MLB Player News

Fried was in control for this entire outing. The only run he gave up came after an error by Orlando Arcia, fielder’s choice, and an RBI groundout. Otherwise, the Blue Jays had trouble sustaining any sort of rally. He was deep in his bag showing seven total pitches, used six of those seven as the first pitch of an at-bat, and forced a swing-and-miss with five of them. Just a wily veteran going out there keeping the other guys guessing. Fried is scheduled to face the Nationals on the road in his next start.

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.

It had been thought that Garrett was a shoo-in for a rotation spot after missing last year with an injury, but the left-hander has not looked crisp this spring, allowing three runs on two hits in four innings while walking three and striking out three. Meanwhile, the Marlins have kept Junk stretched out, and he pitched well for the team in 2025, posting a 4.17 ERA in 21 total appearances.

Vasil was injured during a strong performance this Saturday against the Dodgers, and, unfortunately, it was the worst-case scenario. The soon-to-be 26-year-old will spend the year rehabbing and hope to get another shot to compete for a roster spot in his age-27 season.

Cannon made 17 starts and pitched 103 2/3 innings for the White Sox last season and came into spring training battling for a spot in the rotation. He didn’t pitch poorly, posting a 4.09 ERA and 10/5 K/BB ratio in 11 innings, but it wasn’t good enough to beat out Anthony Kay and Erick Fedde, who both joined the team this winter.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that Miller no longer feels any pain, so the team “will continue to increase his activities, which he’s felt good with so far.” However, given that Miller is their top prospect, they are also “going to be very careful. Any time you’re dealing with back issues, you’ve got to be careful.” This is especially true for Miller, who even had some back issues when he was drafted in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Dombrowski said there is no specific timeline for Miller’s return, but it seems like the 21-year-old should be able to take the field at some point in April and then will hopefully remain healthy enough to push for a call-up later in the season.

Melton was placed on the 60-day IL on March 10th with an elbow strain, but the Tigers never seemed overly concerned about the severity of the injury. With a full rotation, there was no need to rush the 25-year-old, so the Tigers will now slowly ramp him back up with the hope that he can contribute over the summer if they need innings.

Gordon made 15 starts for the Rockies last season, but he posted a 6.33 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and 62/17 K/BB ratio in 75 1/3 innings. He will likely make double-digit starts for them again in 2026, but he should not be on fantasy radars.

Amador enjoyed a strong Triple-A season last year, hitting .303/.405/.478 with 11 home runs and 20 steals in 80 games. He has not been able to carry that over in his 164 MLB plate appearances, but he’s likely to get another chance early in 2026.

Alzolay missed all of last season after having Tommy John surgery and pitched just two innings this year. Nick Burdi has also battled injuries for much ofhis career, and Christian Arroyo has not had MLB at-bats since 2023.