MLB Player News

Waters put the Royals ahead for good in a low-scoring series opener on Monday afternoon by slicing a two-run double into shallow left field off Guardians reliever Enyel De Los Santos with two outs in the eighth inning. It won’t make much of a difference for Kansas City this season, but it certainly puts a dent in Cleveland’s playoff odds with less than two weeks left in the regular season.

Abrams gave rookie Zach Thornton a taste of big league life in his debut with a loud three-run homer in the first inning. A strange but true stat courtesy of the Nationals’ TV booth, this was the fourth time Abrams hit a home run off a pitcher making their major league debut. Even more surreal, it was the third time he did so in the first inning! He chipped in another base hit to start the Nationals’ sixth inning rally and continued what appears to be a major breakout campaign for the 25-year-old shortstop. In total, he’s up 10 home runs with 42 RBI, seven stolen bases, a .300 batting average, and a .928 OPS. Those are star numbers as we’re nearly through one third of the season.

This was a quintessential Zack Littell game. He was around the strike zone and the Mets hitters were aggressive, yet unable to do much damage. Of the 20 total batters he faced, 10 swung at the first pitch they saw and only three took a first pitch strike. Nevertheless, Littell pitched well enough to put himself in position for a win and now has a 23:15 strikeouts to walk ratio with a 5.83 ERA through 46 1/3 innings so far this season. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up against the Guardians and Padres.

On the eve of the anniversary of his first career home run, Soto chipped in two here against his original club. He hadn’t hit for a ton of power in the first few weeks after returning from his early season trip to the injured list, but now has five long balls over his past seven games. That gives him nine total on the season to go along with a .299 batting average and .951 OPS.

It was impressive to see how Thornton settled in during his big league debut. CJ Abrams greeted him rudely with a three-run home run in the first inning on a cutter that didn’t do much cutting. The Nationals scratched across another run in the second after Thornton walked Nasim Nuñez who then stole second base, advanced to third on an error, and scored on a hit by Keibert Ruiz. After that, he retired eight consecutive batters until Ruiz came up again and doubled. Thornton leans on his cutter – which has been tagged as a slider in some places – that he mostly spotted well running in on right-handed batters along with his fastball. On the other hand, he didn’t really have a put-away pitch so the Nationals were able to really zero-in on that cutter. If he sticks in the Mets rotation for another turn, he’d likely face the Reds at home next week.

Nimmo added that his exit from Wednesday’s series finale at Coors Field was precautionary in nature and that he felt like he could still play even though his hamstring wasn’t 100 percent. It sounds like he’ll be ready to roll after getting extra rest during Thursday’s off-day. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day.

Hoglund figures to be ready for the start of spring training after undergoing surgery to address a labrum tear in his left hip. It’s his second hip surgery in the last calendar year. The 26-year-old hit the injured list with a knee sprain back in early April and hasn’t pitched for the Athletics since last May.

Cabrera drew a visit from Chicago’s training staff, and immediately left the contest, after throwing just one pitch at the outset of the fourth inning. The 28-year-old was charged with four runs (one earned) with two strikeouts and two walks over three innings of work. There should be an update on his status after the contest. He’s tentatively scheduled to start against the Pirates on Tuesday, but that’s obviously in jeopardy now.

Strzelecki went unclaimed on waivers and opted to test free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A. The well-traveled 31-year-old reliever didn’t end up making an appearance for Milwaukee after being called up last weekend.

Crochet told reporters afterwards that he wasn’t thrilled with his mechanics and will throw another bullpen later this week before progressing to facing hitters. The encouraging news here is that his shoulder feels fine from a physical standpoint. The 26-year-old fantasy ace will need a minor league rehab assignment before he returns to Boston’s rotation at some point in June.

Roberts added that Edman could head out of a minor league rehab assignment afterwards. The 31-year-old outfielder has been on the shelf since spring training working his way back from offseason ankle surgery. It sounds like he’ll be ready to make his season debut at some point in June.