MLB Player News

While Verdugo started each of the team’s last two games against left-handed starters, he’ll get a breather with tough southpaw Chris Sale taking the hill for the Braves on Friday night. Verdugo is enjoying a solid season for the Bombers’, slashing .254/.309/.413 with nine homers and 41 RBI through his first 74 ballgames. Jahmai Jones will start in his place in left field and bat fifth for the Yankees on Friday evening in the Bronx.

Gray debuted with the Rays 2023 and returned to the organization last year after spending 2024 elsewhere. The Red Sox acquired him over the winter, but they traded him to the Twins in January when they realized they wouldn’t be able to sneak him through waivers. He’s 4-for-11 with eight RBI as Brooke Lee’s backup at shortstop this season, and though he hardly projects as a long-term regular, it’s worth wondering if he might be a better player than Lee against right-handers right now. It probably won’t matter much for fantasy purposes either way.

Nothing good here. Ober’s velocity crept up some last week against the Orioles, with his 89.8-mph average on his fastball placing closer to his 90.2-mph average in 2025 than his 89.1-mph spring average. Today, though, he averaged just 88.6 mph. He just seems like a really weak bet at this point. He’s slated to face the Tigers next week.

All of the runs came in the fourth. With one run in and the bases loaded, Royce Lewis hit a double-play ball to shortstop Carson Williams, but Williams had it deflect off his glove and got no outs. That resulted in one of the runs being unearned, but Boyle still deserved better. He struck out nine and threw 67 of his 104 pitches for strikes. With Ryan Pepiot close to returning, Boyle could soon head back to Triple-A. Still, he’s throwing like someone who would offer mixed-league value.

It’s not every day one sees a platinum sombrero in a lineup that managed to score 10 runs and win, but this is the 17th time it’s happened in MLB history. Julio Rodríguez last did it in a 12-1 Mariners victory two years ago. Wallner went down swinging all five times up today. He’s 4-for-28 with two homers and 14 strikeouts to start the year.

It’s just Colorado, but it’s still nice to see Nola strike out nine, which he did just once last year. His curve was especially effective, generating nine of his 14 whiffs and no hits or hard-hit balls the four times it was put into play. He’s 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA ahead of another pretty kind matchup in San Francisco next week.

Not the worst outing by a pitcher today, at least. Plus, the Rockies saved their pen with Vicente Bellozo pitching six innings of one-run ball after relieving Lorenzen. The nine runs and 12 hits allowed were both career highs for Lorenzen. He’d given up eight runs twice. One of those was in 2015 when he was pitching for the Reds in Coors Field, which is where today’s game took place. The other time was in 2022 in Houston, which is where he’s due to make his next start next week.

Bryson Stott was all kinds of hot this spring and Marsh wasn’t at all, so it made sense to have those two swap lineup spots initially, with Stott moving up to fifth and Marsh sliding down to seventh. However, since the games began to count, Stott has a .586 OPS and Marsh is at .890. Marsh is still batting seventh for now, but it seems like it might be time to go back to the original plan.

McCarthy led off in each of the Rockies’ first five games before sitting Thursday and being dropped in the order today. He’s now 2-for-21 to start the year, though he has managed four steals anyway. Even though Coors suits his approach pretty well, there’s just no good reason for Colorado to be playing him over Jordan Beck, who has now been on the bench in two out of three games. He might turn in an adequate year, but not in a way that should get him included in the Rockies’ plans for 2027 and beyond.

DeLauter had an RBI single in the fifth and a two-run homer in the seventh. That’s five homers in just 27 plate appearances for DeLauter, who left Tuesday’s game with a foot contusion and didn’t play Wednesday. The rest of the Guardians have combined to hit just three in eight games.

Cantillo allowed four hits, walked two and struck out six before being pulled at 82 pitches. He’s going to need better command and an ability to work deeper into games if he’s ever going to be particularly relevant in fantasy leagues. Alternatively, maybe Stephen Vogt could be convinced to use an opener in front of him. The ERA is there, but the wins need to follow on occasion. He’s due to face the Royals next week.