MLB Player News

Nastrini averaged 95.0 mph with his fastball today, up from 93.7 mph during his ugly major league stints last season. Even more impressive, his slider was all the way up to 88.4 mph, a gain of nearly four mph from last year. He entered camp as a long shot for a spot in the White Sox rotation, but he should be moving up the depth chart already.

Langford made it through Friday’s on-field batting practice session without any issues and will progress to minor league game action this weekend. The 24-year-old fantasy standout figures to rejoin the Rangers’ lineup at some point in early June. He’s been on the shelf recovering from a forearm strain since late April.

Severino was lifted from Friday’s start against his former team after allowing four runs in his lone inning of work. The 32-year-old was initially diagnosed with arm soreness. The club will take a look under the hood to determine whether he’s dealing with any structural issues. It certainly sounds like he could require a trip to the injured list. Severino is tentatively scheduled to take the ball against the Cubs on Thursday.

Passan adds that Uribe is appealing the one-game suspension, which will enable him to continue pitching until the appeal process unfolds. The 25-year-old pulled the iconic Hingle McCringleberry celebration against the Cardinals in response to what he perceived was an indication from St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol that they were going to hit Brewers players for relaying signs. The kerfuffle appears to be largely over, but Uribe could wind up missing at least one game if the suspension is upheld.

Chourio delivered a 431-foot homer off Kai-Wen Teng in the fifth. He’s hitting .267/.320/.411 with two homers (on 12 barrels) and five steals in 97 plate appearances since returning from a fractured finger.

Crow allowed one run in the first and three in the third before being pulled from his third big-league start at just 61 pitches. It’s quite possible he’ll head back to Triple-A now, but if not, he’ll likely start at home against the Giants on Wednesday. He has a 3.14 ERA and an 8/3 K/B in 14 1/3 innings to date.

Abner Uribe got the win after throwing a scoreless ninth in a tie game. There’s no doubt at this point that Brewers manager Pat Murphy soured some on Uribe after his inappropriate gestures Tuesday against the Cardinals. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Megill is back in the closer’s role, but it does seem like change is in the wind.

Teng fanned seven and allowed just three hits, but he walked four and two of the hits he gave up were homers from David Hamilton and Jackson Chourio. Hamilton’s was a 343-footer that was a homer in exactly one ballpark, according to Statcast. As such, we’ll rate this as another solid showing from Teng. He’s an option in deeper mixed leagues in a home start against the Pirates next week.

Brought in after Bryan Abreu walked two of the three batters he faced in the eighth, King gave up the tying run on an RBI groundout before finishing the inning. He then worked a scoreless ninth to send the game to extras. It was definitely a positive outing for the lefty, but it went as his third blown save anyway. He remains the Astros’ favorite for saves with Josh Hader absent for a little bit longer.

Smith had three of the game’s five hardest-hit balls tonight, ranging from a 105.9-mph groundout to a 108-mph double. His homer came in at 107.5 mph and was hit 419 feet to left-center. Smith somehow was hitting just .118 with three extra-base hits in home games until busting out some tonight. He had 48 total bases on the road at 14 in Houston.

Arenado remained out of the starting lineup Friday because of a groin strain, but he entered as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and singled. He then got hit in the ninth by Andrés Muñoz and departed for a pinch-runner. Fortunately, it was just the funny bone, apparently, and Arenado shouldn’t miss additional time.