MLB Player News

Arozarena has his first homer of the Cactus League, and it’s nice to see it comes off a legitimate arm in Michael King. While the power hasn’t been great, Arozarena has hit .297 in Arizona, and he’ll be a middle-of-the-order option for Seattle in 2025.

Jones threw 36 of 52 pitches for strikes and scattered three baserunners over four highly impressive frames in his third rehab start. There isn’t publicly available Statcast data from this latest outing, but he’s been consistently sitting in the upper-90’s with his fastball since returning from last year’s elbow procedure. The hard-throwing 24-year-old figures to be ready to return to Pittsburgh’s rotation by the end of May or early June. He should be rostered in all fantasy formats based on his immense strikeout potential alone.

It’s been a bit of an odyssey since Woodruff hit the injured list with shoulder inflammation last week, but he’s received a go-ahead from Dr. Keith Meister to resume throwing. The 33-year-old could potentially skip a minor league rehab assignment and jump back into Milwaukee’s rotation, but that’ll likely depend how he’s feeling physically after ramping up his throwing program in the coming days.

Carlson heads to Philadelphia as emergency organizational outfield depth. The 27-year-old former top prospect went 0-for-4 in three games for the Cubs last month. He got into 83 games for the Orioles last year, hitting .203/.278/.336 with six homers and three steals in 241 plate appearances.

Nootbaar is going to need a couple weeks of game action before he’s ready to make his season debut. The 28-year-old corner outfielder underwent surgery on both heels last October and has been brought along slowly with his ramp-up process this spring.

Contreras was able to take batting practice prior to Tuesday’s series opener at Fenway Park after being held out of the lineup with a right hand contusion following a hit-by-pitch over the weekend.

Boone added that Caballero isn’t dealing with any tendon or ligament damage and could be back as early as next week after hitting the shelf earlier on Tuesday with a fractured middle finger on his right hand. It sounds like there’s optimism it’ll be a minimum stay on the injured list for the 29-year-old speedster with Anthony Volpe heading back to the minors after a brief stay with the Yankees.

Eldridge has had to split time with Rafael Devers and Casey Schmitt since coming up from Triple-A Sacramento last week. With their season trending in the wrong direction, it feels inevitable that the Giants are going to turn the cold corner over to their top prospect on a full-time basis at some point in the near future.

Roberts added that they’re leaning towards having Ohtani pitch exclusively on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium but they haven’t made a final decision yet. The 31-year-old generational talent has been mired in an uncharacteristic tailspin at the plate recently, hitting just .193 (11-for-57) with one home run and four steals over his last 15 games. He’s far too talented to continue struggling, but it’s possible that the tremendous two-way workload he’s shouldering is leading to some fatigue that’s adversely impacting his performance at the plate. The encouraging news here is that Ohtani seems to be completely fine from a physical standpoint. Hopefully the extra time off serves as a mental reset and helps get him back on track.

There was some optimism that Acuña might be able to check off enough boxes in time to return to Atlanta’s lineup when first eligible on Wednesday. That doesn’t appear likely at this juncture. The 28-year-old fantasy superstar, who is working his way back from a low-grade hamstring strain, has resumed baseball activities and will need to progress to running the bases at full strength before he’s activated. There should be additional updates on his return timeline later this week.

The Rangers appear to be in a bit of a holding pattern with Eovaldi after Schumaker didn’t have much of an update for reporters prior to Tuesday’s contest. The 36-year-old veteran was scratched from Monday’s start against the Diamondbacks with left side discomfort. It doesn’t appear that he’s headed to the injured list, but the Rangers haven’t divulged when they think he’ll be ready to take the ball again. There should be greater clarity on his status at some point later this week once he resumes throwing.