MLB Player News

The 30-year-old right-hander wasn’t quite at his best in his first season with the Royals, posting a 3.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and a 46/20 K/BB ratio over 51 2/3 innings in his 59 appearances. He’s probably third in line for save chances behind Lucas Erceg and Hunter Harvey entering the 2025 season, so his usefulness from a fantasy perspective is limited to leagues that count holds.

Thankfully for King, the ballpark in Cincy managed to hold onto 407- and 409-foot flies from Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz early on. They were homers in 15 and 19 ballparks, respectively. King pitched seven scoreless innings last time out, but that wasn’t enough to get him a win against the Pirates. The Padres, though, were able to support him tonight and improve to 12-16 with their ace on the mound. King, who struck out six, moved to 9-9 with a 3.11 ERA. He’s set to face his old friends the Yankees on Sunday.

Singer must not have realized that it’s only Chase Burns that the Reds want making shorter starts. He fell to 5-13 with a 4.83 ERA, and the team has lost each of his last five turns. He’ll likely face the Brewers on Sunday.

It’s Machado’s first four-hit game in 13 months. The performance raised his average to .220, his highest mark since way back on May 4. He dipped as low as .166 on June 8.

Hitting this version of Cronenworth second would have been standard practice in 1986, but it’s quite unseemly now. He’s batting .218/.302/.295, and while it’s true that he does bat lower against lefties, he doesn’t have a platoon split this season, coming in at .211/.302/.289 against righties.

Arroyo’s strikeout rate was 18.3 percent in Triple-A, but it’s up to 24.5 percent in the majors. Meanwhile, his walk rate has plunged from 8.5 percent to 3.3 percent. He’s also managed just four extra-base hits in 151 plate appearances, so he’s not making any sort of case for the Reds to commit to him for 2027.

Vientos picked up right where he left off after homering three times during his final minor league rehab contest at Triple-A Syracuse over the weekend, taking Rays southpaw Ian Seymour deep in the seventh inning for his 12th big fly of the season. It was his lone hit in four at-bats. He’s capable of doing damage against left-handed starters, which gives him some limited appeal in deeper fantasy leagues for the final month of the year.

Simpson delivered a clutch RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning that slashed Tampa Bay’s deficit to a single run at the time. He immediately swiped second base for his 38th steal of the season before being left in scoring position to end the frame. He wraps up the month of August with 11 thefts, his highest single-month total to date.

Senga got the call to protect a one-run lead in the final frame and made things interesting by issuing a leadoff walk to Jonny DeLuca. He bounced back by getting Richie Palacious to ground into a fielder’s choice before coaxing a fly out from Taylor Walls and striking out Yandy Díaz to end it. It was a nice bounce-back for Senga after giving up a walk-off homer to the White Sox in his previous save chance last weekend.

It’s highly unlikely any fantasy managers were trusting Stock in this spot after he was lit up for seven runs by the Brewers his last time out. He kept putting zeroes on the scoreboard against one of the more potent lineups in the American League in this one, allowing just six hard-hit balls with exit velocities over 95 mph, while scattering five singles in the process. He finished with four strikeouts and didn’t hand out a free pass, throwing 50 of 72 pitches for strikes. The 36-year-old journeyman isn’t overpowering, but he fills up the strike zone and has managed to avoid getting burned by the long ball. This was his first win since April 5, 2019. Seriously. He gets a favorable road matchup against the Marlins his next time out on Monday.

Seymour relentlessly pounded the strike zone, throwing 65 of 88 pitches for strikes, while notching his second double-digit strikeout performance of the season. He generated an absurd 19 swinging strikes, including 12 on his fastball and changeup combination, to finish with a near-elite 36 percent CSW. He limited New York’s lineup to just a single run into the middle innings before coughing up a solo homer to Mark Vientos in the seventh. He was charged with an additional run after teammate Casey Legumina gave up an RBI single to Francisco Alvarez later in the frame. The 27-year-old southpaw has allowed three earned runs or more in four consecutive starts since August 9. He’s offset that by striking out at least seven batters in four of those five outings. He’ll close out a two-start week with a road matchup against the Rangers on Sunday.