MLB Player News

There simply isn’t a spot for Rocker in the Rangers’ rotation after picking up veteran Merrill Kelly at the trade deadline. The 25-year-old righty allowed three runs over 4 2/3 innings on Thursday against the Mariners, which likely sealed his fate. The 25-year-old former top prospect holds a lackluster 5.74 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and 56/23 K/BB ratio across 64 1/3 innings (14 starts) this season in the majors.

Leahy surrendered eight hits, and he walked two while only striking out one. One of those free passes came with the bases loaded, and while he threw a decent 51-of-79 pitches for strikes, his command was clearly off through most of the contest. Leahy has a tenuous grasp on a spot in the St. Louis rotation, but he should have no place on a fantasy roster unless being streamed against the worst lineups. The Tigers on Sunday wouldn’t qualify as one of those lineups.

Holmes surrendered a run in the first, and then blanked the St. Louis lineup until the sixth when he gave up a solo homer to Nolan Gorman. He generated a usable 13 swings-and-misses over 90 pitches before exiting, and he struck out five against three walks. Not a dominating start, but a serviceable one for Holmes in his first effort of 2026. He’ll be on the bump in San Francisco over the weekend against the Giants.

Happ lost a surefire homer to the wind blowing in at Wrigley Field during last week’s season opener, according to Statcast, but this time the wind worked in his favor, carrying a third-inning fly ball into the left-field seats. It was his third big fly of the season. The switch-hitting left fielder should continue to benefit from hitting in the heart of a Cubs lineup that continues to look extremely formidable in the early stages of the year.

Moncada atoned for an earlier defensive miscue by launching a two-run homer off Cubs reliever Colin Rea in the seventh inning to get Los Angeles back within four runs at the time. It was his first big fly of the season.

Witnessing a three-inning save is a bit like seeing a payphone that still works. It’s novel enough to pause for a moment, but that’s really it. Rea will continue to gobble up innings as a versatile swingman providing real value for the Cubs in long relief.

Cabrera was staked to a six-run advantage by the fourth inning of his Cubs debut and had little trouble cruising to an easy win, scattering one hit and one walk over six relatively stress-free frames. Chicago’s big-time offseason trade acquisition generated 15 swinging strikes, topped out at 98.1 mph with his fastball and allowed just two hard-hit balls in this one. He’ll close out a two-start week with a favorable road tilt against the Guardians.

Johnson wasn’t particularly sharp in his season debut, walking four batters and only notching a pair of strikeouts. However, he didn’t get any help from his fielders on several occasions, most notably with two outs in the opening frame when a pop up to shallow center field inexplicably got over the head of second baseman Oswald Peraza, allowing a pair of runs to score on the play. Yoán Moncada committed a mental mistake in the third inning that led directly to another two runs crossing the plate. Neither play technically goes down as an error, but they certainly didn’t help matters. He’ll aim for better results against the Mariners at home on Sunday to finish off a two-start week.

Leiter gave up one homer to Gunnar Henderson. He also gave up a fly to Tyler O’Neill that would have been a homer in 24 ballparks, but it was an out in Texas. Just 26 of Leiter’s 92 pitches were fastballs or sinkers. He didn’t get a single whiff on any of those, but his 66 secondary offerings produced 21, giving him a fine 36-percent CSW for the night. That he gives up so much hard contact on his heaters has been reason to be skeptical about his upside, but if he can get all of these outs without throwing them, he might have something to offer in mixed leagues. He’s due to face the Reds on Sunday. With Chase Burns also slated to pitch, it would be a matchup of the second overall picks from the 2021 and 2024 drafts.

Alexander just got his second career save Saturday in the 10th inning against the Phillies after both Chris Martin and Robert Garcia worked in regulation. Now he has three, probably because Martin, Garcia and Cole Winn were all unavailable after working in both games over the weekend. We wouldn’t expect the lefty, who has usually been employed as a swingman, to keep adding to that total with any regularity, but then it’s not like the Rangers have any sure things in their pen.