MLB Player News

Plenty of people panicked after Mayer’s poor performance in his big-league debut, but he was literally at the Triple-A stadium earlier in the day before finding out he was promoted, and had to drive to Fenway (after losing his car keys) in time to start the second game of the doubleheader. He had no time to prepare for the day’s starting pitcher or adjust to being a major league hitter. On Sunday, he laced a 105.6 mph double and also had a 102 mph lineout as he looked far more comfortable at the plate. There will be growing pains with the 22-year-old, as there will be for any prospect adjusting to major-league pitching, but Mayer should be a solid deep league fantasy option for 2025.

Martínez smacked a bases-loaded single to right-center field against Red Sox lefty Tyler Samaniego in the first inning, which led to an additional run scoring on the play when center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela bobbled the ball while picking it up. He also made a phenomenal throw to cut down Mickey Gasper at the plate in the ensuing frame, which ended up being one of the key plays in a low-scoring affair.

Mayer was one of the few bright spots for Boston in this one as he notched his second multi-hit effort in his last three games. The 23-year-old former top prospect has moved back to his natural defensive home at shortstop in the wake of Trevor Story’s absence and is starting to show some signs of life at the dish. He’s not going to be an impact fantasy contributor anytime soon, but it certainly qualifies as a positive development for the Red Sox if he settles in as their shortstop of the future and continues to improve as a hitter.

Smith got the call to protect a one-run lead in the final frame and managed to work around a leadoff single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa by striking out Marcelo Mayer, Caleb Durbin and Jarren Duran to preserve the win. The 27-year-old is the first closer to reach the 20-save plateau this season and finds himself four ahead of Padres star Mason Miller for the league lead. He holds a strong 2.60 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 42/5 K/BB ratio across 27 2/3 innings of work.

Boston’s opener gambit backfired when lefty Tyler Samaniego surrendered four runs in a calamitous first inning. However, Bello came on afterwards and delivered one of his strongest performances of the season, pitching behind an opener for the fourth time in his last five starts. He limited Cleveland to just four baserunners while piling up five strikeouts. He’s compiled a strong 2.67 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 23/6 K/BB ratio across 30 1/3 innings over five outings since May 1. He’ll get the ball against the Orioles at home on Thursday.

Cecconi held Boston scoreless until the fifth inning when things unraveled on him a bit. He surrendered four consecutive hits to open the frame before finally being lifted following a sacrifice fly from Jarren Duran. He was bailed out from any further damage when Colin Holderman stranded the potential tying run at third base. He finished with three strikeouts and didn’t hand out a free pass. He’ll face off against the Yankees in a challenging road matchup his next time out on Thursday.

Ronald Acuña Jr. barely even moved as Bleday crushed a Grant Holmes fastball to right field that went 393 feet and landed several rows up in the stands. Bleday has continued to rake since being installed as a regular for the Reds, hitting .287/.392/.604 with eight bombs and a stolen base. The window to pick him up as a free agent has likely passed, but his underlying stats are good enough that fantasy managers should feel good trading for him at this point if they have a hole to fill in the outfield.

This was done as a procedural move to free up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster for the return of Santiago Espinal on Friday. Snell underwent the NanoScope surgery in mid-May to remove three bone spurs from his pitching elbow. He’s now not eligible to return until after the All-Star break.

He allowed a pair of solo homers in his first four innings. Didier Fuentes came on with two on and two out in the fifth, allowing a Sal Stewart RBI single to tack one more run on Holmes’ ledger before getting Eugenio Suárez swinging to end the threat. This has been an annoyingly common problem for Holmes, who has not gone over 90 pitches since his third start of the season on April 8 and has gone more than five innings just twice over that timespan. Holmes will face the Blue Jays next week in a matchup that looks solid in theory but could continue to leave you winless.

It went about as well as it could have considering the seven hits and three walks allowed with no strikeouts. Paddack at least limited the Braves to just five hard-hit balls, so there’s that, but there’s not much to build on here in fantasy baseball or in real life. Yunior Marte came on for the first time this season after Paddack left the game and immediately buried the Reds with four more runs, leaving Paddack with no shot at a win. Assuming he remains in the rotation, Paddack figures to face the Royals next week.

Acuña hit a no-doubt, 429-foot moonshot off Chris Paddack that landed about 10 rows deep in left-center. He didn’t come around to score on either of his walks despite the Braves scoring eight runs, but that’s about all fantasy managers can be mad about here. Acuña has homered in each of his last two games while walking four times, and he’s slowly picking up the power pace as he’s slugged .426 in his last 15 games.