MLB Player News

The latest round of subtractions trims the Rockies’ spring training roster to 30 players. Perhaps the most notable name to be included in this round is Bird, who ended up being beaten out by C.J. Cron for the Rockies’ starting job at first base this spring.

Hernández is the owner of a weird early-season line, hitting .320/.320/.360 with one extra-base hit in his first seven games. It’s early, but his expected slugging percentage of .304 shows that this isn’t a major fluke -- his max exit velocity this year is 102.1, and his average is down to an MLB-average 88.6. He hasn’t barreled a ball yet all season. He’s also spent the majority of the year hitting seventh in a loaded Dodgers lineup. Miles Mikolas did what he could today, but Hernández needs to start finding his power stroke to remain a no-thought-about-it starter in 12-team leagues.

The cure for the offensive slump? More Miles Mikolas. Ohtani homered off the right-hander to open proceedings on a five-run Dodgers third inning, and added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to bring home Alex Call. The superstar has boosted his batting average to .217. We’re expecting that to keep climbing.

Mederos, owner of a career 8.53 ERA in 25.1 innings (three starts) over three years with the Angels, will head to the Braves after being designated for assignment last week. Given how banged up the pitching depth is in Atlanta, it’s hard to fault them for bringing in another arm. The Angels will receive pool space to help them rebuild the back yard, though they’ll have to acquire the pool elsewhere.

Gipson-Long was placed on the 15-day IL a few weeks ago and seems to be progressing well. Assuming there are no setbacks, he figures to rejoin the Tigers in late April at the latest.

Falter pitched in two games for the Royals this year, covering three innings of relief against the Braves on March 27 and failing to cover more than an inning in a blowout against the Twins on Wednesday when he was shellacked for three earned runs. Clearly something wasn’t right in that one. The team will likely have more on his status at a future date. Falter came over from the Pirates at the trade deadline last year but made just two starts before being shelved with a bicep contusion, and the team clearly didn’t leave much of a path for him in the rotation this offseason.

Avila allowed two earned runs in one start for the Storm Chasers and will likely cover some bullpen innings for the Royals going forward after replacing Bailey Falter on the roster.

Kerkering will get in one more rehab appearance and then jet to San Francisco to join the Phillies for their next series by the bay. The right-hander is no threat to Jhoan Duran’s closer role, but should be capable of value in leagues with holds eventually.

It’s possible that Pepiot is activated as soon as Tampa’s next series against the Cubs if everything checks out. Pepiot has been dealing with right hip inflammation since late March, and assuming there are no setbacks, it seems like he’ll be returning sooner rather than later.

Eflin is flying to Texas to see Dr. Keith Meister, which would seem to indicate that he did not exactly love the first opinion medical professionals offered him. We would be surprised if Eflin wasn’t out for a majority of the year based on this update, even if he has avoided a UCL tear and instead has something (relatively) more minor.

Amaya has started to see some time at DH against lefties, which is a good sign for how the Cubs feel about his bat. The bad news is that he’s hit ninth in every game he’s appeared in this year. Amaya, off to a .375/.444/.750 start with a homer in his first nine plate appearances, probably deserves to cut into Carson Kelly’s playing time more than he did last year. We’re skeptical it actually happens. Kelly is batting cleanup against LHP Joey Cantillo.