Scenes from a Weekend of Florida Spring Training (Friday, February 27 – March 1, 2026)
By Nick Gandy
We’re two weekends into the 2026 Florida Grapefruit League season and all is going as can be expected. 24 games were played within the span of the weekend and 71 games total since February 20.
This week MLB teams will be playing World Baseball Classic teams on Tuesday and Wednesday bringing a different flair. Team Columbia and Team Puerto Rico.
But back to a look at last weekend at things only found during the 33 glorious days of Florida Spring Training.
A variety of names highlight the box scores of Friday, February 27
The biggest highlight of the boxscores was the runs scored on Friday with five teams producing double digit scoring. That’s nothing different than one may find between April through October, but in spring training games it came in a variety of ways for the Mets, Tigers, Braves, Phillies and Yankees.
In the Mets 14-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, fans were treated to highlights from MLB top 100 prospect AJ Ewing, a 21-year old,fourth round draft pick in 2023 for the Mets, from Springboro (OH) High School.
In two at bats on Friday, Ewing scored three runs on a walk, single and a two-run home run, while playing left field. While playing for three Mets minor league affiliates in 2025 (Port St. Lucie, Brooklyn and Binghamton), he combined for a .315 batting average, 11 home runs and 68 RBI in 124 games and 485 at bats.
Meanwhile, in the Atlanta Braves 15-8 win over the Boston Red Sox, fans watched their favorite sluggers Ronald Acuna, Jr. and Matt Olson go long at CoolToday Park in North Port. Combined the pair have hit 474 Major League home runs and in 2023, they totaled 95 home runs for the Braves (54 Olson, 41, Acuna, Jr.).
In the early Florida Spring Training games pitchers normally throw three innings at most. In the Mets win, newly acquired Freddy Peralta, hurled three hitless innings in his Mets debut and struck out three for the W.
However, in Lakeland, Tigers fans saw another pitcher throw two innings. It was 30-year old Bryan Sammons, an 8th round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 2017, who got the win pitching middle relief in the fifth and sixth innings of a 16-8 win over the Phillies.
Sammons had six Major League appearances, picking up a win and a loss in 27 innings of work for the Tigers in 2024. However, he’s made the most of his time since being drafted in 2017 from Western Carolina, where he won 27 games in four years. He’s pitched 623 innings in 165 minor league games, earning 36 victories. He’s back pitching in the Tigers organization in 2026 after a 9-6 mark in 24 games for two Japanese teams in 2025.
Hialeah, Florida’s JC Escarra (pictured at right in 2025), continues his long and winding road to the show, with a home run for the Yankees, in the 17-5 win over Minnesota, in Fort Myers. Escarra was a 15th round pick by the Baltimore Orioles, out of Florida International University in 2017.
He played for 17 different Minor League and Foreign teams before making his MLB and New York Yankees debut March 29, 2025 and played 40 games behind the plate.
In August of 2025, Escarra was among 14 rookies featured in a MLB.com article as “Rookies who took a long and winding road to the Show.”
He was described in the article in a manner that fits quite a few Major Leaguers, “With money running low and a patient wife encouraging both his dream and financial practicality, Escarra figured he had four months in 2022 to secure a future that included baseball or walk away from the game.
So he hustled, not just on the field, but as an Uber driver, contractor, substitute teacher, delivery driver and youth baseball coach — all while keeping the baseball dream alive with stops in the Mexican League, American Association, Atlantic League and winter ball in Puerto Rico.”
Great Day for Florida Spring Training Baseball on Saturday, February 28
One of the highlights of a Florida Spring Training Game is the announcement of the game time temperature at one of the 12 Florida locations and a comparison to the temperature in the team’s hometown. Excluding the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays.
Temperatures on Saturday ranged between 70 degrees for Mets game in Port St. Lucie to 83 degrees in Fort Myers for the Twins/Red Sox Game.
Mets fans were missing out on a mild, cloudy day in New York City, with highs in the low 50s and lows around 30.
Twins fans who ventured south were overjoyed at the 83-degree day in Southwest Florida while Minneapolis experienced a significant return of winter, with temperatures dropping to the teens and 20s for highs.
Pitching highlights and a Walkoff on Sunday, February 28
St Louis Cardinals fans were not sent home happy after managing only one hit against a collection of Pirates pitchers who combined for 12 strikeouts, a number that’s 10 more than their combined Major League games.
Hunter Barco, a second round pick in 2022 from Jacksonville and UF. Barco got the start and win with three innings pitched. In 2025, Barco pitched for the Pirates AA and AAA affiliates winning four games and picked up a big league win in two appearances for the Pirates. As on of the Top 100 MLB prospects, Barco should be among the 2026 young arms competing for spots for the Pirates.
Antwone Kelly, now in his fifth year in the Pirates organization after signing as a 17-year old from Aruba. Kelly played for Team Netherlands in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and will join the team again in 2026.
Khristian Curtis, a 12th round pick in 2023, had three strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched. The 23-year-old led the South Atlantic League with 26 starts last season. He entered July with a 5.20 ERA, but over his next 11 starts from July 4-September 3, he went 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA before being promoted to Altoona on September 14.
Brandon Neeck, was a ninth-round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, from the University of Virginia, and a rule 5 draft pick for the Pirates in December of 2025. All four of his outs in his 1.1 innings pitched in the eighth and ninth innings were strikeouts.
Finally, in the New York Mets 4-3 walkoff win over the Houston Astros, it was 21-year ld Yonatan Henriquez’s single to score John Bay, who was pinch running for Austin Barnes, who led off the inning with a double.
Henriquez, a native of the Dominican Republic, led the East Division leading Port St. Lucie Mets to 77 wins in 2025 with 349 at bats and tied for the team lead with 8 home runs and 50 RBI, before being promoted to Brooklyn.
In the television broadcast call of his late inning heroics, Mets Legend Keith Hernandez congratulated Henriquez saying, “A game-winning hit is a game winning hit. It doesn’t matter if it’s March 1.”
The game winning effort featured Both ends of the MLB spectrum during spring training. The 21-year old prospect providing hit to cap a rally sparked by a leadoff double by 11-year veteran, Austin Barnes, vying for a spot on the roster.
Even for games played in late February and early March, it’s still baseball and players give their all at every level, and no matter what point it is during their career.
For schedules of the next 21 days of Florida Grapefruit League action, visit www.floridagrapefruitleague.com/schedule.