MLB Player News

When Lake Elsinore and Lancaster get together, it’s in the rules that something interesting has to happen. Lake Elsinore won 30-0 on Friday, and Lancaster’s Aaron Bates hit four homers on Saturday. In Sunday’s game, Lake Elsinore came back to take the rubber game of the series 21-8. Ramirez also had seven RBI in Friday’s massacre, so he entered the series with 10 RBI and left it with 25. The 22-year-old is batting .291/.318/.419 in 148 at-bats.

Castro enjoyed a big day at the plate, starting with a base hit in the second inning to put the Rockies on the board with a run. He then took Mike Burrows deep for a two-run blast in the fourth for his first home run of the season. The versatile 28-year-old is slashing .250/.318/.400 with seven runs scored and seven RBI across his first 44 plate appearances with the Rockies.

Walker took Kyle Freeland deep for a solo homer in the second inning to put the Astros on the board. It would be the only run Houston could get across against the Rockies on Tuesday. Walker has been hot at the plate in the early going, with Tuesday’s blast his third in four games.

This is certainly a different version of Senzatela. The Rockies opted to keep the 31-year-old right-hander in a relief role this season, and it looks to be paying off. He recorded the final eight outs against the Astros on Tuesday, striking out three to earn his first career save. Senzatela is throwing harder in the shorter outings, with his fastball up to 97 mph. He’s tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings of relief with nine strikeouts, probably making him the most interesting reliever in the Colorado bullpen, which really isn’t saying much. But his role could be one to monitor if he works into high-leverage situations.

Freeland tossed a clean first inning, then surrendered a solo homer to Christian Walker in the second. That would be the only damage the Astros could do on Freeland as he held them from scoring again into the seventh, scattering two other hits and one walk while striking out five. The 32-year-old left-hander will look to keep the early-season success going in a start against the Padres in San Diego on Sunday.

After a scoreless first inning, Burrows gave up a run on two hits and a walk in the second. Willi Castro later got to him with a two-run blast in the fourth. He recorded the first out in the sixth and gave up a single that would end his day at 87 pitches. Burrows scattered eight hits and one walk while striking out three batters. The 26-year-old right-hander is currently in line for a start against the Mariners in Seattle on Monday.

It’s a massive relief for the Rangers, and fantasy managers, after deGrom experienced right knee discomfort while warming up for Monday’s start against the Mariners where he struck out six and allowed one run over five innings. The 37-year-old fantasy ace will make his next start on Sunday against the Dodgers.

Musgrove has been limited to side work as he tries to get over the hump. “To get major league hitters out, your (expletive) has got to be good and you’ve got to be confident,” Musgrove said. “And I just don’t have that right now. I’m not far off. I showed signs of it in spring. My stuff was there. Just the ability to execute breaking balls and get in the zone consistently and recover well enough to do it again in five days, just …” Musgrove had an MRI last month that showed his repaired ligament was intact. Still, until his arm gets better about bouncing back from throwing sessions, he can’t even think about a rehab assignment. Clearly, he’s not going to be back on a major league mound before June and perhaps not then.

Suzuki appears to be getting close to returning to Chicago for his season debut as he’s hitting .462 (6-for-13) across four games on his minor league rehab assignment. He’ll presumably be ready to make his season debut during Friday’s series opener against the Pirates, but that’s not official yet.

Johnson was in Marlins camp as a non-roster invitee this spring after appearing in a career-high 31 games between the Orioles and Giants last year. The well-traveled 30-year-old is a decent emergency stopgap solution as a reserve outfielder but that’s pretty much it at this juncture of his career.