MLB Player News

Susac was picked up with the 19th overall selection in the 2022 MLB Draft and is the younger brother of former big-league catcher Andrew Susac. The 21-year-old backstop will reportedly receive a $3.531 million signing bonus.

The 27-year-old Hoppe, who was picked up from the Red Sox and added to the 40-man roster in November, gave up 10 earned runs with a 9/6 K/BB in 6 2/3 innings this spring. It’s going to take improved command to make him a major league reliever, but he definitely has the arm.

This was always the expected outcome. With Richard Fitts getting demoted, the Cardinals rotation appears set with Dustin May, Michael McGreevy, Andre Pallante and Kyle Leahy rounding things out. It’s definitely one of the league’s least exciting groups, but no one projects as an especially big liability and there are interesting arms on the way.

Ford didn’t help his chances of making the Nationals by going to play for Great Britain in the WBC, but his bigger problem is that Keibert Ruiz has had a nice spring to date. The Nationals weren’t going to keep the 23-year-old Ford as a backup to Ruiz, so he’ll have to wait and see what happens once the games start counting. With Adams also being dropped, it’s clear that Drew Millas will serve as Ruiz’s backup.

The 24-year-old Ortiz, who was acquired from Texas in the MacKenzie Gore trade, had a slight chance of winning the first base job in D.C., but he’d gone just 3-for-22 in camp. He’ll be in line for a look this summer if he goes back to thriving in Triple-A; he hit .283/.388/.565 in 41 games after moving up to Round Rock last year.

Sasaki’s latest shaky outing Tuesday lowered his spring ERA to 13.50, but the Dodgers aren’t wavering just yet. Sasaki has shown some extra velocity, and he’s managed to strike out 26% of the batters he faced while also unfortunately walking 24%. The control doesn’t figure to remain that bad, but there’s not going to be any reason to trust him in mixed leagues early on.

Cole topped out at 98.7 mph and averaged 97.1 mph with his four fastballs, which is 1.2 mph better than when he was last seen in 2024. His average fastball velocity peaked at 97.8 mph in 2022. His two curves and two sliders were up about 1.5 mph from 2024. So, it doesn’t look like arm strength is going to be an issue here. The Yankees have maintained that they see Cole returning in late May or June, but it’s not going to be easy holding him back for that long. He’s being underdrafted in fantasy leagues right now.

There was some hope that Fitts, who came over from the Red Sox in a trade this offseason, would immediately get a shot in the rotation, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The 26-year-old posted a 5.79 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and a 9/3 K/BB ratio over 9 1/3 innings and will be in the Triple-A rotation. That means that both of Michael McGreevy and Kyle Leahy have won a spot in the Cardinals’ rotation.

This is Logan Allen, the reliever, not Logan Allen the starting pitcher for the Guardians. This Logan Allen pitched in Korea last year, registering a 4.53 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, and 149/67 K/BB ratio in 173 innings. He pitched for Canada in the World Baseball Classic, allowing one run on four hits in 3 1/3 innings while striking out two and not walking anybody. He’ll begin the year at Triple-A.

Hurt was being stretched out as a multi-inning reliever in spring, but he was unable to make the roster. The 28-year-old pitched just 9 1/3 innings last season following Tommy John surgery, so he’ll take some time to get back into the swing of things in Triple-A. He will almost certainly throw innings for the Dodgers this year.

The Mariners are still not ruling out Crawford for Opening Day, which means that they don’t see this as a long-term injury. Even though we shouldn’t be drafting Crawford in fantasy leagues, the nature of the injury also means it’s less likely that the Mariners will use Colt Emerson at shortstop if it’s only going to be for a couple of weeks. That could mean Leo Rivas is the starting shortstop for Seattle to open the season.