Spring Training Game Thread: Mitchell’s Third Start

Like last spring, Bryan Mitchell has been the best potential starter candidate in camp aside from Masahiro Tanaka this year. Last spring Mitchell was electric, and if the fifth starter competition were based entirely on Grapefruit League performance, he would have beaten out CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova for the spot. Instead, he had to settle for a bullpen job before breaking his toe covering first base.

Of course, it’s still pretty early in the spring, so Mitchell is only making his third Grapefruit League outing today. It’s hard to handicap the fourth and fifth starter’s race at this point, though the fact he’s the only one of the fourth and fifth starter candidates who has yet to allow a run can’t hurt his chances. Mitchell will look to build on his strong early spring performance this afternoon. Here is the Pirates’ lineup he’ll face and here are the players the Yankees will use today:

1. LF Brett Gardner
2. CF Jacoby Ellsbury
3. 2B Starlin Castro
4. 1B Greg Bird
5. 3B Chase Headley
6. DH Aaron Judge
7. RF Aaron Hicks
8. C Austin Romine
9. SS Jorge Mateo
   RHP Bryan Mitchell

Available Pitchers: LHP Jordan Montgomery, LHP Jon Niese, LHP Evan Rutckyj, LHP Joe Mantiply, RHP J.P. Feyereisen, and RHP J.R. Graham are all scheduled to pitch after Mitchell. LHP Jason Gurka, RHP Domingo German, RHP Jonathan Holder, and RHP Travis Hissong also made the trip. Hissong is up from minor league camp for the day.

Available Position Players: C Kyle Higashioka, 1B Wilkin Castillo, 2B Ruben Tejada, SS Gleyber Torres, 3B Miguel Andujar, LF Rob Refsnyder, CF Tyler Wade, and RF Billy McKinney will be the second string off the bench. C Francisco Diaz, IF Abi Avelino, and OF Clint Frazier also made the road trip even though they aren’t scheduled to play. Avelino is up from minor league camp.

The Yankees are on the road today, having made the hour long bus trip down to Bradenton. The internet tells me it’s cloudy and on the cool side. Today’s game will begin a little after 1pm ET. If you’re in the Pirates home market, you can watch on ROOT Sports. If not, the game will be shown live on MLB Network, even in the New York market. There’s also MLB.tv. Enjoy the game.