MLB Player News

There are no surprises among these cuts. The Mariners have 52 players left in major league camp.

Things got off to a rocky start for Holmes here. Jorge Soler took him deep in the second inning and then he allowed the next four batters to reach base in the form of one single and three walks. Yet, he worked out of that jam with only two total runs on the board and shut the Angels down from that point forward. Mostly a two-pitch pitcher, he found the command of his fastball after that near-disasterous second inning and played his nasty slider off it well. This is now consecutive starts where Holmes has completed at least six innings and will look to keep the good times rolling in his next scheduled start against the Marlins.

The Braves jumped all over Angels’ starter Reid Detmers for five runs over the first three innings and Olson put an exclamation point on that onslaught with a two-run shot in the third. He’s come out of the gate hot with three home runs and a .948 OPS to this point and has (obviously) started all thirteen of the Braves’ games so far. He’s as steady as they come.

After making headlines for the wrong reasons on Tuesday night, Soler came to the plate in the second inning and blasted his third home run of the season. A looming suspension is set to kill the momentum he’s built up so far with three home runs and 11 RBI, which are tied for the eighth-most in the league to this point.

Some of what’s still holding Detmers back in his transition to the starting rotation was evident in this start. His fastball velocity fell from over 95 mph in the first inning to under 94 mph by the third to below 93 mph by the fifth before he was pulled. In that third inning, Matt Olson launched a home run on a 94 mph fastball. Detmers’ so-so command means that fastball’s effectiveness will be closely tied to its velocity, so keep an eye on whether or not he can sustain it moving forward. Otherwise, his slider was still nasty and he did get a bit unlucky with some porous defense behind him. He also didn’t allow many hard-hit balls. It was a strange start and he’ll try to recapture some positive momentum in a tough matchup against the Yankees in the Bronx coming up.

Wheeler’s fastball velocity was down for the second consecutive outing, averaging just 92.9 mph after sitting near 96 mph last year. The bigger concern is his inability to sustain velocity, as he dropped from nearly 94 mph in the opening frame to barely 92 mph by the fourth inning in his latest rehab start. He threw 61 pitches (44 strikes) in his third rehab tune-up. The 35-year-old former ace can still be an effective fantasy contributor at reduced velocity, but his chances of reclaiming ace status appear slim if that extra gear doesn’t return. All indications are that he’ll rejoin Philadelphia’s rotation for his season debut at some point in the near future.

There is absolutely no stopping Walker right now. He launched a hanging slider from Brad Lord over the center field fence to push his home run total up to six on the season. That’s tied for the league-lead as of Wednesday afternoon and is just one shy of the six he hit in 111 games all of last season. This is far and away the most sustained power he’s ever had. On top of that, his swing decisions have trended way up and there seems to be a meaningful adjustment to his bat path that’s finally allowed him to lift that ball. Remember, he’s still only just 23 years old. It’s wheels up for Walker.

The Cardinals intended to use O’Brien in a save situation here before they rallied for a few insurance runs in the ninth inning. Nevertheless, he’d already warmed up so they brought him in. Before this appearance he’d earned a save in three of his last four outings and he’s unquestionably the closer in St. Louis at the moment.

The Nationals ran out a left-handed heavy lineup against the right-handed McGreevy and he gave them fits with his changeup and curveball out of the zone. He didn’t miss many bats, but forced some ugly swings and mixed all seven of his pitches to keep the Nationals off-balanced all afternoon. He’ll have another favorable matchup up next when he faces the Guardians back home in St. Louis.

The Nationals could only muster four total hits in this one and Wood accounted for half of them. More important than those base knocks was how he hit them. Wood scalded his first single at 116 mph and his second nearly 111 mph. He became just the eighth player this season to have two batted balls hit harder than 110 mph in the same game and it’s nice to remember how gaudy his raw power truly is.

Mikolas doesn’t have much to lean on at this point in his career. He’s not missing many bats, doesn’t have great command, and doesn’t have an out-pitch he can go to in a pinch. After another poor start, he has a 12.41 ERA through three starts which have spanned 12 1/3 innings to go with an 11/7 K/BB ratio. There’s no fantasy league where he should be relied upon in any way. His next start will come against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.