Football is over, the weather in Kansas City is spring-like, and today we can say one of the sweetest sentences you can hear in February. No, it’s not “Happy Valentine’s Day,” it’s “pitchers and catchers report today.”
Pitchers and catchers will have their first workout tomorrow, while the rest of the squad will have their first full workout on Monday, February 16. The Royals will have a little over six weeks to prepare for the season opener on March 27 in Atlanta against the Braves. In the meantime, here is what you need to know about the boys in blue in Arizona.
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Where do the Royals spend spring training?
The Royals’ spring training facility is in Surprise, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. They share a facility with the Texas Rangers and play games at Surprise Stadium, which seats 10,500 fans. For more information on the stadium or to order tickets, click here.
Fifteen teams train in Arizona, which has a drier climate and allows for closer proximity to other teams than spring training in Florida.
What is the spring training schedule?
The Royals will play 32 exhibition matchups to prepare for the regular season, beginning on February 20 against the Rangers. In addition to playing other MLB teams training in Arizona, the Royals will take on Team Cuba on March 3, as that team prepares for the World Baseball Classic. MLB will also once again hold Spring Breakout games, where prospects for each team get the spotlight. Royals prospects will take on Rangers prospects on March 20. The team then breaks camp and heads to Arlington, Texas for two exhibition games on March 23 and 24 before they begin the regular season in Atlanta.
What about the World Baseball Classic?
Many players will not be part of camp as they participate in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Pool play takes place March 5-11 in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Tokyo, Japan; Houston, Texas; and Miami, Florida, with the championship game to be played March 17 in Miami, Florida. You can watch games on FOX, FS1, and FS2. Among the Royals participating are:
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Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Wacha (USA)
Salvador Perez and Maikel Garcia (Venezuela)
Carlos Estévez (Dominican Republic)
Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone (Italy)
How can I follow Royals spring training games?
The Royals have ended their relationship with FanDuel Sports Network to create Royals.TV. They anticipate some spring training games to be televised, but have not yet announced which games will air. Royals.TV will be available on many cable and satellite providers, and is available as a direct-to-consumer streaming option at $19.99 per month or $99.99 for in-market viewers, or $149.99 for out-of-market viewers. Ryan Lefebvre, Rex Hudler, and Jeremy Guthrie return for television broadcasts, with Joel Goldberg and Jeff Montgomery on pre- and post-game coverage.
The Royals will also likely air many spring training games on the Royals Radio network, but those games have not yet been announced. You can also, of course, discuss Royals spring training games in Royals Review gamethreads!
Who is in camp?
The Royals will have 67 players in big league camp – their 40-man roster plus 27 non-roster invitees. The list of non-roster invitees includes former first-round picks Blake Mitchell, Gavin Cross, and Frank Mozzicato, as well as MLB veterans like Jorge Alfaro, Luke Maile, Abraham Toro, Aaron Sanchez, and Héctor Neris.
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*-denotes non-roster invitee
Catchers (10): Jorge Alfaro*, Canyon Brown*, Omar Hernandez*, Carter Jensen, Luke Maile*, Elih Marrero*, Blake Mitchell*, Salvador Pérez, Ramon Ramirez*, Luca Tresh*
Infielders (13): Brandon Drury*, Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India, Connor Kaiser*, Michael Massey, Kevin Newman*, Vinnie Pasquantino, Josh Rojas*, Tyler Tolbert, Abraham Toro*, Daniel Vazquez*, Peyton Wilson*, Bobby Witt Jr.
Outfielders (11): Dairon Blanco, Jac Caglianone, Gavin Cross*, Isaac Collins, Kyle Isbel, Nick Loftin, Kameron Misner, John Rave, Carson Roccaforte*, Lane Thomas, Drew Waters
Pitchers (33): Luinder Avila, Ryan Bergert, Mason Black, Kris Bubic, Noah Cameron, A.J. Causey*, Eric Cerantola, Dennis Colleran*, Steven Cruz, Jose Cuas*, Lucas Erceg, Carlos Estévez, Bailey Falter, Stephen Kolek, Ben Kudrna, Alex Lange, Seth Lugo, Daniel Lynch IV, Alec Marsh, Chazz Martinez*, James McArthur, Nick Mears, Frank Mozzicato*, Héctor Neris*, Helcris Olivárez*, Shane Panzini*, Hunter Patteson*, Cole Ragans, Aaron Sanchez*, John Schreiber, Matt Strahm, Michael Wacha, Steven Zobac
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What are some spring training storylines?
There are really three big storylines going into camp. First, are Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen ready for the big leagues? The Royals need to upgrade their offense and lengthen the lineup, and both hitters show tremendous potential. Jensen excelled in a month-long call-up last year, while Caglianone struggled. The Royals have said Caglianone will have to earn a spot in the lineup, so his spring performance could be important.
Second, is the Royals pitching staff healthy? Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic each missed the second half of the season with injury, hurting a strength for the team. Seth Lugo really struggled the final two months and will look to enter this season refreshed and looking to return to his 2024 form. The Royals have built depth in their rotation – enough that they looked to trade some of it for a bat – but they’ll need their frontline pitchers to stay healthy to have a chance to compete.
Finally, is the team done upgrading? J.J. Picollo cited the offense as a concern last year, and did add some improvements by acquiring Isaac Collins from the Brewers and signing free agent Lane Thomas. But he has not acquired the impact bat that can move the needle, and opportunities have dwindled as an already-thin free agent market has been depleted. There is still time to make a trade, but time is running out and the Royals may begin the season with the team at hand.
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Are you headed to spring training? Any tips for someone checking out some Arizona baseball?
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
