MLB Player News

Hernandez was inked to a minor league deal earlier this month and has made the Opening Day roster as the Royals’ third catcher.

Michael Conforto will draw another start as the team’s designated hitter and bat sixth. Ballesteros had a stretch through early May where he was starting regularly against righties, often hitting second. He’s been in the lineup for just two of the past six they’ve faced, however. The decreased playing time comes as he’s hitting .034/.065/.034 over his past 31 plate appearances. Conforto, meanwhile, has posted some of the best expected stats in MLB this season.

Back tightness can be a tricky thing for hitters, given all the torque in swinging. While there’s no timeline yet for Shaw’s return, it is likely going to be a few weeks. This will give top prospect Pedro Ramirez a chance to establish himself as a worthwhile player to have on the active roster.

The Cubs have not officially announced a move yet, but this is a pretty good indicator that Ramirez is up with the team this weekend. The switch-hitter slashed .312/.395/.547 with 9 HR and 40 RBI in Triple-A this season. He has spent most of the season playing second base and third base, but has been playing some left field of late. Until we know what the corresponding roster move is, it’s hard to know for sure how much Ramirez will play, but his talent is certainly intriguing.

That’s not ideal for anybody with Lovelady on their team. Now that Clayton Beeter is back, the nationals may no longer be looking at Lovelady as a late inning option. He’ll face a really dangerous top of the Atlanta order on Friday, so we would remove him from your lineups if you can.

Gonzalez will get the call with Tristan Gray going on maternity list. He will serve as a backup outfielder for the weekend and then likely head back to the minors.

Congratulations to Tristan and his growing family. The infielder will miss up to three days, and likely return at the start of next week.

There were previous reports that Anthony was dealing with a torn ligament, which is not the case. However, we now know that it’s not a wrist issue the 22-year-old is battling. He will need to wait for the inflammation in his finger to subside before he picks up a bat again. The good news is that this isn’t a major issue and shouldn’t impact his performance when he returns. The bad news is that the Red Sox are unlikely to rush the former top prospect in baseball, so it’s unclear when Anthony will return. We’d still assume sometime in early June.

Arroyo is now up to 10 home runs and 33 RBI on the season to go along with a .348/.408/.604 slash line and eight steals. He seems ready for his shot at the big leagues. The only issue is that Eugenio Suarez (oblique) is also at Triple-A on a rehab assignment, and Arroyo has stopped playing third base. That could cloud his possible chance at a spot on the big league roster.

Ryan threw 51 of his 84 pitches for strikes and averaged 97.8 mph on his four-seam fastball. He maintained that velocity for much of the game, falling to 96.6 mph by the fifth inning. He also induced 14 whiffs on 35 wings for a 40 percent whiff rate. He did only get one whiff on his slider, which is not ideal, but he had a 69 percent strike rate overall, and his fastball was simply dominant. The Dodgers will give Eric Lauer a start on Monday, but Ryan could push for a rotation spot if that Lauer start doesn’t go well.

Priester threw 34 of his 68 pitches for strikes and induced just four whiffs on 21 swings. His sinker sat 92.2 mph, which is down almost two mph from what we saw last season. The 25-year-old is working hard to return from thoracic outlet syndrome, but he has a 20.25 ERA in 9 1/3 innings across five rehab starts, with a 9/14 K/BB ratio. With how well Logan Henderson and Kyle Harrison are pitching, there is no reason for the Brewers to rush Priester back.