MLB Player News

The top-overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, Bazzana has quietly put himself in the mix for a late-season call-up to Cleveland, reaching base safely in seven of eight contests since arriving at the Triple-A level. The 22-year-old second baseman would provide a jolt for the Guardians if they decide to give him a taste of the majors at some point during the final five weeks. He’s probably not a fantasy superstar, but he does a little bit of everything well and will be eligible at one of the weakest position groups in the landscape.

Perhaps it’s as simple as giving the Rangers a more-threatening right-handed platoon option for Joc Pederson. McCutchen hit .284/.366/.433 in 36 starts against left-handers last year, but just .239/.333/.367 overall. Entering his age-39 season, McCutchen doesn’t have any real fantasy value outside of playing him in daily transaction leagues against a left-handed starter. He also is by no means guaranteed to make the Rangers based on the date of his signing and the minor-league deal.

Gordon should operate as a spot starter at some point this season for the Astros. Ullola’s control issues — 78 walks in 113.2 innings last year in AAA Sugar Land, then six more in 5.1 innings in Spring Training — make it hard to believe he’ll resurface without adjustments.

The progression continues. Hader will have gone from playing catch to a bullpen session to hitting the mound next week. It seems like he’s still well behind schedule to be ready for Opening Day, but this remains a very fluid situation. Bryan Abreu is who you should be targeting in fantasy leagues if you’re not convinced Hader will be ready to go.

Peña didn’t think it was too bad after a grounder left his nail injured and bloody yesterday, but apparently the Astros are either operating out of a sense of precaution or this is worse than the original update indicated. Stay tuned for further updates from the Astros, but any kind of injury would likely force Peña out of the World Baseball Classic.

Lux had been hit with the vague “overall spring training soreness,” so we guess a slightly less vague “undisclosed upper body issue” is a general upgrade on us trying to understand where he’s at. This qualifies as a positive update for Lux, who still figures to be the team’s regular at second base assuming this hasn’t set him back too far to be ready for Opening Day.

Reading between the lines, we’re probably not going to see a real absence from Mullins that would threaten his regular season. Still, you never know with backs. Mullins should be regarded as day-to-day until we get a new update.

If McGoningle secures a spot on the Opening Day roster, Petzold speculates that they’ll have to move on from one of Matt Vierling, Wenceel Pérez, Jahmai Jones, or Meadows. Meadows simply doesn’t give them the value off the bench that they’d like compared to Pérez and Jones. And, to boot, Meadows is hitting .059 with one walk and five strikeouts in six spring training games.

AL-only leaguers, take notice. Alexander hit .230/.323/.383 in 266 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks last year, but provided little homer power or stolen-base upside. Still, if he’s able to hold off Jeremiah Jackson in camp — the Orioles reportedly don’t trust Jackson’s fielding yet — Alexander could provide some short-term counting stats in deeper leagues.

With Samurai Japan as the heavy favorite and Team Czechia as a big underdog, it should come down to Korea, Australia and Chinese Taipei for the second slot to advance out of Pool C. Australia might have the edge now after Alex Wells, Jack O’Loughlin and Jon Kennedy limited Chinese Taipei to just three hits while throwing three innings apiece. Bazzana’s homer was hit 383 feet off Yi Chang.

Ray averaged 94.8 mph with his fastball, which is up 1.2 mph from last year. It actually matches his career-high from his Cy Young season with the Blue Jays in 2021. Of course, that doesn’t mean much in a 2 2/3-inning outing, but it’s hardly a bad sign.