MLB Player News

Anderson hasn’t appeared in the majors since the 2021 campaign when he made a career-high nine appearances (one start) for the Rangers. The 30-year-old righty heads back overseas after pitching well this season in nine relief appearances for Triple-A Toledo. He spent the last two years pitching for the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

Imai was up to 96.7 mph with his fastball today after averaging 94.9 mph in his first two spring outings, so that’s really encouraging. He’s pitched six scoreless innings and amassed a 7/1 K/BB ratio to begin the spring. It’s still not much of a sample, but it’s nice to see him avoiding walks, given that they used to be a big problem for him in Japan.

The run came on Heriberto Hernández’s homer in Arrighetti’s final inning of work. Arrighetti came into the day having given up five runs in five innings this spring. It looks like it could come down to him and Ryan Weiss for the final spot in Houston’s expected six-man rotation.

Meyer’s slider today got him three strikeouts and a weak grounder the one time it was put into play. Meyer has a 12/1 K/BB and has yet to allow a run in seven innings this spring, so he’s probably going to start moving up draft boards. In part due to injuries, Meyer, who turns 27 on Thursday, still hasn’t converted his plus stuff into any real major league success, having posted a 5.29 ERA in 25 starts to date, and Miami isn’t a great situation for pitchers. Still, there’s the chance of some modest mixed-league value here.

He’s 4-for-13 with two homers this spring. If Jeremy Peña opens up on the IL, the Astros’ infield logjam is temporarily solved with Paredes at third and Carlos Correa at short, although that’s certainly not the way Houston wanted it fixed. Paredes projects as the Astros’ second-best hitter and really ought to be a regular regardless.

Morel is hardly alone in struggling for the Marlins, who managed just two hits today against the Astros. The team’s 54 runs this spring are 16 fewer than any other club has scored. Six teams have at least doubled that total. Still, Morel obviously needs to hit in order to justify a starting job at first base. The Marlins could use Griffin Conine there, potentially opening up more time for Graham Pauley.

Cole’s homer was drilled 109 mph out to left, but that wasn’t his hardest-hit ball of the day; he had a 114-mph grounder that went for a double play. Cole is only 3-for-19 this spring, but two-thirds of his 12 balls in play have been hit hard, and he’s collected five walks and four steals. He remains in the running to start in either left or right for Houston at the beginning of the season.

Baldwin was a bit of a deep league sleeper in fantasy baseball after putting up impressive Triple-A numbers and hitting 11 home runs in 328 plate appearances with the White Sox in 2025. Venable said that Baldwin is “kind of day to day right now, will be evaluated,” so perhaps this is not a long-term concern, but we likely won’t know until the weekend or next week.

Mesa Jr. was acquired from the Marlins this offseason and went 2-for-5 in his brief spring appearances. He’s yet to show more than some modest batting average upside during his minor league career. Rock was a former top 10 prospect in the Rays’ organization, but he posted a 5.21 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, and 88/39 K/BB ratio in 96 2/3 innings at Triple-A last season, so he’ll get another shot at that level in 2026. The Rays also reassigned RHPs Andrew Wantz and Kodi Whitley to minor league camp.

Nuñez is unlikely to hit for a high average, but he looks set to lead off for the Nationals this season and has four steals so far this spring. He’s likely not a draft target in shallow fantasy leagues given how bad the Nationals offense could be, but his lineup position and speed make him an intriguing bench or MIF target in deeper formats.

Miller was told “not to push through if he felt anything at all,” so it’s unclear how much discomfort he felt, but the fact that he felt any is not a great sign. He is still cleared to play catch, so it’s nice that he isn’t fully shut down from throwing, but it’s just hard to trust him in fantasy drafts right now. Miller will almost assuredly miss the start of the season, which opens up a spot in the rotation for Cooper Criswell or Emerson Hancock.