MLB Player News

José Alvarado remains the top reliever in the Phillies pen, but manager Rob Thomson used him against the top of the order in the eighth tonight. He gave up one run, narrowing the Phillies’ lead to two, before Strahm retired the bottom third of the lineup in order in the ninth. It’s Strahm’s 10th career save. He had four for Boston in 2022 and then two and three in his first two years in Philly.

Verlander returns to take the ball on Wednesday night against the Guardians at Oracle Park following a one-month absence recovering from a pectoral strain. The 42-year-old future Hall of Famer hasn’t quite missed enough bats to make an impact in shallow mixed leagues, but he’s a decent back-end rotation option in deeper fantasy formats.

Bailey returns following a minimum stint on the injured list with a neck strain. The 26-year-old backstop remains a gifted defender behind the dish, but he’s been a complete non-factor for fantasy purposes over the last few years.

Beck draws the short straw amid a roster crunch in San Francisco with future Hall of Fame starter Justin Verlander returning from the injured list ahead of Wednesday’s showdown against the Guardians. The 28-year-old righty has made six relief appearances this season in the big leagues.

Porter heads back to the minors with starting catcher Patrick Bailey back from the injured list for Wednesday’s game against the Guardians. The 29-year-old backstop was only up for a handful of games as emergency depth.

Misiorowski checked out fine after making an early exit from his big-league debut last Thursday against the Cardinals with right calf and quad cramping following five hitless frames. The flame-throwing 23-year-old top prospect should be rostered in all fantasy formats based on his strikeout upside alone.

There was almost zero path to get this contest in based on the forecast around Detroit, which called for some heavy rain later this evening. It’ll be made up as a doubleheader on Thursday instead with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal facing Andrew Heaney in the front-end of the twin bill. It’ll be Paul Skenes taking the ball during the nightcap affair.

Lowe takes a seat with left-hander Trevor Rogers taking the ball for the Orioles on Wednesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The 30-year-old slugging second baseman has been on fire the past few weeks, hitting .333 (39-for-117) with nine home runs and 19 RBI over his last 30 games. It’ll be Curtis Mead getting a chance at the keystone on Wednesday night in his place.

It’s a significant step forward in Gil’s throwing progression as he continues to work his way back from a lat strain that he suffered back in spring training. However, he’ll need several weeks to build up his arm strength and pitch count in the minors before he’s ready to make his season debut, which makes it unlikely he’ll return before next month’s All-Star break. He’s worth stashing in deeper fantasy formats on the likelihood that he makes an impact, especially in the strikeouts department, over the final two months of the year.

Caglianone takes a seat after going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts during Tuesday’s showdown, leaving him in a lackluster .196 (10-for-51) batting average with zero home runs through 13 games to open his major-league career. Virtually every top prospect goes through an adjustment period upon arrival in the big leagues and the talented 22-year-old slugger appears to be going through his at the moment. How he responds and acclimates to facing big-league pitching over the next couple weeks will determine how much of a fantasy impact he winds up making for the rest of the season. It’ll be veteran Mark Canha taking over in right field on Wednesday night while he gets a day off to clear his head and reset mentally.

Top prospect Ronny Mauricio will get another opportunity at the hot corner while Mark Vientos (hamstring) continues his minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Syracuse. Baty, who has been slumping at the dish since the start of June, will sit out his second straight contest after suffering a groin injury during Sunday’s series finale against the Rays. He’s presumably day-to-day for now.