MLB Player News

Alvarez connected for a 412-foot blast in the second inning before socking his first career grand slam in the third. The rookie backstop had just two homers over his previous 42 games combined. Still, he’s sporting 25 home runs and 63 RBI over 121 games as a rookie, which is pretty darn impressive for a 21-year-old catcher. There’s work to do with his approach, but he could be a top-five fantasy catcher as soon as next season.

Henderson has been shut down due to elbow soreness, which is a concern since elbow inflammation ended his season last year. As of now, it appears Henderson is feeling good and could even pitch in a Cactus League game this weekend. It remains to be seen if that will be enough time for him to be considered for the fifth spot in the Brewers’ rotation.

Misner was traded to the Royals in November, and Hoskins has now been announced as the “player to be named later.” The 22-year-old reliever was a 12th-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of Georgia. His fastball is in the 96-98 mph range, but he pitched only about 50 innings in college after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The Blue Jays have been cautious with his workload this spring after a deep playoff run last year. Yesavage threw 35 pitches in his last outing, so the Blue Jays will want him to bump up from that so that he could potentially be up to 60 pitches by the end of spring training. He still has not appeared in an MLB spring training game, so it remains to be seen what the Blue Jays’ plan for him is at the start of the season, especially now with José Berrios potentially beginning the season on the IL.

There was some hope that Díaz could pitch his way into the Rangers’ bullpen plans this season, but he has allowed eight runs on three hits while walking four and striking out one in just 1 2/3 innings this spring. His numbers, both in the majors and Triple-A last season, were also bad, and he has never quite been able to recapture that 2022 season magic. He’s only 29 years old, so some team will undoubtedly give him another chance, but we wouldn’t bank on him being a fantasy-relevant closer any time soon.

For now, Bieber will “will stay on his regular throwing schedule for the next few days,” and then, a week from now, the team will access how he feels. The veteran has been battling forearm tightness since the end of last season. It’s a little concerning that the issue didn’t seem to get fixed over the off-season, which makes Bieber a real risk in fantasy drafts this year given his extensive injury history.

That’s not typically a good sign. The Blue Jays had previously said they were not concerned about a major injury for Berrios, but it’s hard to be as confident in that now. He likely wasn’t on fantasy radars anyway so this shouldn’t change that, but it may change value in the rest of the Blue Jays rotation. The team had wanted to be cautious with Trey Yesavage’s innings, but they may not have that luxury anymore. Of course, they could just move Eric Lauer into the rotation or piggyback Lauer and Yesavage. This also means Cody Ponce’s spot in this rotation is very secure, and he should be going higher in drafts.

None of them is older than 23 years old or has played any minor league ball above Double-A, so they were highly unlikely to force their way onto the 40-man roster. Campbell is the team’s 19th-ranked prospect, according to FanGraph’s rankings, while Rincon ranks 28th, and Escobar ranks 4th. Escobar is just 21 years old and should begin this season in Double-A.

Mackey reports that he believes Mangum will be used often as a defensive replacement when he doesn’t start, but he may only start three or four times a week. Mangum is a switch-hitter, so he does not need to be platooned, but with Marcell Ozuna entrenched as the designated hitter, the Pirates have Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, and Ryan O’Hearn slated for regular outfield at-bats. Mangum figures to start against all left-handed pitching, but Mackey also believes the Pirates will sometimes rest 35-year-old Marcell Ozuna and move O’Hearn to designated hitter so that Mangum can get into the outfield. That could lead to more playing time than expected, but might still only be about 400 plate appearances for Mangum this season.

Musgrove is looking to return to the Padres rotation after missing all of the 2025 season following Tommy John surgery. Since Musgrove had surgery in October of 2024, it was assumed that the veteran would be ready for the start of the season, but he has only pitched in one exhibition game against Great Britain’s World Baseball Classic team, and it doesn’t appear that he will be ready for Opening Day. Stammen claims that Musgrove “still in a good spot. It’s still something we knew was going to kind of happen and that we had to prepare for. And we’ve got his best interests in mind.” All of that haze surrounding when he may be available makes it hard to draft Musgrove in redraft leagues unless you’re in a league with multiple IL spots, since he will almost assuredly start the season on the injured list.

It’s a terrible break for the 29-eyar-old hurler who appeared to have a terrific shot at securing a spot in the Padres’ Opening Day bullpen. Instead, he’ll make around the league minimum while rehabbing for the duration of the 2026 season and could wind up being a non-tender candidate next winter.