MLB Player News

Bednar allowed two hits, and didn’t issue a walk. The right-hander is off to a solid start in his first full professional season with a 14/3 K/BB ratio and 2.38 ERA in just under 12 innings. Drafted with the 14th pick out of Mississippi State, the brother of Pirates reliever David Bednar has three pitches that will get up to plus in his fastball, curve and change. He also throws all three of these offerings for strikes, and the command isn’t far behind the control. The Giants have done a quality job of developing arms like this, and because of his advanced stuff, Bednar has a chance to reach the majors by the end of 2023. Just keep in mind that he’s more high-floor than high-ceiling.

Wilson’s homer off Cole Winn gave the A’s a 6-2 lead in the seventh, and the A’s held on from there after the Rangers scored three times in the eighth. Wilson is now hitting .254/,264/.338 in 72 plate appearances. His batting average should be better going forward. but with the A’s not letting him leadoff and steals likely to be few and far between. he’s not especially interesting in mixed leagues.

Ginn walked four, but only Corey Seager’s two-run homer in the third did any damage against him. The outing leaves him with a 3.31 ERA and an 11/7 K/BB in 16 1/3 innings. He’ll probably start again Monday against the Mariners.

Mark Leiter Jr., who was brought in with a 6-2 lead in the eighth, gave up a three-run homer to Jake Burger, necessitating Kuhnel’s early entrance. All worked out for the A’s, though, as Kuhnel retired the four batters he faced. He’s 3-for-3 saving games and has yet to allow a run since being called up on Apr. 7. There still isn’t much reason to believe Kuhnel will be an above reliever going forward, but he’s definitely the pitcher worth rostering in the A’s pen at the moment.

Rocker struck out six, but he also walked four and his velocity was down across the board. None of it bodes well, and though his next scheduled start at home against the Pirates is very tempting, he seems like weak play at the moment,

Winn, who entered in the sixth, gave up a two-run homer to Shea Langeliers in his first inning of work and then another two-run shot to Jacob Wilson in the seventh. It’s not necessarily the end for him as a candidate to close, but it’s obviously not what the Rangers were looking for tonight.

Enjoying one of the best all-around games of his young career, Merrill, who turns 23 this weekend, robbed Julio Rodríguez of a two-run homer in the third, long before he ended the game with his two-run double in the ninth. His .261/.320/.464 line isn’t all that eye-catching, but that he’s 4-for-4 on the basepaths after going 1-for-3 last year has taken his stock up a couple of notches.

Vásquez’s velocity was again above his norms tonight, but his four walks caused him problems as his ERA jumped from 1.02 to 2.49. He fanned six, and he still seems worth trusting against the Rockies in Coors Field next week.

Hancock departed with a four-run lead, but that wasn’t sufficient to get him a win. It was a nice night otherwise, as he threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of 23 batters. He had a subpar 22 percent CSW, but only six of the 16 balls in play against him were hard hit. He should fare well in a home start against the A’s next time out.

Muñoz surrendered four hits and a walk before being replaced by Jose A. Ferrer with the score 6-5. Jackson Merrill then hit a game-winning double off Ferrer, who was charged with the blown save while Muñoz took the loss. Muñoz gave up just one hard-hit ball and was pretty unlucky that the rally materialized in the first place. Still, he’s now saddled with a 9.45 ERA for the young season. It’s probably not anything worth worrying about.

His homer was a 434-footer, and he also had a 390-foot double that would have been a homer in 16 ballparks, according to Statcast. Raley currently has a 1.035 OPS that’s about twice as high as three of the five guys ahead of him in the Seattle lineup. Maybe that could lead to some sort of shakeup, but we’ll see.