MLB Player News

Niese has not appeared in an MLB game since 2016. He was released by the Mariners after the 33-year-old posted a 5.12 ERA with Triple-A Tacoma in July.

His on-base percentage is back below .300 -- he’s taken one walk all month -- and outside of a three-hit game on Tuesday, Marte has been extra-base hit or bust this month. The .295/.345/.524 May doesn’t seem like it fixed everything just yet. Marte did have the only one of three Diamondbacks hits that went for extra bases today, so at least there’s that.

Fairbanks touched 97 and struck out Nolan Arenado and LuJames Groover to hold a 2-0 lead. It was a needed quiet outing for the veteran, who hadn’t had an outing without traffic since June 1 and cut his ERA to 6.63 -- his first ERA under seven since April 5’s appearance as an opener before he hit the paternity list.

He was thoroughly outdueled by Tyler Phillips, and the underlying numbers here remain uninteresting in fantasy baseball. Kelly got whiffs on just 3-of-33 swings, and while he’s only really been dusted by the Nationals in his last seven starts and is giving the Diamondbacks length, he has just 24 strikeouts over those seven starts. He’ll draw the Angels next week.

It was impressive, as Phillips managed a 35 percent whiff rate on 23 swings while pounding the zone with 18 called strikes. Michael Petersen came on to strand a leadoff single in the sixth inning to keep Phillips’ 1.86 ERA intact. Since being stretched out as a starter/bulk pitcher, Phillips has allowed zero runs, three runs, three runs, and now zero runs again while allowing just one home run. He’ll face a tough test next week against the Phillies but he’s shown enough to be a potential NL-only league streamer.

The three-hit attack raises Dingler’s season average to .254. Dingler remains top-nine in expected wOBA on the season at .403, and his expected batting average of .294 is still being roundly underperformed. He’s been a quiet success story at catcher this year -- good enough to DH on some of his days off, like today -- and remains an easy starter in fantasy leagues.

After his hot start in April, Keith hit a woeful .217/.286/.261 in May, managing just one extra-base hit over the entire month. We’ve got a faint sign of life here, but Keith probably doesn’t belong on mixed league rosters unless we see a more prolonged spike than this.

Lewis has reached base in every game since his recall and raised his seasonal line from .163/.261/.279 to .189/.281/.320 in just five games. A pre-emptive pickup probably wouldn’t be the worst use of a roster spot if you’re desperate at third base. He’s also played games at first and second base since being recalled, so he looks like he’ll eventually get some positional flexibility for fantasy purposes.

Montero built this outing on weak contact, as he struck out four and only got whiffs on 7-of-46 swings. However, he also allowed only five hard-hit balls, and with the Tigers taking a chokehold on this game in the middle innings, he had enough rope to pitch deep into the outing. Montero will draw the Astros in his next start and remains a streamer consideration, albeit one with low strikeout upside, in mixed leagues.

The Twins didn’t really need to send him back out there after he allowed three runs in the fourth, but he absorbed some more punishment to save the bullpen. Matthews’ velocity was down a tick or two across the board, and it showed mostly in his fastball as batters missed just 1-of-15 swings against it. He allowed 10 hard-hit balls. Matthews is a fringe streamer in his next start against the Rangers in a good pitcher’s park, but it’s really only that context that keeps us interested.

Rucker has a 4.96 career MLB ERA in 121 1/3 innings over the 2021-2023 seasons with the Cubs. He has a 1.59 ERA in 22 2/3 innings with Tacoma, striking out 25 and walking 11. He’ll join the low leverage relief mix for Seattle.