MLB Player News

That the Red Sox have turned Rafael Devers into DH and declared that Masataka Yoshida is again an outfielder has put some more pressure on Rafaela to produce. Still, the Red Sox would surely love to see Rafaela hit well enough to justify keeping their outstanding defensive outfield intact, with Jarren Duran in left, Rafaela in center and Wilyer Abreu in right. Rafaela has put together a pretty incredible spring, too, hitting .333/.436/.576. That’s hardly the best line in the Grapefruit League, but it’s stunning to see him with a 3/6 K/BB in 39 plate appearances. He had a 151/15 K/BB in 571 plate appearances as a rookie last season.

Armstrong been sidelined for almost a month with the injury. He should settle right back into a regular role in the middle innings for the Guardians.

Nick Sogard is playing third base and batting ninth on Monday. Despite Durbin’s struggles at the plate this season, he has been tremendous defensively for a Red Sox team that spent the off season adding ground ball pitchers to its rotation. As a result, we imagine this will be more of a mini reset for Durbin, rather than the Red Sox making a change at third base.

Cruz can hit 102 mph on his fastball and does have a 3.00 ERA and 29 percent strikeout rate this season. However, he has struggled in May, allowing five runs on nine hits in seven innings while walking six and striking out six.

Rodríguez can’t be recalled in the next 15 days unless he replaces an injured player, so that appears to take him out of the running to start this weekend. What the Yankees will do in that spot remains to be seen since they have said Gerrit Cole (elbow) will make one more rehab start.

Sulser has a 3.68 ERA, 1.36 ERA, and 16/9 K/BB ratio in 22 innings out of the Rays’ bullpen. He will likely be sidelined for a few weeks.

Solesky was recalled by the Rays back on May 5th and then was sent back down just three days later without pitching. He’ll get another chance out of the Rays bullpen this week.

Boyle has been rehabbing at Triple-A while recovering from an elbow strain. In three starts, he has allowed five runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings with an 8/7 K/BB ratio. He’ll continue to stretch out and work on his command at Triple-A.

It’s Schwarber’s first day off of the season, so there’s not much to see here. Bryce Harper will DH, Alec Bohm will play first base, and Edmundo Sosa will get the start at third base.

Keith is hitting .295/.336/.357 on the season, but that’s about all we can say. His bat speed is up one mph, but it’s not where he showcased it in the first month of the season. He has a lower barrel rate and hard-hit rate than last season, and has hit no home runs with just six RBI despite hitting mostly third this season. He doesn’t need to be on many fantasy rosters.

Báez has homered in four of the last six games and is up to 11 on the season to go along with 27 RBI and seven steals. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he has a 34.5 percent strikeout rate on the season and has a 21/2 K/BB ratio in May. The power is tantalizing, and the speed is a nice boost, but will he make enough contact? For comparison’s sake, Báez has a nearly 65 percent contact rate, which is about five percent higher than Spencer Jones. Still, an 18.1 percent swinging strike rate is a bit concerning.