MLB Player News

López represents yet another relatively low-risk gamble for newly-minted Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns as he aims to significantly overhaul the club’s bullpen mix. The 30-year-old right-hander owns an extensive track record of success as a high-leverage specialist, including an All-Star Game appearance back in 2022 as Baltimore’s closer, but struggled mightily this past season to an inflated 5.95 ERA, 1.51 WHIP and 49/22 K/BB ratio across 59 innings (61 appearances) between the Twins, Marlins and Orioles.

Skenes stranded a runner in the first inning, then escaped a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the second. He struck out two in the third inning for his first clean frame, then tossed a perfect fourth, collecting five strikeouts before an extended rain delay cut his outing short. Still, the 23-year-old right-hander has given up one or fewer runs in each of his last four starts since his five-run Opening Day start. He’ll take a 3.27 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and a 23/7 K/BB ratio across 22 innings into a start against the Brewers in Milwaukee on Friday.

Winn’s exit velocity numbers haven’t been very good so far, but he hit a ball 373 feet off Lance McCullers Jr. tonight, and he’s now at.190/.319/.293 in 69 plate appearances overall. There was the hope of some mixed league value here when the Cardinals spent most of the spring letting him leadoff, but with JJ Wetherholt overtaking him there and Winn batting sixth for the most part, there’s nothing cooking right now.

He struck out five and walked three. Pallante has a 2-1 record and a respectable 4.05 ERA, but his 12/11 K/BB in 20 innings is hideous and he’s not such a strong groundball pitcher than he can survive that kind of thing for long. He’ll face the Mariners next week.

O’Brien wasn’t supposed to be a part of this one, but George Soriano gave up three runs in the ninth to make it a 7-5 game. O’Brien took over then and got Jose Altuve to ground out and struck out Yordan Alcarez. He’s still yet to allow a run this season.

That first time out when McCullers limited the Red Sox to one run over seven innings is looking like a big aberration right now. He’s given up 13 runs with a 12/8 K/BB over 13 1/3 innings in his three starts this month. The Astros will surely stick with him, but below average velocity and poor command makes for a bad combination. He’ll face the Yankees next week.

Gordon started against the Rockies on Tuesday and seemed like the leading candidate to start Monday against the Guardians, but that has to be off the table now. He might be sent down in exchange for a fresh arm.

The homer was hit 109.2 mph off Pallante, but that wasn’t his hardest hit ball of the night. The line-drive double left his bat at 117.8 mph, his hardest-hit ball since a 117.9-mph groundout in his rookie year in 2019. He went on to reach 117 mph at least once each year from 2022-24, but he topped out at 115.4 mph last year and his high this season was 114.2 mph. It’s just another good sign from one of the year’s MVPs to date.