MLB Player News

Hill spent the 2021 and 2019 seasons with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent American Association. The 25-year-old outfielder was a 19th round selection of the Red Sox back in 2014 and also spent time in the Tigers and Yankees systems the last few years.

Melendez gets the call to join New York’s outfield mix prior to Wednesday’s game against the Dodgers with Jacob Young hitting the injured list with a meniscus tear in his left knee. The 27-year-old has posted a pedestrian .685 OPS with 52 homers in 435 games at the highest level with the Royals since 2022.

No word yet on how much time Young will miss, but it figures to be a multi-week absence, even in a best case scenario. The 30-year-old underwent imaging that revealed the tear after dealing with knee discomfort earlier this week.

Murphy refused to commit to changing closers after Wednesday’s extra-inning loss to the Blue Jays where Megill surrendered three runs in an ugly blown save. Simply put, the results haven’t been there for Megill this season and it might make sense for Milwaukee to turn the ninth inning over to Abner Uribe, who is worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats until further notice.

Altuve receives his first day off after making 18 consecutive starts to open the season. The 35-year-old veteran second baseman is hitting .288/.405/.455 with 13 runs scored, two homers, six RBI and one steal in 79 plate appearances. Nick Allen will handle the keystone in his absence.

It’s his first decision in four starts. Early gave up a first-inning homer to Austin Martin — the first home run he’s allowed in eight career major league starts — but just one of the other 14 balls in play against him produced a hit, with Victor Caratini singling in the second. Early struck out five and walked two while lowering his ERA to 2.28. His peripherals aren’t great and he’s giving up harder contact than his ERA suggests, but he’s been very successful with runners on base. His luck will probably begin the change there, but then, he’ll also probably improve on his 12-percent walk rate and maybe bring down his EV numbers, too. He’s a perfectly reasonable mixed-league option, even with the Yankees due up next.

Not that it did him any good, but Woods Richardson had great velocity today. He had averaged 92.1 mph with his fastball this season, down from 93.2 mph last year, but he was up to 94.2 mph today. He only wound up with four whiffs and a 21-percent CSW, but he was pretty unlucky to give up seven runs. Five came in a third inning that started with an infield single. With the bases loaded and none out, Masataka Yoshida hit a double play ball that second baseman Luke Keaschall bobbled and then threw wildly to first base on for a double error. After running down the ball, Josh Bell compounded the problem by throwing home well too late to get Roman Anthony when he should have easily had Yoshida running to second. Trevor Story followed with a three-run homer. In all, Woods Richardson allowed four hits on balls hit softer than 80 mph. The loss makes him 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA, but his rotation spot should be safe for now, especially with Zebby Matthews struggling in Triple-A. The Twins do have off days Thursday and Monday, so they could push him back from his next scheduled start, which would be next Wednesday against the Mets.

Story had four hard-hit balls and even a walk in his five plate appearances today, so his early slump seems over. That still doesn’t mean the Red Sox should put him back into the two hole, though. Maybe having him bat cleanup instead of sixth, as he did with Willson Contreras out today, and moving Contreras up to second would be a fair compromise. Story is up to 17 RBI on the season. No one else on the Red Sox has more than 11.

Martin typically starts only against lefties, but lucky for him, the Twins faced southpaws in 11 of 19 games thus far, giving Martin quite the chance to impress. He’s hit .294/.489/.353 through 52 plate appearances. Today’s homer, his third in 428 career plate appearances since he debuted in 2023, left his bat at a season-high 102.6 mph. Unfortunately, there’s probably not much more power on the way, and he might have lost or be on the verge of losing his green light on the basepaths by getting caught on three of his five steal attempts so far. He probably wouldn’t be much of a mixed-league outfielder even as an everyday player.

Keaschall is hitting just .222/.278/.292, but his glove is probably a bigger concern than his bat at this point. Today, he turned a double play ball into no outs as part of a five-run third inning for Boston. If he’s not going to cut it at second base, he might not be a long-term solution for a Twins team loaded with outfield prospects. Offensively, things still seem pretty sound here. He’s striking out only 14 percent of the time this year, and while he’s not hitting the ball hard at the moment, his bat speed numbers are better than last year. He should still be highly regarded as a fantasy second baseman.

Rice returns to face Angels righty Jack Kochanowicz after finding himself on the bench for two straight games against left-handed starters. The 27-year-old first baseman should be getting a chance to face more southpaws, but it’s simply not happening at the moment. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has also been reluctant to put him behind the plate early this season. It’s not what you want.