MLB Player News

The oft-injured Smolinski is hitting .292/.346/.583 in 24 at-bats. He’s still going to have a difficult time winning a spot in the Rays outfield, but he deserves some luck after missing so much time the last few years.

Rooker victimized Rangers’ right-hander Cal Quantrill throughout this one. He smacked an RBI single in the first inning to open the scoring in the ballgame then clobbered a 406-foot (101.8 mph EV) two-run shot in the second that extended the A’s advantage to 6-0. He then flew out to center in the fifth before calling it a day. The 31-year-old slugger has eclipsed the 30-homer plateau in three consecutive seasons and looks poised to do so again entering 2026.

Soderstrom smacked a one-out single off of Cal Quantrill in the first inning then came around to score on an RBI double by Jeff McNeil. He then added to their lead with a two-run single in the second before trotting home on Brent Rooker’s two-run blast. Soderstrom finished the day 2-for-3 and is off to a 3-for-7 (.429) start to the spring season.

McNeil laced a one-out double into the right field corner off of Cal Quantrill in the opening inning that extended the A’s early advantage to 2-0. He also drew a walk and lined out to second base in the ballgame, finishing the afternoon 1-for-2. McNeil batted fifth once again for the A’s in this one and that could be the regular spot that he’s featured in to start the season, increasing his upside for counting stats.

Perkins retired all six of the Rangers’ hitters that he faced, including a punchout of Joc Pederson in the opening inning. He got just two swings and misses on 30 pitches in the contest, registering an uninspiring CSW of only 13 percent. It was a nice bounce back effort or the 26-year-old hurler though, who surrendered a couple of runs and didn’t make it out of the first inning his last time out. He’s competing for one of the final spots in the A’s Opening Day rotation.

The versatile 31-year-old tagged right-hander Joel Kuhnel for his 386-foot (99.1 mph EV) solo shot in the fifth inning to get the Rangers on the board. He’ll need a strong showing in Cactus League play to win a bench spot on the Rangers’ Opening Day roster, but this was at least a small step in that direction.

Woof. Quantrill struck out one and did not walk a batter in the ballgame. The A’s jumped on him for a pair of runs in the opening inning on run-scoring knocks from Brent Rooker and Jeff McNeil. They then piled on with four more in the second with a two-run single from Tyler Soderstrom and a two-run blast off the bat of Brent Rooker. While he has never been one to rely on velocity, Quantrill’s fastball averaged just 92.3 mph in this outing, that’s a dip of 1.4 mph from his average during the 2025 season. He’s going to need to turn things around quickly if he has any chance of cracking the Rangers’ Opening Day roster.

It won’t be his fault, but a lot of Pirates fans are probably going to be disappointed if Gonzales is the team’s starting shortstop on Opening Day. His second base job has been primarily taken by Brandon Lowe, so if Konnor Griffin makes the Pirates, Gonzales will probably wind up limited to starting against lefties. Still, it seems a bit more likely that he’ll get the shortstop spot to himself for a little while so that Griffin can work on his defense or something in the minors.

Urquidy is probably the current favorite to open up as the Pirates’ fifth starter, but since the team has just $1.5 million invested here, he shouldn’t be promised anything. Hunter Barco and Carmen Mlodzinski both might be more intriguing options for Pittsburgh.

All of the runs scored in the first, as Woods Richardson was able to work around a one-out double in the second. His fastball averaged 91.8 mph today, down 1.4 mph from his average last season, and he ended up getting just two misses on 20 swings. Still, while this wasn’t nearly his best work, he seems safely penciled into Minnesota’s rotation.

Matthews was at 50 pitches after two innings today, so it was surprising that he was brought back out for a third in his spring debut. As it turned out, he struck out Marcell Ozuna on six pitches and then exited the game. With Pablo López out, Matthews looks like a good bet to become the Twins’ fourth or fifth starter, and he could be strong enough in terms of WHIP and strikeouts to help in fantasy leagues.