James Shields is scheduled to throw his first pitch as a Padre this afternoon, with Madison Bumgarner and the Giants on the other side.

The tandem of Alex Sawelson and Alan Baldwin was effective for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Friday afternoon to lift Hawaii past Baylor, 2-1, in the first game of three-day Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.

Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels is well aware of the trade speculation that has swirled around him since the start of the offseason. And if it slipped his mind, all he had to do was look behind the plate at Bright House Field on Friday afternoon where 24 scouts assembled to watch his first start of the Grapefruit League.

This was about as perfect a return as Matt Harvey and the Mets could have envisioned. Harvey fanned three in two perfect innings against the Tigers.

The Angels envision two roles for Cesar Ramos: long reliever and lefty specialist. They prefer the latter.

Seven pitchers held the Rockies to four hits and no runs in nine innings at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Friday, leading the Angels to a 3-0 victory that gave them back-to-back wins to start their Cactus League schedule.

Josh Rutledge and Taylor Featherston got to know each other during a stint in the Rockies’ instructional league. Rutledge and Johnny Giavotella faced off in college, Rutledge for the University of Alabama and Giavotella for the University of New Orleans. In the Cape Cod Baseball League one summer, Rutledge became familiar with Grant Green, too. Now here they are, all of them, alternating time at second base and fighting for their baseball lives at Angels camp.

It was just one Cactus League start, but via the 31 pitches thrown by Carlos Rodon on Friday afternoon, it was easy to see why the White Sox were thrilled that he dropped to No. 3 in the 2014 Draft.

Even though Carlos Ruiz caught Cole Hamels in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Yankees split-squad at Bright House Field, he’s not likely to start at catcher often in the early days of Grapefruit League play.

Even this early on in Spring Training, Jordan Zimmermann already has a grasp on how important this season will be for him personally. He is set to become a free agent at the end of the year, and the Nationals hope he can lead them to the World Series.

It may have been “Matt Harvey Day,” but David Price was nearly as dominant in his two-inning Spring Training debut for the Tigers.

Jon Lester struck out three of the first four batters he faced, then served up a broken-bat single before getting Kristopher Negron to ground into an inning-ending double play. He finished with two scoreless innings.

MLB.com fantasy guru Fred Zinkie fielded questions from fans during a live Twitter chat at @Fantasy411 today. To learn from someone who has been there and won that, check out the chat transcript below and check out the @Fantasy411 Twitter handle, MLB.com’s Player Preview and MLB.com’s fantasy home.

Facing proven Major League hitters in his Cactus League debut on Friday against the Brewers, 18-year-old Julio Urias showed why he is one of the game’s most heralded prospects.

The game was delayed approximately one hour and 40 minutes because of rain but once it got started, Chris Colabello put the Blue Jays on the board with a two-run homer to right field.

Eighteen months ago, Matt Harvey was arguably baseball’s best pitcher, at least in terms of pure stuff and probably in terms of attitude as well. After a long road to recovery, the Mets’ ace tossed two perfect innings in his Spring Training debut.

The Indians have raved about the strides Trevor Bauer has made in keeping the club looped in on the things he is researching in order to improve his pitching. The give and take with Bauer over the past three years has even led to changes within Cleveland’s own programs for its young arms.