MLB 2016 Schedule, Key Dates: When Pitchers And Catchers Report, Player Deadlines And More

Edinson Volquez Royals 2015 — Edinson Volquez and the rest of the defending champion Kansas City Royals pitching staff is scheduled to report to Spring Training on Thursday, Feb. 18. Reuters

For most of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams, pitchers and catchers will report and descend upon Spring Training over the next 10 days to signal the beginning of the 2016 season.

The very first pitchers and catchers to report include the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Overall, those five teams own the 17th, while Feb. 18 stands out as the most popular date this season. Fourteen teams will have pitchers and catchers report on the 18th, including the defending champion Kansas City Royals.

Afterwards, seven squads report on Feb. 19, only one, the Oakland Athletics, on Feb. 20, and the last three will report on Feb. 21.

Every single team will follow up their very first workout the day following pitchers and catchers, while nine teams will have position players report on Monday, Feb. 22. The first full-team workouts will commence the day after positions players report.

While technically reporting is voluntary, players have a hard, mandatory reporting date of Tuesday, March 1.

Young or inexperienced players, or veterans clinging to the league, hoping to make a club’s final 25-man active roster have throughout March to prove their worth. Teams must make their final decisions by 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Opening Day, Sunday, April 3.

Florida’s Grapefruit League gets the honor of throwing out the very first Spring Training pitch on Sunday Feb. 28, when the Phillies face the University of Tampa in Clearwater.

The Cactus starts two days later when the Cincinnati Reds face the Indians, and the Diamondbacks face the University of Arizona on March 1.

Here’s the full list of each team’s date for pitchers and catchers to report, and for your team’s other key dates head to SpringTrainingOnline.com here.

Feb. 18

Voluntary reporting date for pitchers and catchers

Feb. 23

Voluntary reporting date for other team's other players

Feb. 28

Spring training games begin

March 1

Mandatory reporting date

March 16

Deadline to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay 30 days termination pay instead of 45 days

March 30

Deadline to request unconditional release waivers on a player without having to pay player's full 2016 salary