MLB Player News

The stolen base was the seventh of the year for Crow-Armstrong, but he did get caught stealing for the first time. Hard to complain about that success rate. The outfielder bumps up his slash to .257/.313/.432 with the three-hit night, and that sort of undersells how well Crow-Armstrong has played over the first few weeks of the campaign.

The 27-year-old hurler was released last weekend after being designated for assignment, but after exploring the open market he has decided that a reunion with the Cubs made the most sense. Kilian will continue to function as extra rotation depth at Triple-A Iowa for the time being.

Seager had a bad first week and a half while dealing with a calf strain, but he’s collected 14 hits, including three homers, in his last eight games, putting him at .306/.368/.516 overall. Alas, it’s produced just six RBI, mostly because the Rangers are getting terrible production from the ninth and first spots in the order.

Rocker walked none and surrendered just one double and four singles. Unfortunately, all five hits came in the first and fifth innings, resulting in three runs between them. Still, Rocker was terrific in needing just 78 pitches to get 21 outs. It’s the kind of performance that suggests he might offer mixed-league value at some point. We just wouldn’t trust him quite yet. His next start will come in Sacramento against the A’s.

Garcia got the call tonight with Luke Jackson having pitched the previous two days and retired the Angels on five pitches. Even though he’s the better reliever of the two, he’ll likely resume taking a backseat to Jackson on Friday.

The surprising and misguided decision to pick Kochanowicz over Reid Detmers for a rotation spot at the end of the spring isn’t working out for the Angels. The team might reverse course soon, but Detmers hasn’t been used as a long guy and isn’t stretched out to start right away. Kochanowicz is now 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA, but at least he gets the Pirates next.

It’s mostly been hard grounders and routine flies from Pederson thus far, but given that his bat speed is unchanged from last year, we don’t have big concerns here yet. That said, this might not be the weekend he turns it around, given that the Rangers are set to face the Dodgers.

Cabrera was back in the lineup tonight after sitting Tuesday against a righty for the first time this season and then again Wednesday, though that was versus a lefty and was typical. The homer, his first of the year, was hit 382 feet and would have remained in play in 26 ballparks, says Statcast. Still, this pushes him up to .308/.372/.385 for the year. A little hot streak here would be nice, what with DJ LeMahieu close to beginning a rehab assignment.

Warren’s first inning wasn’t bad; he gave up singles to the first two batters he faced, but one of the runners was erased on the basepaths, and Warren completed the inning having thrown 15 pitches. The second inning, however, saw him throw 38 pitches and walk two while getting two outs. He was replaced by Ryan Yarbrough with the bases loaded, and Yarbrough retired Brandon Lowe to end the threat. Warren’s ERA essentially held steady at 5.17 in spite of the weak effort. The immediate threat to his rotation spot was cleared when Marcus Stroman’s knee injury created room for Clarke Schmidt, but Warren still might be on thin ice anyway. He’s due to face the Guardians next.

Williams needed just six pitches tonight. The Rays actually put three of his four changeups into play, but they turned into a fairly well-hit groundout, a popup and a weak liner to third. Williams has retired six in a row in his last two outings after struggling some over the first two weeks.

Bradley allowed nine hits and walked four before being lifted. He also settled for three strikeouts after fanning seven in each of his first three starts. Bradley will probably be a somewhat better bet once the Rays start playing in more road games, but next week’s outing in Arizona still isn’t a very good matchup.