’ll be joined in the rotation by Max Fried, a key addition as they try to return to the World Series.

New York lost to the Dodgers in five games, failed to bring back Juan Soto in free agency, then signed Fried to a $218 million, eight-year contract, the largest ever for a left-handed pitcher. Fried went 54-25 with a 2.81 ERA over the past five seasons with the Braves and was instrumental in Atlanta’s 2021 World Series victory over the Astros.

Wednesday will also be Day 1 for new Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona. Cincinnati went 77-85 last season but has some promising young talent, led by young ace Hunter Greene. Francona won two World Series titles with the Red Sox and took Cleveland to the playoffs six times in 11 years. That includes the 2016 World Series.

Los Angeles added even more star power this winter with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Japanese phenom pitcher Roki Sasaki. The rotation got another apparent boost Tuesday when Clayton Kershaw showed up for camp. It’s been expected the 36-year-old would re-join the Dodgers for an 18th season, but he remained a free agent entering camp.

Of course, the biggest boost to LA’s rotation will be Shohei Ohtani’s return from elbow surgery that kept him off the mound in 2024. He may provide an update to media Wednesday on his timeline to return.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb