KEEPERS: 2012 Spring Training performances: What has changed?

You hear it every spring: Fantasy mavens and analysts warning you that “spring training numbers mean absolutely nothing.”  And much of the time they’re correct—except when they’re wrong.  Try telling this to the owners who searched under the hood for the reasons behind previously ineffective Brandon McCarthy’s 14/1 K/BB rate and soaring GB rate this time last March.  Or the owners who watched Mike Morse bash HR after HR vs. RHP—and realized that not only this would translate into April and May playing time, but that his “beware the small sample size ” admonition from 2010 was beginning to lose relevance.

Spring training performances and the stories behind them can at times offer hints prior to in-season breakouts and comebacks.  For...

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