The 30 prospects below all are getting very long looks this spring with an eye toward breaking camp with the parent club. Even if they start the year in the Minors, they all should get the chance to contribute at some point in the very near future.

Spring Training is underway. Players around the league are stepping back onto the baseball field as they get ready for the 2019 season. MLB.com's beat reporters have you covered with the action from every team's training camp. Keep track of the latest highlights of Spring Training right here.

We're reluctant to finalize our list of offseason winners because, as you may have heard, there are some prominent unsigned free agents. Not just Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, either.

The 2019 MLB season feels so close now. Spring Training has begun. Players are taking the field. So it's time to rank the best of the best.

By winning his arbitration case against the Astros, pitcher Gerrit Cole stands to make $2,075,000 more this season than if he'd lost. That's a significant victory for Cole, who will double his salary this year and make $13.5 million, and a significant victory for other players to come, the veteran pitcher said.

With Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton leaving in free agency and Lance McCullers Jr. on the mend following Tommy John surgery, Collin McHugh is returning to his roots this year and is back in the Houston rotation. He said his experience as a reliever will only help him evolve as a starter.

Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander are not fans of the "opener" and explained why it's not a long-term option.

You can't help but learn a few things when you had the kind of year Astros star shortstop Carlos Correa experienced last season, when a nagging back injury derailed him in the second half and forced him to deal with the biggest adversity of his career.

Astros third baseman Alex Bregman continues to progress from the arthroscopic elbow surgery he had a month to remove bone chips.

On this opening week of Spring Training, all 30 Major League teams have one thing in common: optimism. Here's an optimism cheat sheet for each of them.

The first live bullpen sessions of the spring typically draw a crowd, and that certainly was the case when Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Brady Rodgers faced hitters for the first time Sunday afternoon on the back fields at Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

The question would come shortly after Cy Sneed would write his name on the chalkboard. A young hand would rise into the air, and Sneed would brace himself for the chuckles that were sure to soon fill the classroom. "Are you a lumberjack?"

Who do the Astros have in the pipeline? Get scouting reports, video, stats, projected ETAs and more for Houston's Top 30 Prospects on MLB Pipeline's Prospect Watch.

The next five weeks will see lots of shuffling on Major League rosters. Here are the most intriguing positional battles on each of the 30 MLB clubs.

Astros outfielder Josh Reddick vows to start hitting to the opposite field more this year, which is something he did well in 2017, but not '18. Reddick hit .242 with 17 homers and 47 RBIs last year after hitting .314 with 13 homers and 82 RBIs to help the Astros to the World Series title in '17.

They wrestled with the decision to start a family for five years. It's something most young couples discuss at some point. Timing is important, and considering their busy lives, even more so for Astros pitcher Joe Smith and his wife, TV sports reporter Allie LaForce. The issue facing the couple is far more momentous than most others have to deal with -- one that's a matter of life and death.

The first Hall of Famer to join the Astros at Spring Training is Craig Biggio, who was in uniform for morning workouts on Tuesday and will remain with the team throughout the week.

It took only two words for Alex Bregman to send 9-year-old Jax Nystrom into a frenzy, but this kind of reaction -- young people freaking out at the slightest bit of attention from him -- has become commonplace for the Astros' All-Star third baseman.

NEW YORK (AP) — Uber is cutting 3,700 full-time workers and its CEO will give up his base salary with the nation largely still in lockdown. The San Francisco company said Wednesday that the layoffs and related costs like severance will reach...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nation’s leader said Wednesday the world’s one billion people living with disabilities are among the hardest hit by the coronavirus and called for them to have equal access to prevention and...

Airbnb says it is laying off 25% of its workforce as it confronts a steep decline in global travel due to the new coronavirus pandemic. It’s a serious setback for the 12-year-old home-sharing company, which just a few months ago was...

  WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 public companies are pledging to return money to the government’s small business coronavirus fund now that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is threatening criminal prosecutions for...

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) — A Pennsylvania inmate whose dreadlocks violated a jail’s haircut policy has been released from solitary confinement after more than a year, although his federal lawsuit is still pending. A federal...

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) director, Dr Carissa Etienne, is warning that lifting COVID-19 restrictions too soon could accelerate the spread of the virus and open the door for a dramatic upsurge in countries of the region. The warning...

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — A gas leak at a chemical factory owned by a South Korean company in southern India early Thursday left at least 11 people dead and about 1,000 struggling to breathe. The chemical styrene, used to make plastic and...

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii authorities are cracking down on rogue tourists who are visiting beaches, riding personal watercraft, shopping and generally flouting strict requirements that they quarantine for 14 days after arriving. A newlywed...

Dozens of United States children have been hospitalised with a serious inflammatory condition possibly linked with the coronavirus and first seen in Europe. New York authorities announced Wednesday that 64 potential cases had been reported to...

Can COVID-19 survive on my phone? Yes. That’s why a daily wipe down of “high-touch” surfaces like phones, keyboards and tablet computers is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A scientific test...

JERUSALEM (AP): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally received the support of a majority of lawmakers to lead a new government yesterday, paving the way for a controversial power-sharing deal with rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz....

MOSCOW (AP): United States (US) President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed progress in combating the coronavirus pandemic, along with arms-control issues and oil prices, in a phone call Thursday, the White House and the...

BOSTON (AP) — Centenarians have always been a rare breed. Now they’re an endangered species. The 100-plus crowd — those most venerable of human beings — is succumbing rapidly and heartbreakingly to the coronavirus...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A virtual meeting of South African lawmakers has been disrupted by hackers who flooded the video call with pornographic images. In the incident on Thursday, the hackers also hurled racial and sexual insults at the meeting...

LONDON — Britain’s minister for the environment, food and rural affairs says Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be announcing immediate changes to the country’s coronavirus lockdown when he addresses the nation on Sunday....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials have revoked US authorisation for masks made by more than 60 Chinese manufacturers after they failed to meet standards needed to protect health care workers. The Food and Drug Administration had...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, who’s taken to calling the US the “king” of ventilators, is making plans to ship 8,000 of the breathing machines to foreign countries by the end of July to help in their fight...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian advertising company is pitching a novel, if morbid, solution to shortages of hospital beds and coffins during the coronavirus pandemic: combine them. ABC Displays has created a cardboard bed with metal...

JAMAICA OLYMPIC Association (JOA) President Christopher Samuda believes that his sports administration experience will aid him in helping to finally shape a professional football league in the Caribbean. Concacaf announced Samuda’s appointment to...

The Jamaica Tallawahs have wasted little time in finding a replacement for the ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle, as they have snapped up the captain of the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Carlos Brathwaite. The Gleaner has been reliably informed that...

Germany’s decision that football can return this month provided encouragement for players and teams across Europe yesterday that the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic could soon be coming to an end. With COVID-19 infections declining,...

ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC): A top West Indies Cricket Umpires Association (WICUA) official says regional umpires have also been heavily impacted by the cessation of cricket, stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vivian Johnson, who...

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC): ST KITTS AND Nevis Patriots have made some significant changes to their line-up for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season. Captain Carlos Brathwaite has gone to the Jamaica Tallawahs, while the Patriots have...

Portmore United captain Rosario Harriott says the Premier League Clubs Association shouldn’t rush to call off this season of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The league was stopped indefinitely in mid-March...

Western Bureau: A number of swimming officials in western Jamaica say that the region’s struggles with underdevelopment will continue even if the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. They say this is because they still lack proper pools to...

Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, operators of Caymanas Track, has announced the re-opening of the main track, effective tomorrow. The company said in a press release on Thursday evening that the track will be opened for two days...

FORMER NATIONAL footballer Aldrick ‘Allie’ McNab is concerned about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Caribbean’s football development. The coronavirus has caused the postponement, suspension, and cancellation of a number of sporting...

Former national footballer Arthur Lattimore has died. Lattimore, who represented Jamaica in the 1970s, lost his battle with throat cancer at his home in Florida on Thursday. Lattimore, who was known as one of Jamaica's most skilful left-sided...

BERLIN, Germany (AP): THE BUNDESLIGA football season will resume on May 16 in empty stadiums, picking up right where it left off two months ago amid the coronavirus pandemic. Yesterday’s announcement comes one day after clubs were told the season...

Western Bureau: THE MOBAY City Run organisers have reconsidered the event’s cancellation. Organising committee chair­person Janet Silvera said on Sunday, the day the event was to have taken place, that the seventh staging of the 5K/10K Walk and Run...

OTTAWA, Canada (CMC): The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football’s (Concacaf) hexagonal round of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar may have to be scrapped because of the disruption the COVID-19...

National 400m hurdles champion Rushell Clayton is concerned about what she says are inequalities between men and women in track and field. Clayton was speaking at a Women in Sports Conference in Kingston recently and discussed issues of inequality...