Bradford (elbow) moving rehab to Triple-A

This move was to make room for AJ Smith-Shawver on the active roster, but they didn’t need to clear a spot on their 40-man for such. Kinley has a palatable 4.01 ERA and fastball that can still sit near 95 mph, despite trending in the wrong direction over the last few years. It’s plausible that another team would pick the 35-year-old righty up off waivers.

Now it’s official. Smith-Shawver will come back up to start for the Braves on Wednesday after he was removed from Triple-A Gwinnett’s probable pitchers earlier today. He’s a splitter-heavy righty with above average velocity who could find success. In his season debut against the Mets, his fastball jumped up two ticks to 97 mph and that velocity held during his two starts back in Triple-A. He’s also mixed in a new sinker against right-handed batters. By slotting in the rotation on Wednesday, he’ll give Chris Sale an extra day of rest.

This is great news for Gray who hasn’t pitched in a game since September of last season following a litany of arm injuries. Most recently, it was a flexor strain that cropped up in spring training. Once a top prospect who was the centerpiece of the trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers, Gray hasn’t pitched in a major league game since April, 2024.

This was an expected move as Mathews was designated as the Cardinals’ 27th man ahead of their double-header against the Reds on Monday. He pitched well though, allowing just one run and striking out seven over four innings. It’s likely he gets another opportunity in St. Louis’ rotation before the end of the season.

The longtime Orioles’ first baseman, Mancini appeared in five games with the Angels in June and went 4-for-13 with four RBI before being let go. It was a feel-good story for the 34-year-old who beat colon cancer while playing in the big leagues and hadn’t played in the majors since 2023. Now, he’ll hang it up 129 home runs and a .263 career average.

Emerson was the number two pick in July’s draft and signed for a massive $9.75 million with the Rays, the second-highest bonus in draft history and highest ever for a high school player. He has the chance to be a special prospect with true five-category upside and is already a top-10 prospect per MLB Pipeline’s recent re-rank.

Well, this is an update. The phrasing of “eager” sure is doing a lot of work here where it seems like Abrams is not thrilled about being shifted from shortstop to second base. The article also shared that Abrams intends to workout as a shortstop this offseason and still sees himself as one moving forward. Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni also said that if he were Abrams, he’d be upset too. Abrams is 0-for-13 since manager Blake Butera first shared this plan on Friday and we’re expecting to see him starting at second any day now.

Bowman reports that Herick Hernandez is meant to start for Triple-A Gwinnett tonight now in lieu of Smith-Shawver, which would free him up to be recalled and pitch in the big leagues tomorrow. Rumored to return to the majors since his season debut against the Mets three weeks ago, he has 13 strikeouts, four walks, and allowed two earned runs over 11 innings in two starts since. He’d be moderately interesting if or when he’s formally promoted.

Ohtani’s homers traveled a projected 452 and 428 feet at Coors Field. It’s his second two-homer game and his first with either four hits or four runs scored. He’s now up to ninth in the majors with 81 runs scored. He should easily get to 100 for the fifth time, but he’s going to fall well short of his major league-leading totals of 134 in 2024 and 146 last season.

It’s the same line he had in his return from the IL last week against the Royals. Snell got into trouble in the third, when he issued all three of his walks on the evening to consecutive batters. However, he escaped allowing just the one run, and he was great the rest of the night. He’ll likely face the Braves on next Tuesday, unless the Dodgers want to get a little aggressive and start him on four days’ rest Sunday against the Pirates.