MLB Player News

The O’s first round selection from the 2009 draft, Hobgood pitched out of the bullpen at Class-A Delmarva and High-A Frederic in 2013 while recovering from rotator cuff surgery. He’s expected to begin the season at Double-A Bowie.

The 31-year-old was a non-roster invite to spring training and pitched well, allowing just one run on three hits in six innings while striking out six and walking two. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster, but the Reds are likely trying to find a way to keep him in the organization.

Dunn’s chances of making the opening day roster were hurt when the Reds added both JJ Bleday and Dane Myers. Dunn also hyperextended his knee in spring training, which also didn’t help. The 27-year-old is on the 40-man roster and has a minor league option left, so he will likely either begin the season on the IL or in Triple-A.

Fletcher was an intriguing name when the Pirates signed him in December, but then they also added Marcell Ozuna, Ryan O’Hearn, and Jhostynxon Garcia to make the corner outfield and DH spots a bit crowded. Fletcher will now head to minor league camp as he determines the next step for his career, and whether it will be in the Pirates’ minor league system or somewhere else.

Valdez was trying to win a backup infielder job in spring training, but went just 2-for-26 in 12 games. He will head to Triple-A and play some games at 1B and 2B to keep himself in the team’s mind as a potential backup should injuries crop up.

Pauley came into spring training as the favorite to win the starting third base job, but he was sidelined early on with forearm tightness. His MRI came back clean, and he took time to rest and recover. He has been throwing for a while but was limited to DH duties in games, going 6-for-22 in eight games so far. He is now able to take part in defensive drills and throw to bases, and the Marlins hope he will play the field in a game this weekend. It remains to be seen if that will give him enough time to beat out Connor Norby for the starting job.

Kim is still not able to swing a bat, but he is able to do some fielding drills and conditioning. His original return timeline was early May, but he would not confirm that he is on track for the date. He simply said he would do his best to return as soon as possible. Once he can begin swinging a bat, we’ll have a much better idea of how close he is to returning.

Team USA manager Mark DeRosa made it official that McLean will get the ball for the deciding contest of the international showcase against either Venezuela or Italy. The hard-throwing 24-year-old top pitching prospect allowed three runs over two innings against Italy his last time out earlier this week. The big question for Team USA’s pitching staff is whether closer Mason Miller will be available since it would be his third appearance in the last five days.

This one figured to feature quite a bit more offense, but as it turned out, three solo homers, including one from the Dominican Republic’s Junior Caminero, accounted for all of the scoring. Team USA won despite striking out 15 times. After Paul Skenes pitched 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball, Tyler Rogers, Griffin Jax, David Bednar, Garrett Whitlock and Mason Miller combined to shut out the Dominican Republic the rest of the way. Team USA will face the winner of Monday’s game between Venezuela and Italy on Tuesday.

Skenes surrendered six hits, but only Junior Caminero’s homer in the second did any damage. He struck out two and walked none in the 71-pitch outing.

Severino’s velocity has been up since his spring debut, but he was especially amped tonight, topping out at 99.8 mph. HIs 98.6 mph average on his fastball was up 2.5 mph from last year. It definitely makes him more interesting for fantasy purposes, but it’s hard to say whether it will hold up, and he’s still pitching half of the time in a fantastic ballpark for hitters in Sacramento.