Major League Baseball’s spring-training schedule started Thursday with the Chicago Cubs’ 12-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Six more games follow on Friday as the 30 MLB teams and their prospective players prepare for Opening Day on March 27.

Pitcher Trey Wingenter is at work at spring training, but not in the Cactus or the Grapefruit leagues. The former Bob Jones High School and Auburn standout is preparing for the Pacific League season with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

Wingenter was among four foreign players signed by the Lions for the 2025 season, along with Leandro Cedeno, Tyler Nevin and Emmanuel Ramirez. Cedeno has played in Japan for the previous two seasons, but Wingenter, Nevin and Ramirez played in the Major Leagues in 2024.

Last season, Wingenter pitched in two games with the Boston Red Sox and five with the Chicago Cubs. The 6-foot-7 right-hander gave up seven runs in 2.1 innings with the Red Sox. He yielded two runs in six innings with the Cubs. Wingenter also had a 2.98 earned-run average in 38 Triple-A games across three organizations in 2024 as he struck out 75 in 48.1 innings.

As an All-State senior at Bob Jones in Madison, Wingenter went 9-0 with an 0.47 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 60 innings.

In three seasons at Auburn, Wingenter posted a 3-7 record with a 3.94 earned-run average in 40 games, including 12 starts. In 93.2 innings, the right-hander struck out 74 and walked 32.

Wingenter joined the San Diego system as a 17th-round selection in the 2015 draft. He reached the big leagues in 2018, and in 2019, Wingenter worked in 51 games for the Padres, with 72 strikeouts in 51 innings.

But in 2020, Wingenter had Tommy John surgery to repair a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

In 2020, 2021 and 2022, Wingenter’s work for the Padres was limited to three games in the Arizona Complex League.

Wingenter returned to the big leagues with 17 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2023.

In his MLB career, Wingenter has a 2-3 record with a 5.66 ERA and one save in 97 games. All but one appearance has been from the bullpen. In 95.1 innings, he has struck out 127 batters while yielding 76 hits and 50 walks.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.