Baseball

FORT MYERS, Florida — Nights were the worst. You think of a major league baseball player, you think of a dreamy life with plush hotels.

There were no dreams for Mike Napoli. Only fear. In the middle of the night. Alone. When he would jolt awake, several times each evening, because he could not breathe.

Spring training statistics have to be taken with a grain of salt, as the MLB preseason is as much about shaking off the rust and working on specific things as it is about actual on-field performance.

That being said, we as baseball fans love us some statistics, so there's no sense pretending they don't exist.

Here in mid-March, there are already a handful of players who have stood out, albeit in less than 10 games.

The expectations placed on George Springer have never been higher. 

As a college player at Connecticut, they were already on the rise. After the Houston Astros drafted him 11th overall in 2011, those expectations again grew, and by the time he finished his second full minor league season in 2013 with a .303/.411/.600 line to go with a 1.010 OPS, 37 home runs and 108 RBI, he was a potential star.

When Marcus Stroman's knee went, it didn't take the Toronto Blue Jays' playoff hopes with it. 

Stroman is a key cog in the Jays' rotation and the news that the 23-year-old right-hander is out for the season with a torn ACL was a painful blow, no doubt. 

At this point in the spring, players are focused on getting their work in to be ready for the start of the season. Unless you're a rookie or marginal player trying to land a job, statistics are largely meaningless.

With more than three weeks remaining before the start of the season, there is still plenty of time for a player to find his groove.

It's not easy to get a bad grade just yet.

After breaking out the red pen and grading the MLB offseason's 20 biggest acquisitions, there is a startling number of high marks. Simply put, just over a week's worth of games isn't much time for a lot to go wrong.

For big-money free-agent signings and prominent trade additions, spring training is all about staying healthy. As a result, ending up on the injury report is the surest way for a player to see his grade take a hit.

By all rights, the biggest star on the field during Thursday's exhibition between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Angels should have been the guy who played Ron Burgundy, Ricky Bobby and Lord Business.

The injuries keep piling up for the Texas Rangers in spring training. Right-hander Anthony Ranaudo left Thursday's game against the Chicago White Sox with an arm injury.    

Continue for updates. 

Spring is the perfect time for young, inexperienced players to take that next step forward into one of the game's elites. With the importance of the games, and thus the pressure on the players, decreased compared to that of the regular season, it is a time for youth prospects to thrive.

The early parts of spring training have given us a glimpse as to what the roster may look like come Opening Day.

It's an important spring for a number of guys, given the large amount of turnover the Atlanta Braves had this offseason.

Spring training offers the chance for guys to win starting positions. This looks to be the case at second base, left field, two starting rotation spots and a number of bullpen spots.