To say that Tuesday’s New York Yankees lineup was the best that Grant Rogers has ever faced may be an understatement.
After all, Rogers is coming off a 2025 season that saw him move from high-A Vancouver to double-A New Hampshire in his second professional season.
Given the chance to start Tuesday’s spring-training game as the Toronto Blue Jays manage the schedule of their veteran pitchers, Rogers didn’t find out that he would be facing a Yankees lineup featuring three former MVPs and eight major-league regulars until he got to the ballpark on Tuesday.
“We had a meeting this morning in the clubhouse. I had no idea what the lineup was,” Rogers told reporters after his outing, per The Athletic‘s Mitch Bannon. “CJ (Van Eyk) checked it and just started giggling. I was like, ‘What’s wrong?’ He’s like, ‘Well, you got everyone.’”
“Everyone,” of course, meant back-to-back MVP Aaron Judge, all-stars Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a number of other players who New York featured in the heart of its order in 2025.
-
-
Watch Blue Jays in spring training on Sportsnet
The Blue Jays begin their ramp up to the 2026 with spring training action in Florida. Sportsnet will broadcast 23 spring training games on TV and Sportsnet+.
To Rogers’ credit, he embraced the challenge, saying he was “blessed to get an opportunity” to take on such an experienced group.
His appearance didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts, as the 23-year-old allowed the first four batters to reach base, including Judge with a hit-by-pitch, and saw two runs cross the plate.
But from there, Rogers settled in, getting a pair of ground balls to escape the jam before pitching a scoreless second inning.
Rogers finished his day by striking out Trent Grisham and forcing Judge to pop out to short.
His final line showed 2.0 innings of work, two runs allowed, four hits, one walk and one strikeout on 33 pitches.
All things considered, a pretty good afternoon of work for a guy getting an intense first taste of the major-league life.
