MLB Player News

Making his first start since his latest recall on Wednesday, Fermín hit a 356-foot double down the left-field line that would have been a homer in 21 ballparks. He also had a well-struck lineout on his other ball in play. He has an .817 OPS in 59 plate appearances this season, but the Cardinals are still far more interested in giving at-bats to Nolan Gorman (.669 OPS) and Thomas Saggese (.651 OPS).

Wacha struck out three, issued three walks and needed 43 pitches (26 strikes) to navigate a pair of frames in his opening salvo of the spring. The 34-year-old veteran represents a low-ceiling fantasy option at this stage of his career, which limits his appeal to deeper mixed leagues.

Abbott is one of the more challenging pitchers to forecast since he doesn’t miss a ton of bats and vastly outperformed last year’s 3.55 xERA with a pristine 2.87 ERA across a career-high 166 1/3 innings over 29 starts. The 26-year-old southpaw is a top-50 range fantasy starter heading into 2026, even if there’s some pullback from a run prevention standpoint looming.

Goldschmidt’s homer came off Tyler Rogers. Now, Rogers isn’t nearly in midseason form yet with his velocity down by a couple of mph, but he allowed just one homer to right-hander during the regular season last year. Goldschmidt is 4-for-9 as he gets ready for his World Baseball Classic swansong. He’s likely to have a bit role this time after starting for Team USA in the previous two tournaments.

Warren seems to have tightened up his sweeper some; he threw the pitch today two mph harder than he did last year, even as his fastball velocity held steady. That has the potential to be a nice change for him, as it was his weakest pitch last season; the league hit .336 against it.

Jiménez’s chances of making the Jays seemed a lot better during that brief window after Anthony Santander went down and before Jesús Sánchez was acquired. He’s out of options and the closest thing the Jays would have to a utility infielder on the bench, but they can probably do without him, since Davis Schneider can play second, Addison Barger can play third and Ernie Clement can slide all around the infield. If the Jays put him Jiménez waivers, one imagines someone will take a shot. He’s just 24, and he has a .404 OBP in 94 career games in Triple-A. As a major leaguer, he’s come in at .207/.303/.332 in 242 plate appearances to date.

Marte took former Rockies southpaw Austin Gomber deep in the third inning for his first long ball of the spring. The switch-hitting 32-year-old was the subject of trade speculation throughout the offseason but the Diamondbacks opted against moving their franchise cornerstone. He remains the top option at second base for fantasy purposes and will be a late-second or early-third round pick in drafts this spring.

Langford smacked a run-scoring single in his first at-bat of the content before adding another single a couple frames later. The 24-year-old outfielder offers realistic 25-homer, 20-steal production and will be a third or fourth-round pick in fantasy drafts this spring.

Burger’s titanic blast to straightaway center field left his bat at 110.6 mph and traveled 434 feet, per Statcast. The 29-year-old first baseman dealt with oblique, quad and wrist issues that limited him to just 103 games during his Rangers debut last season. Avoiding prolonged absences make it relatively easy to envision a return to the 30-homer plateau for the first time since 2023.

Baumler has yet to pitch above Double-A in his career, but that didn’t stop the Rangers from selecting him in the Rule 5 Draft earlier this offseason. He struck out a pair of big leaguers in Ketel Marte and Alek Thomas, generating four swinging strikes on nine pitches in his first appearance of the spring. He could make the Rangers’ season-opening bullpen and offers enough strikeout potential to potentially work his way into high-leverage spots down the road.

Soroka piled up three strikeouts and only handed out one free pass, requiring 33 pitches (24 strikes) to complete two frames. The 28-year-old figures to open the season as the sixth starter in Arizona’s rotation after posting a respectable 4.52 ERA – 3.53 xERA – 1.13 WHIP and 95/29 K/BB ratio across 89 2/3 innings between the Nationals and Cubs last year, his highest innings total since 2019.