FORT MYERS, Fla. — Baseball has been around for more than 100 years, but when you come to the ballpark there’s always a chance you might see something that’s never happened before.
Fans at JetBlue Park witnessed such a moment on Tuesday afternoon when the Red Sox hosted the Pirates.
Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Wilyer Abreu almost bit on a Thomas Harrington splitter in the dirt, but managed to check his swing at the last second. Despite not making contact with the ball, the bat broke in Abreu’s hands, snapping in two and leaving him holding what remained of the handle.
Wilyer Abreu is so strong he broke this bat at the handle pulling back on a check swing 🤯 pic.twitter.com/JeQcsVdXkf
— NESN (@NESN) February 24, 2026
How could that have happened? Asked on Wednesday, Abreu called the incident “weird” while adding he suspects the bat may have already been broken earlier in the game.
“In the at bat before I felt when I hit the ground ball to the shortstop, I felt something weird in the bat. It just didn’t feel the right way,” Abreu said. “The second at bat it just broke.”
If that were the case, why wouldn’t he just switch to a different bat?
“I tested it, I tried to see if it was broken, but I didn’t feel like anything was wrong with the bat,” Abreu said. “But the sound was weird, so I didn’t expect it to break like that.”
Abreu wound up grounding out on the play. He finished 1 for 3 in the eventual 16-7 loss to the Pirates.
Latest on No. 5 battle
The Red Sox starting rotation is largely set in stone. Garrett Crochet has already been announced as the Opening Day starter, and it’s a good bet that Ranger Suarez, Sonny Gray and Brayan Bello will follow suit.
But the No. 5 starter role remains up in the air, and with five arms still in the mix the job should be among the most hotly contested in all of camp.
Johan Oviedo, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle currently look to be the top three candidates, with Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval also in consideration despite being further behind in their progression.
Asked on Wednesday how he sees the competition right now, Red Sox manager Alex Cora urged patience.
“We’ve got a lot of guys, there’s two of them where we’re waiting to see where they’re at — Sandy and Kutter —obviously they’re behind but trending in the right direction,” Cora said. “We got others that are pitching, there’s one that’s pitching today, so just be patient.
“I think it’s more about what we want to do,” Cora continued. “We know all of them are talented. I don’t think if Oviedo goes out there today and gives up five, it’s not going to take him out of the competition, quote-unquote, we just want them to be healthy and then we’ll make a decision.”
The availability of Crawford and Sandoval remains the biggest wild card, as both veterans are coming off entire seasons lost due to injury. The club has played it safe with both as a result, building them up at a much steadier pace, but if either can get into game action soon it may still be possible for them to force their way back into the conversation.
If not, the conversation instead becomes whether or not Early or Tolle, the club’s top two pitching prospects, can beat out the more experienced Oviedo.
Tolle allowed one run over two innings in his spring debut last Saturday, while Early pitched two scoreless and hitless innings in his first outing on Monday.
Gonzalez update
The Red Sox have been candid about Romy Gonzalez’s shoulder injury being a problem, with Cora saying the utility player is behind everyone else and is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day. On Wednesday Gonzalez acknowledged that fact himself, telling MassLive’s Christopher Smith that at this point the ramp up would be too quick and he’d be doing a disservice to both himself and the team.
Extra innings
Left-hander Tyler Samaniego (back tightness) was scheduled to throw a bullpen on Wednesday and if all goes well could start pitching in games over the weekend. … Several of the Red Sox’s World Baseball Classic participants will begin joining their national teams in the coming days. Infielder Tsung-Che Cheng’s last day is Thursday before he flies to Japan to join Team Chinese Taipei on Friday. Willson Contreras will play Thursday, Saturday and Sunday before driving up to join Team Venezuela, and Jarren Duran (Mexico), Roman Anthony (USA) and Nate Eaton (Great Britain) will play through Saturday before flying to Arizona to join their respective WBC teams.
