MLB Player News

Harvey has finished serving a league-issued 60-game suspension for revelations that surfaced during the trial involving the death of former Angels teammate Tyler Skaggs and made his Triple-A debut for the Orioles on Friday evening. The 33-year-old right-hander, who threw 98 pitches (61 strikes) in his latest outing, is expected to make several additional starts before being considered for the Orioles’ starting rotation later this season.

Ballesteros’s homers were projected at 423 and 441 feet. He also walked and struck out. Ballesteros was DHing tonight for the third time this spring. He’s started six games at catcher and one at first base. It’s unclear just how much catching he’ll do in the regular season with the Cubs wanting to get both Carson Kelly, who went 3-for-4 with a homer of his own tonight, and Miguel Amaya playing time, but it sure would be nice if he could gain position eligibility there in leagues in which he’s currently only a DH.

Jeimer Candelario’s solo homer in the fifth was the only hit given up by Imanaga tonight. With his velocity up across the board this spring, Imanaga is looking like a nice bounce-back candidate and an underrated draft-day option.

This just isn’t going to work, at least not at the start of the year. The Angels want Manoah to be their fifth starter, but he’s averaging 90 mph with his fastball and he’s walked 14 in 15 1/3 innings this spring. He does have options left, so the team could send him down and go with Sam Aldegheri or Walbert Urena in his place. Or maybe they’ll be able to pluck a better option off the waiver wire.

All three of Bazzana’s at-bats produced balls in play in excess of 101 mph, but the double was sandwiched between a groundout and a GIDP. With his .897 OPS in Guardians camp, he’s made an argument to open up as the team’s second baseman. Still, they’ve already committed to sticking him in the minors to begin the year and will likely go with a double play combo of Brayan Rocchio (career 75 OPS+) at second and Gabriel Arias (career... well, wouldn’t you know it, 75 OPS+) at shortstop.

Lodolo, one of the Cactus League’s most effective pitchers the previous four years, is having a bit of an off spring this time around, having posted a 5.93 ERA in four starts. Still, that comes with an 18/3 K/BB in 13 2/3 innings. It’s just that he’s allowed as many earned runs this year as he did over 36 innings in his previous three springs combined.

Marte’s homer off lefty Kolby Allard was a 109-foot rocket to left-center. Marte was bad against lefties last year and the Reds have made judgments about him because of it, but he shouldn’t have any playing time concerns initially. He’s slugging .600 with his three homers and four doubles this spring.

Luis Arraez drew a rare walk on what looked to be strike two to open the ninth against Garrett Whitlock and then pinch-runner Javier Sanoja stole second on a close play. Suárez followed with a clean double into the gap in right-center for the go-ahead run, and Daniel Palencia mowed down Kyle Schwarber, pinch-hitter Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony in the bottom of the ninth. Team USA was shut out for seven innings until Bryce Harper hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth. Venezuela’s previous runs came in a Maikel Garcia sac fly and a Wilyer Abreu homer. It’s Venezuela’s first WBC title, and the U.S. is the runnerup for the second straight tournament after losing to Japan by the same score in the final last time out.

McLean topped out at 99.2 mph tonight and averaged 98.1 mph. That’s 1.3 mph better than his lone spring start before the WBC and 2.5 mph better than his eight starts for the Mets last season. Now we just have to hope he stays healthy for at least the next couple of months and hopefully throughout the season if we ever want to see a young ace pitch in the World Baseball Classic again.

Rodriguez allowed one hit, walked one and struck out four in an excellent performance. His fastball velocity was actually down a bit tonight from his last start; he averaged 92.6 mph, compared to 93.5 mph in his pool play start versus the Dominican Republic. That’s still better than his 2025 average of 92.0 mph. Rodriguez should get one more spring start before opening up as the Diamondbacks’ third or fourth starter.

Ragans gets the ball for his third consecutive Opening Day assignment. The 28-year-old fantasy ace is a borderline SP1 in fantasy drafts this spring after posting a 4.67 ERA (2.67 xERA), 1.18 WHIP and 98/20 K/BB ratio across 61 2/3 innings over 13 starts during last year’s injury-marred campaign.