MLB Player News

Sandlin moves up, along with his teammate Connelly Early, after posting a 3.61 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 86/27 K/BB ratio in 82 1/3 innings for Double-A Portland this season. Sandlin came to Boston before the 2024 season in a trade for reliever John Schreiber. The 24-year-old packs a high-velocity fastball that can hit 100 mph, a tight slider, a big-breaking sweeper, and a splitter. He has taken a big step forward this year and is part of an emerging crop of intriguing starting pitchers in Boston’s system.

Massey has now started five of his last six games and six of the eight games since he came off the injured list. He has played both second base and left field, and will be in left field on Thursday with Isaac Collins (knee) still out. Massey is just 2-for-12 with a 4/1 K/BB ratio on the season, so he doesn’t need to be added anywhere right now.

Billy Cook will start in left field and bat ninth on Thursday. There’s a left-hander on the mound, but Reynolds is a switch-hitter and has 27 plate appearances this season against lefties, so this is not a platoon situation. He is a better hitter against right-handed pitching, so there’s a chance that the Pirates get him more off days when lefties are on the mound, but that will be within his normal rest. Reynolds is off to a solid start to the season, hitting .288/.400/.470 with three home runs, 12 RBI, and a 49 percent hard-hit rate. He could still be a bit of a buy-low target if people are focused too much on his poor 2025 season.

With Kris Bubic on the mound, the Tigers will again sit Keith, move Kevin McGonigle to third base, and let Javier Baez play shortstop. Keith did struggle in limited at-bats versus lefties last year, but over 135 plate appearances in his career, Keith is slashing .254/.304/.302 against lefties with a 26 percent strikeout rate. Unfortunately for him, Baez, Wenceel Perez, and Matt Vierling all have much more success versus lefties. The only hope for Keith would be that he could steal playing time from Jahmai Jones, who has slahed .251/.342/.485 against lefties in 190 career plate appearances. Maybe the Tigers would allow their former top 25 overall prospect more at-bats at the expense of a journeyman bench bat.

This is the second straight game where Ramos has been on the bench in favor of Will Brennan, who bats left-handed. Ramos is hitting just .234/.258/.266 in 66 plate appearances this season with a 36.4 percent strikeout rate. There is a danger that he is falling into a small side platoon role if Brennan is able to capitalize on this chance.

Bido bounced around to a few organizations over the offseason and allowed seven runs on seven hits in 10 innings to start the year in Atlanta. If he clears waivers, he could be brought back on a minor league deal.

Hamilton was signed to a non-guaranteed contract this offseason, so he needed to be added to the 40-man roster to be promoted. Last season, he had a 4.28 ERA in 40 innings for the Yankees, but fell out of their bullpen mix at the end of the year. This season, he has allowed two runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings at Triple-A with a 9/1 K/BB ratio.

Harris was recalled by Atlanta on Tuesday and didn’t pitch. He will now head back to Triple-A.

Wilson’s homer off Cole Winn gave the A’s a 6-2 lead in the seventh, and the A’s held on from there after the Rangers scored three times in the eighth. Wilson is now hitting .254/,264/.338 in 72 plate appearances. His batting average should be better going forward. but with the A’s not letting him leadoff and steals likely to be few and far between. he’s not especially interesting in mixed leagues.

Ginn walked four, but only Corey Seager’s two-run homer in the third did any damage against him. The outing leaves him with a 3.31 ERA and an 11/7 K/BB in 16 1/3 innings. He’ll probably start again Monday against the Mariners.

Mark Leiter Jr., who was brought in with a 6-2 lead in the eighth, gave up a three-run homer to Jake Burger, necessitating Kuhnel’s early entrance. All worked out for the A’s, though, as Kuhnel retired the four batters he faced. He’s 3-for-3 saving games and has yet to allow a run since being called up on Apr. 7. There still isn’t much reason to believe Kuhnel will be an above reliever going forward, but he’s definitely the pitcher worth rostering in the A’s pen at the moment.