MLB Player News

Wentz made his final start of the season on Friday and wasn’t going to pitch over the final two days, so the Tigers opted to utilize that roster spot for an extra bullpen arm with a bullpen day on tap for Saturday against the Guardians. Garrett Hill was recalled in a corresponding move.

Team USA manager Mark DeRosa made it official that McLean will get the ball for the deciding contest of the international showcase against either Venezuela or Italy. The hard-throwing 24-year-old top pitching prospect allowed three runs over two innings against Italy his last time out earlier this week. The big question for Team USA’s pitching staff is whether closer Mason Miller will be available since it would be his third appearance in the last five days.

This one figured to feature quite a bit more offense, but as it turned out, three solo homers, including one from the Dominican Republic’s Junior Caminero, accounted for all of the scoring. Team USA won despite striking out 15 times. After Paul Skenes pitched 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball, Tyler Rogers, Griffin Jax, David Bednar, Garrett Whitlock and Mason Miller combined to shut out the Dominican Republic the rest of the way. Team USA will face the winner of Monday’s game between Venezuela and Italy on Tuesday.

Skenes surrendered six hits, but only Junior Caminero’s homer in the second did any damage. He struck out two and walked none in the 71-pitch outing.

Severino’s velocity has been up since his spring debut, but he was especially amped tonight, topping out at 99.8 mph. HIs 98.6 mph average on his fastball was up 2.5 mph from last year. It definitely makes him more interesting for fantasy purposes, but it’s hard to say whether it will hold up, and he’s still pitching half of the time in a fantastic ballpark for hitters in Sacramento.

De Vries put together an extremely impressive showing in Cactus League play, hitting .409 (18-for-44) with three homers and 11 RBI in 17 contests. The switch-hitting 19-year-old prodigy was the centerpiece of the Mason Miller blockbuster at the trade deadline last July and will open the minor league season at Double-A Midland. It wouldn’t be shocking at all if he reached the big leagues as a teenager in the second half. He’s one of the top 10 prospects in the entire fantasy landscape entering 2026.

Suwinski was DFA’d by the Pirates on Feb. 16 and claimed by the Dodgers on Feb. 21, but he went right back on waivers again afterwards and cleared this time. As a result, he hadn’t gotten to play in a major league spring game until today. It doesn’t seem likely that the Dodgers will ever have much use for him, but if he thrives in Triple-A, another club might trade for him.

Sheehan struck out four on a bad velocity day. He averaged 95.6 mph with his fastball for the Dodgers last season and 94.6 mph last week in his spring debut, but he was down to 93.3 mph today. His changeups were off by 3.4 mph from last year. Many people are very excited about Sheehan’s potential as a starter this year, and it’s easy to understand why, given that he had an 89/22 K/BB in 73 1/3 innings over 12 starts and three relief appearances last year. Still, he’s going to need to rediscover that velocity if he’s going to maintain anything close to a 30% strikeout rate.

This is getting a little concerning. Taillon did fine against Panama while pitching for Team Canada last week, but he’s given up eight homers and 23 runs over 9 1/3 innings in his four official outings this spring. His velocity is down about one mph from last year, which isn’t unusual, but nothing in his arsenal is working quite the way it should be. That he’s historically a pretty good spring pitcher and that he had extra incentive to get ready for WBC makes it just a little more worrisome that he’s pitching this horribly.

It was a 414-foot shot off Jameson Taillon. Betts, who missed two days last week for the birth of his child, is 6-for-19 this spring.

León will open the regular season back in the minors after going 6-for-26 with three RBI in 16 games this spring. The 27-year-old former top prospect was claimed off waivers from the Astros last November. His departure makes it abundantly clear that Dylan Moore and Otto Kemp will have bench roles with the Phillies to kick off the season.