MLB Player News

Kipnis was released over the weekend so the Braves didn’t have to pay him a $100,000 retention bonus, but he’s now back in the organization and will report to their alternate training site. He’s fine to have as depth, but the Braves could be in trouble if he has to play too much.

Ramirez’s slam was a 387-foot fly off of Mitch Spence. The 21-year-old Ramirez, who was added to the Cubs’ 40-man over the winter, is 8-for-22 with two homers and just one strikeout this spring. He’s also 4-for-5 stealing bases. He split time between second and third last year while hitting .280/.346/.386 for Double-A Knoxville. His path to playing time at third base for the Cubs seems thoroughly walled off for the foreseeable future, but he could be a factor at second in 2027 if Nick Hoerner isn’t re-signed.

Mitch Squires, Elias Díaz and Luca Tresh all homered off him. Based on his performance last year, Rea would seem to be the obvious next-man-in to the Cubs rotation if anyone gets hurt, but Javier Assad, who faces Italy tonight, looked really good for Mexico last time out and has the better career numbers for the Cubs. Maybe we won’t actually find out who the choice would be, since the Cubs are hoping to get Justin Steele back within the first two months.

All of the runs scored in the second before the Royals pulled Spence with two outs in the frame. He returned to retire Ian Happ in the third and then left for good. Spence, who was acquired from the A’s a month ago, has allowed eight runs over seven innings this spring. At this point, he seems more likely to wind up in the Triple-A rotation than in the major league pen.

Adell clobbered a tape-measure blast in the fourth innings, which traveled a staggering 468 feet, per Statcast. He also added a run-scoring single in the sixth inning to close out a multi-hit performance. The 26-year-old former top prospect finally put it all together at the highest-level last year, authoring a stellar 37-homer breakout campaign that saw him finish as a top-25 fantasy outfielder. He’ll come off the board right around that range as one of the stronger OF3 options in drafts this spring.

Hays kicked off the scoring by taking Angels starter Alek Manoah deep in the opening frame, hooking a 387-foot blast down the left-field line. The 30-year-old doesn’t offer too much power/speed combo upside at this stage of his career but he’s a strong bet to reach 15 homers with a respectable batting average and a handful of stolen bases for a rebuilding White Sox squad.

Manoah tallied four strikeouts and handed out a pair of free passes. He was burned by the lone ball in this outing as Austin Hays tagged him for a three-run shot in the opening frame before Colson Montgomery added a solo blast a couple frames later. The 28-year-old righty’s bid for a spot in Los Angeles’ season-opening rotation presently includes a bloated 7.15 ERA across 11 1/3 innings this spring. His fastball velocity remains trapped in the low-90’s, which is problematic to say the least. He’ll be left on the waiver wire in most fantasy leagues, even if he makes the Opening Day roster.

Soderstrom took Arizona prospect Zane Russell deep in the third inning for his third round-tripper of the spring. The 24-year-old middle-of-the-order masher is currently a top-10 option at first base in fantasy drafts this spring following last year’s 25-homer, eight-steal breakthrough campaign.

“Obviously it’s not going to feel perfect, but manageable and just trying to work through it as best I can,” Carroll told reporters following his first game action since undergoing hamate surgery on his wrist back in early February. He didn’t record a hit in this one, but he put a pair of hard-hit balls in play with exit velocities of 113.6 mph and 96.1 mph. The 25-year-old franchise cornerstone is expected to be a full-go by Opening Day and remains locked in as a first-round pick in fantasy drafts this spring.