MLB Player News

The deal to bring Severino to Queens after nearly a decade in the Bronx is now official after he passed his physical. The 29-year-old right-hander represents a high-upside gamble for the Mets after posting a calamitous 6.65 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 79/34 K/BB ratio across 89 1/3 innings (19 appearances, 18 starts) this past season for the Yankees. Former Mets and Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino highlighted during an appearance earlier this week on SNY’s Baseball Night in NY that Severino dealt with issues related to the shape of his pitches, specifically his fastball and slider, which greatly contributed to his struggles during the 2023 campaign. If New York’s coaching staff helps resolve those issues, and he manages to stay relatively healthy, Severino will return to form as a reliable fantasy contributor. He’s a worthwhile late-round gamble for fantasy managers in drafts next spring.

Suárez was one of Venezuela’s heroes during Monday’s comeback win over Italy to reach the WBC final, launching a solo homer off starter Aaron Nola to jump-start a four-run outburst. He’ll get the nod at DH after appearing in just four of the six games for Venezuela to this point in the tournament. Here’s the full lineup: Ronald Acuña Jr. (RF), Maikel Garcia (3B), Luis Arraez (1B), Suárez (DH), Gleyber Torres (2B), Ezequiel Tovar (SS), Wilyer Abreu (LF), Salvador Perez (C) and Jackson Chourio (CF).

Team USA manager Mark DeRosa will turn to Bregman at the hot corner over Gunnar Henderson, who crushed a game-tying solo homer during Sunday’s semifinal win over the Dominican Republic, to face Venezuela lefty Eduardo Rodriguez. The other notable changes here for matchup reasons are Byron Buxton in centerfield over Pete Crow-Armstrong and Will Smith getting another turn at catcher over Cal Raleigh. Here’s the full lineup: Bobby Witt Jr. (SS), Bryce Harper (1B), Aaron Judge (RF), Kyle Schwarber (DH), Bregman (3B), Roman Anthony (LF), Smith (C), Brice Turang (2B) and Buxton (CF).

He also struck out three and walked one while posting a 20 percent whiff rate and 20 percent CSW. You rarely see a pitcher get just seven called strikes in five full innings of work, but that’s what May did today. The right-hander threw 55 strikes on the day today, and the Nationals swung at 46 of them. Perhaps Washington was simply being aggressive, or perhaps May wasn’t really fooling hitters, which might be why Washington had eight hard-hit balls. Regardless, he maintained his fastball velocity throughout the outing, which is good news. That puts him on the fantasy radar, but until we start seeing consistent whiffs, it’s hard to get too excited.

Irvin posted a 24 percent whiff rate and 30 percent CSW, but he did allow five hard-hit balls on the day. It’s been a solid spring so far for Irvin, and he beat out Mitchell Parker for the final spot in the rotation. He has also showcased new movement profiles on his curve and slider; although, only the curve missed bats today. Irvin is likely not on the fantasy radar in any formats, but we have seen him produce value as a streamer when his curveball is effective, so he’s a name to at least keep an eye on early in the season.

He also struck out twice but has a perfectly fine 4/4 K/BB ratio in six games this spring. So far this spring, Cruz is swinging way less and chasing far less often than we’ve seen from him in the past. He’s also continuing to hit the ball hard when he does make contact. It’s unclear if swinging less will actually benefit Cruz because it gives him fewer chances to do damage, but he’s clearly trying to make adjustments at the plate after hitting .200/.298/.378 last season, and that’s something we like to see. He still feels like a decent value at his ADP, but don’t expect a batting average far over .230.

Loperfido now has seven walks to just six strikeouts this spring, which is certainly something to note from a player with a 4.6 percent career MLB walk rate and 33.3 percent career MLB strikeout rate. He also has two steals this spring while hitting .355/.474/.484 in 14 games. He will start against all right-handed pitching and could be worth a flyer late in drafts in case this plate discipline carries over.

McCullers had an impressive 36 percent whiff rate, but he also only threw 53 percent of his pitches for strikes on the day. Hes trigged to get ahead in the count with his four-seamer and had to go to his changeup often to begin at-bats. However, his changeup looked good, and his sinker took some pressure off his four-seamer and allowed a fair amount of weak contact. McCullers threw 58 pitches in this one and could be up to around 75 pitches in his first start of the season, which keeps him on the fringe of fantasy relevance.

Keller also walked four and struck out six while throwing just 58 percent of his pitches for strikes, but registering a 39 percent whiff rate. Keller’s best pitch on the day was his sweeper, which he threw for strikes and had a 50 percent whiff rate on, but he really struggled to command his fastballs. His four-seamer was also down over one mph from where we saw it last season. Given Keller’s inconsistencies over the years and the young arms emerging in Pittsburgh, it’s hard to feel comfortable drafting Keller in most fantasy formats.

Verlander also struck out six and didn’t walk a single batter while posting a 29 percent whiff rate and a 28 percent CSW. His velocity is already on par with what we saw from him last season, and he actually threw his four-seamer harder as the game went on, which suggests that his arm is certainly ready to go for the season. The 40-year-old will have some rough stretches during the season, but he has still shown the ability to get swings and misses, which will keep him on the streaming radar this year.

It was not as dominant an effort as the line might suggest. Bassitt threw 63 percent of his pitches for strikes, but had just a nine percent whiff rate and 16 percent CSW. He allowed five hard-hit baseballs, but most of his success today came by inducing weak contact as the average exit velocity of balls in play was just 80.2 mph. The veteran was down almost one mph on all of his pitches from his 2025 averages, and it’s just hard to get excited in fantasy baseball about a veteran pitcher who really struggles to miss bats.