MLB Player News

Middleton suffered a setback in his rehab assignment, and the right-hander has undergone imaging to see the severity of the injury to his flexor strain. The 30-year-old has no timetable for a return to the St. Louis bullpen, but obviously the first opinion suggests this is a long-term issue for Middleton.

Eight of the 11 balls in play against Sánchez today were hit hard, but only three turned into hits, with Andrew McCutchen’s 398-foot double being the lone extra-base hit. Sánchez can afford to give up the hard contact because so much of it is on the ground and because he hardly walks anyone. He issued no free passes today, Last year, he walked one or none in 19 of his 32 starts. Sánchez will face the Nationals next week.

Those rostering Duran can thank Kyle Backhus for turning a 5-0 game in the ninth into a save situation. Duran allowed an RBI single after coming on, but he then got Evan Carter to ground out to end the contest. His three fastballs came in at 100.6, 99.8 and 99.8 mph.

Eovaldi had a great spring and still appeared strong today with his eight strikeouts and his velocity up by one mph from last year. Unfortunately, he gave up two homers anyway and both came with men on. Last year, he allowed multiple homers just twice in 22 starts. Probably not a coincidence is that those outings came back-to-back not long before a shoulder injury got him shut down for the final five weeks. Still, we’d expect him to bounce back nicely next week versus the Orioles.

Bohm’s homer off Nathan Eovaldi was only 97 mph off the bat, but it was hit just far enough to get over the wall down the right field line. He’s already off to a much better start than last year, when he didn’t homer until his 33rd game of the season on May 6. He also already has as many three-run homers as he did last year.

The Rangers were scoreless until Burger took Kyle Backhus deep in a 5-0 game in the ninth. Burger, though, had already had a pretty nice day by that point. It’s his first three-hit game since last Aug. 16. The 29-year-old needs to take a step forward against righties to be a useful regular for the Rangers, but as the likely everyday cleanup hitter for now, he should offer mixed-league value.

The 24-year-old infielder was a popular waiver claim throughout the off-season, but this time he made it through and will report to Triple-A Norfolk. If he can’t crack the big league roster with both Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg sidelined though, it doesn’t speak well to his chances of earning an opportunity with the O’s anytime soon.

The 29-year-old hurler had been designated for assignment on Wednesday, but he passed through waivers unclaimed and will continue to function as extra rotation depth for the O’s at the Triple-A level.

The Diamondbacks do not believe the injury to be serious and he’s considered day-to-day. Tim Tawa will take his place in the lineup as the Diamondbacks’ designated hitter and will bat ninth while Carlos Santana moves up to sixth and Jordan Lawlar moves up to seventh.

The 23-year-old rookie shortstop opened the scoring in the ballgame with a 425-foot (101.7 mph EV) solo shot off of Rays’ ace Drew Rasmussen. He then added a sacrifice fly during the Cardinals’ eight-run outburst in the sixth inning. He possesses a dynamic blend of power and speed and should be an impact contributor for fantasy purposes while hitting atop the Cardinals’ lineup.

Matt Svanson, who had been a popular sleeper candidate for saves in the Cardinals’ bullpen, came on in the sixth inning of this one and allowed three runs while recording only one out. After the Cardinals took the lead in the sixth inning, it was JoJo Romero to start the seventh, turning it over to Riley O’Brien for four outs and then ultimately to Stanek to get the final three. It wasn’t the smoothest of outings, as he issued three walks in the frame, but he struck out Joshua Palacios with the bases loaded to close it out. He could be worth a look if speculating on saves in deeper leagues.