MLB Player News

The right-hander fell victim to the long ball Monday night in Minnesota. He allowed a 425-foot bomb to Max Kepler in the fourth before Royce Lewis launched a ball 419 feet over the left-center field wall, which scored three runs. Glasnow’s biggest issue Monday was the lack of whiffs on his heater. He generated just three on 18 thrown. His slider and curveball helped to bail him out, generating ten of his 13 swinging strikes. When healthy, Glasnow is one of the league’s most dominant pitchers, and he’ll look to turn things around when he and the Rays head to Camden Yards to face the Orioles in an exciting AL East showdown on Saturday.

Springer hit Janson Junk’s second pitch of the afternoon 433 feet to center. 12 months ago, it was worth wondering if the obviously-in-decline Springer should even start against right-handers for the Jays. Then all he did was post a .959 OPS and finish seventh in the AL MVP balloting. He’s 6-for-27 with a 3/5 K/BB ratio in 31 plate appearances this spring.

Junk gave up a leadoff homer to George Springer in the first, but he got through the rest of that inning and the second scoreless. The third started with two singles, a run-scoring wild pitch and then a walk, at which point Junk was pulled. Both inherited runners came around to score afterwards. Junk did solid work for the Marlins in 16 starts and five relief appearances last season, finishing with a 4.17 ERA. He’s expected to open this year in middle relief.

Lopez is back with the Marlins after going 5-for-19 for Team Canada in the WBC. Originally a Blue Jay, he’s 4-for-7 in two games against his former team this spring. The Marlins are going to use him as their everyday shortstop, and he might offer some mixed-league value after finishing with 15 homers and 15 steals last year.

Torkelson hit his first home run of the spring on Sunday and then blasted a 424-foot shot today. He also added a 106 mph double earlier in the contest. The 26-year-old seems to be rounding into form a little bit and can likely be counted on again to push for 30 home runs and 80 RBI with a poor batting average that makes him a better fit as a corner infielder in fantasy leagues.

Neto progressed to hitting off a batting tee and taking on-field batting practice without any issues on Monday after being diagnosed with a left hand sprain over the weekend. The 25-year-old power/speed combo fantasy standout appears to have avoided serious injury and appears likely to get back into Cactus League action at some point this week. It’s a massive relief for fantasy managers with Opening Day just over one week away.

Hos home run was a 437-foot blast that left the bat at 107 mph. It was his second home run of the spring to go along with six RBIs and a .267/.463/.600 slash line. There is a very good chance that he will open the season as the Tigers’ starting shortstop, and his fantasy ADP will continue to rise.

He struck out three and walked one on the day while posting a 22 percent whiff rate and 24 percent CSW. As per usual, most of his success was thanks to his slider, which had a 56 percent whiff rate. He threw enough strikes, but his fastball got hit hard, and the ceiling for Flaherty seems low for fantasy outside of deeper formats.

Baldwin is 10-for-30 with two doubles, two triples and two homers this spring, and it still seems like he really should be doing better. All three of his at-bats today resulted in 100+-mph exit velocities, and he’s an absurd 20-for-23 producing hard-hit balls on contact this spring. There’s a good chance he’s on his way to bettering the numbers that earned him NL Rookie of the Year last season.

Sale’s velocity was down a bit today — he averaged 93.7 mph with his fastball, compared to 94.9 mph in his first three spring starts — but he was in control from the start today. He’ll likely make one shorter start this weekend before facing the Royals in Atlanta’s opener.

None of the three hits Iglesias gave up had EVs over 90 mph. The first was a clean liner from Chandler Simpson, who went on to steal second base. Simpson then tried to steal again on what ended up being a weak grounder to third from Raynel Delgado, and because the third baseman was out of position going to cover third, it made it into left for a single. The third hit was a fly to center lost in the sun. Iglesias struck out the other two batters he faced, but the Braves lifted their closer to keep his pitch count under control.