MLB Player News

He’s one of 11 new names on the ballot, which also includes (in alphabetical order) A.J. Burnett, Michael Cuddyer, Dan Haren, LaTroy Hawkins, Tim Hudson, Torii Hunter, Aramis Ramírez, Nick Swisher, Shane Victorino and Barry Zito. A number of these players had very good careers, but there’s not a no-doubter in the bunch, which should make for an interesting year in terms of voting. Curt Schilling (who received 70 percent of the vote last year) would appear in strong position to make it in his ninth year on the ballot. Roger Clemens (61.0 percent), Barry Bonds (60.7 percent) and Omar Vizquel (52.6 percent) were the only others to receive votes on at least 50 percent of ballots last year. Players must be on 75 percent of ballots to earn their place in Cooperstown.

Young’s homer off Logan Webb gave the Mariners their only runs in regulation before Julio Rodríguez won the game with a sac fly in the 10th. It was Young’s 12th homer this season. His .254/.313/.400 line is hardly eyepopping, but for a 22-year-old playing in T-Mobile half of the time, it’s really quite impressive and bodes well for him being a quality regular for the next 10 or 12 years.

The earned runs came in the sixth on solo homers from Rafael Devers and Willy Adames, which checked in at just 339 and 358 feet, respectively. Apart from that, Woo was really good in striking out seven. The unearned run was especially unearned. Technically, it scored on a Luke Raley error, but Luis Arraez only reached in the first place on what should have been a Cole Young error but was deemed a single because that’s just how the league likes it. Woo will pitch in Texas next week, which makes for an even more favorable matchup than most of his home starts.

Webb had a shutout going until Cole Young homered with two on and two out in the seventh. That made the game a 3-3 tie, so Webb remained winless in three starts this month. He’s allowed four homers in three outings in July after surrendering just five in his previous 14 starts. He’ll face the Angels next.

Bazzana also walked twice before his walkoff shot off Dennis Santana in the bottom of the ninth gave the Guardians a doubleheader sweep. Throw in his RBI triple in the matinee, and it was a big day for a rookie hitting just .158/.241/.197 in his previous 19 games. He’s at .253/.337/.410 overall in 67 big-league games.

Serving as the Guardians’ 27th man, Allen allowed six hits, walked three and struck out three in his second appearance this year. It’s the first time in 98 games this year that the Guardians have needed to look beyond their usual five starters. Allen will now head back to Triple-A and wait for a more significant role to open up.

Curtis came up big in his major league debut, only to watch the bullpen give up five runs behind him. As the 27th man for the doubleheader, he’ll return to Triple-A now, but at least he’s on the 40-man for the first time and in great position to get another look in the near future.

Mason Montgomery was uninvolved in the late game mix tonight, as he opened and threw a scoreless first inning. The Pirates had Brandon Eisert begin the eighth with a 3-0 lead, but he gave up three singles to load the bases with one out. Soto entered then and allowed all of the inherited runners to score before escaping the inning. Santana took over in the ninth in a tie game and gave up hits to all three batters he faced. The second of those was a double that saw the winning run thrown out at home plate. However, that just served to set up Travis Bazzana’s walkoff homer. Montgomery seems like the Pirates’ best late-game reliever right now, but with the way Don Kelly is managing things, it’s hard to recommend any of the team’s relievers.

Kwan is almost certainly past his peak as a player, but his expected stats have gotten better as the season has gone alone; they were terrible in April, but not nearly as bad in May and June and they’ve continued to trend up in July. The Guardians are still batting him ninth for now, which subtracts from his already limited fantasy ceiling, but there’s a decent chance that he’ll return to the leadoff spot and perform as an adequate fourth or fifth outfielder in mixed leagues the rest of the way.

Langeliers unclogged the bases with his double, and extended the A’s lead to 14-0 in the seventh. He also drew a pair of walks, and the three-reach game has the power-hitting backstop hitting .258/.327/.490 with an even 50 RBI on the year.

Soderstrom gave the A’s an 8-0 lead in the sixth inning with a two-run shot that was the 16th of the season. Not exactly high-leverage, but counts just the same. He also singled, and those reaches bring his slash up to .246/.356/.484 on the campaign with 46 RBI over 306 at-bats. Soderstrom certainly has his flaws, but it’s tough to complain too much about the production over the last two campaign.s