MLB Player News

Casey is MLB Pipeline’s 21st-ranked prospect in the Nationals’ system and was up briefly earlier this season, but didn’t get into a game. The 26-year-old outfielder has hit .219/.283/.364 with six homers and six steals in 252 plate appearances this season for Triple-A Rochester.

Cole was the hero for the Astros here after smacking a single past a diving Josh Naylor to win the game. Also, he nearly doubled his hit total on the season in this game, going from four before it to seven now. He’s still tyring to find his footing in the Astros’ outfield since being called up in early May and is yet to draw a walk with a predictably high strikeout rate.

King completely lost his command here while also falling victim to some horrific batted ball luck. Three walks in one inning is completely inexcusable, no doubt about that. At the same time, J.P. Crawford hit a knubber up the first base line that set up the third and final walk which forced in a run. Funny enough, Josh Naylor hit another squeaker up the line that King made a tough play on and beat Naylor by about two inches. Had he been safe, the Astros may not have come back to win it in the 10th inning. These three walks were his first free passes in six outings – which was his last blown save – so this shouldn’t be a problem moving forward.

Coming off a fingernail issue, McCullers worked around constant traffic on the bases to deliver a solid start here. He led with his cutter against a very left-handed heavy Mariners lineup and it forced plenty of weak contact to bail him out of some jams. Ironically, despite all the base runners, the only runs he surrendered came via two solo home runs. The first of which came against J.P. Crawford, the first batter of the game. McCullers threw him three fastballs, none were thrown harder than 90 mph, and he didn’t throw one for the rest of his outing after Crawford’s tank. That’s one heck of an adjustment right there and it worked because the velocity on the rest of his pitches did not dip. Keep an eye on that fastball velocity in his next scheduled start against the Twins.

Arozarena is on first with multiple hits in his last three games and a seven-game hit streak. During that time, he’s raised his batting average from .265 to .306, which is tied for 15th-highest in the league. On top of all these hits, he’s also running wild with four steals in his last nine games as he contributes to our teams in a multitude of ways.

In his long awaited return from an oblique strain, there was plenty to dissect from Miller’s season debut. Starting with some positives, it was encouraging to see his velocity jump up nearly three ticks compared to last season and sitting between 97 and 98 mph. It held steady around there for his whole 81-pitch outing too, which was another great sign. Also, he showed off his deep repertoire against a right-handed heavy Astros lineup. However, despite his stuff returning to form, whiffs did not follow. Miller only forced eight swings-and-misses and struggled to put hitters away. His command was solid overall, but wavered with two strikes. Still, this should be considered a huge step in the right direction and he’s scheduled to face the White Sox next week.

Ohtani apparently did something new with his splitter tonight, as the seven he threw were up 3.3 mph from his season average. Mostly, though, he used fastballs and sweepers, picking up all eight of his strikeouts with those two offerings. In seven starts this season, he’s allowed no earned runs four times, one earned run twice and two earned runs once. It’s only earned him a 3-2 record, but his ERA is sitting at 0.82. The plan still appears to be for him to get a second straight day off at the plate on Thursday. He’ll be back at DH for the series against the Angels on Friday, and he’ll likely make his next start Tuesday in San Diego.

Ray’s velocity was down about one mph from his season average tonight, and he finished with just two strikeouts and a 19 percent CSW. With Santiago Espinal and Mookie Betts taking him deep, he’s now allowed 10 homers in 50 1/3 innings, a significant rate increase from last year’s 22 in 182 1/3 innings. His catching situation got a big downgrade and he’s not likely to be particularly well supported offensively or defensively going forward, so his mixed-league value should be pretty limited. Maybe, though, it could pick up again if he’s involved in a deadline deal.

Espinal and Mookie Betts hit back-to-back homers off Robbie Ray in the third inning. Espinal went 451 plate appearances in between homers (417 as a Red, 34 as a Dodger), with his last coming on Aug. 30, 2024. He survived the return of Betts from the IL this week, but there’s the chance the Dodgers could give him the boot when Enrique Hernández is activated, which will likely happen on May 23. If he survives over Hyeseong Kim then, he’d still be in line to go if everyone is healthy once Tommy Edman returns, assuming that Tommy Edman returns.

The Giants gave Casey Schmitt the day off to get Eldridge in there tonight, but it obviously didn’t work. Eldridge is 2-for-21 with a homer and nine strikeouts while starting six of nine games since his callup. If the A’s want to play him again Thursday, it should be at the expense of Willy Adames, who forgot how many outs there were and got doubled off to end the seventh tonight.

There was a lot of good and also plenty of weird in this start from Meyer. First with the good, he forced 22 total swings-and-misses. That’s only the 16th instance so far this season of a pitcher recording that many whiffs in a single game. The bulk of those came from the combination of his slider and sweeper, which have each been borderline unhittable this season as he’s found some more velocity on each. Now for the weird, he didn’t get many called strikes and found himself hunting for the whiff a bit too often through the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings after his lineup had built him a big lead. He simply wasn’t in the zone enough, especially with his fastball, to give his team any length. Also, he could not figure out Byron Buxton who launched two home runs off him. All in all, this was an encouraging start, just one that felt like it could have yielded better results. Next, he’s lined up for a two-start week against the Mets and Braves with both starts coming at home.