MLB Player News

Latz fortifies Texas’ bullpen depth with an additional long reliever ahead of Wednesday’s game against the division-rival Angels. The 29-year-old southpaw made a career-high 46 relief appearances last year as one of the club’s key middle relievers, but didn’t make last month’s season-opening roster.

Griffin still managed to make a significant impact, despite being limited to DH duty due to right forearm soreness, as he recorded the first multi-steal performance of his career. The 20-year-old prodigy delivered a run-scoring single to cap off a three-run opening frame for the Pirates as part of a multi-hit effort. He certainly hasn’t looked like a rookie in recent weeks, hitting .301 (28-for-93) with two homers, nine RBI and seven steals since May 1.

Rogers was tasked with protecting a one-run lead in the final frame and wound up serving up a walk-off homer to Bryan Reynolds a couple batters after Spencer Horwitz delivered a leadoff single. It was his first blown save of the season. It’s been a bizarre year for Minnesota’s bullpen as 11 different relievers have recorded at least one save and none of them have more than two on the year. It’s a stay-away situation for fantasy managers.

Let’s start with the bad news. Jones served up a solo homer to Kody Clemens and a two-run blast to Trevor Larnach a couple frames later, with both long balls coming against his fastball. Not great. There were some positive takeaways for the dynamic 24-year-old as he averaged 99 mph on his fastball and topped out at 101.5 mph in his first major-league start since September 27, 2024. He finished with six strikeouts and only handed out two free passes. Jones remains a work in progress after missing last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but his talent and strikeout upside are undeniable, which makes him worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy leagues. He’ll make his next start against the Astros at Daikin Park on Thursday.

Fairbanks came on to work in a 7-7 game in the 10th inning after the Marlins came up empty in the top half of the frame. He got Juan Soto to fly out to center to start the inning, keeping Vidal Brujan at second base, but MJ Melendez followed with a walk-off two-run blast that ended it. Fairbanks now holds an unsightly 7.53 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 14 1/3 innings on the season while converting six of his first eight save chances.

Bradley turned in his shortest outing of the season in this one, surrendering five hits, including a gargantuan 450-foot homer to Oneil Cruz in the third inning. He piled up six strikeouts and only walked two batters. The lackluster effort snapped a streak of three consecutive quality starts since April 29. He’s been one of this season’s more impressive breakthrough arms with a solid 3.21 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 65/21 K/BB ratio across 56 innings of work. He’ll take the ball at home against the division-rival Royals on Thursday.

Caissie ambushed a first-pitch splitter from Tobias Myers for a 397-foot (103.4 mph EV) two-run blast that tied the score at 7-7 in the eighth inning. That would wind up being the extent of the Marlins’ offense in the game though. The 23-year-old outfielder finished the night 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and is now hitting .232/.286/.399 with five long balls and 28 RBI on the season.

On the plus side for fantasy managers, Meyer racked up six strikeouts on the evening while issuing three free passes. The Mets got to him early in this one, pushing four runs across in the opening inning. They added on single runs in the third and fourth, including a solo shot off the bat of Mark Vientos. Meyer generated 10 swings and misses on 106 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 30 percent. He’ll attempt to bounce back as he brings a stellar 2.97 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and a 74/25 K/BB ratio (66 2/3 innings) into Wednesday’s matchup against the Nationals in Washington.

Vargas got the White Sox on the board in the third inning with an RBI double off of Troy Melton. They then scratched out a run off of Kyle Finnegan in the ninth inning to force extra innings. After the Tigers scored once in the top half of the frame, the White Sox were down to their final out with Drew Romo still standing on second base when Vargas obliterated an 0-1 changeup from Drew Anderson for a 391-foot (102.3 mph EV) two-run shot that sent the White Sox’ faithful into a frenzy. With his 2-for-5 night, Vargas is now slashing .235/.365/.485 with 13 homers and 34 RBI on the season.

Fedde issued three free passes on the night while striking out three. He worked as a bulk reliever behind Brandon Eisert who got the first four outs in the ballgame. All the damage done against him came on a two-run blast by Dillon Dingler in the third inning. Fedde got six whiffs on 84 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 29 percent. Still 0-5 on the season, he’ll carry a 5.40 ERA and 1.48 WHIP into Wednesday’s battle against the Twins in Minneapolis.

It was a line drive missile off a Mitchell Parker slider, landing 414 feet away from the plate to right-center, that gave the Padres a late 7-5 lead they’d hold on to. Merrill briefly fell to hitting .194 earlier this week, but he’s now fought his way back to .201/.274/.332 on the season with 10 stolen bases and five home runs. If you could cover your eyes and forget about the batting average, the surface numbers are alright. But we can’t do that. Merrill will need to hit better over the summer to return value equivalent to his draft position for fantasy managers.