MLB Player News

Waddell, 31, was designated for assignment Wednesday and went unclaimed. The 31-year-old can elect free agency or report back to Syracuse as a depth piece.

Urías has been a part-time player for the Cardinals, but Nolan Gorman has not gotten off to a great start offensively, and the Cardinals could even move Gorman to DH more often when Ivan Herrera can catch regularly. Urías has two home runs and four RBI so far this season while slashing .313/.353/.813 in limited action so far this year.

Littell struck out six and walked three while posting a 24 percent whiff rate and a 63 percent strike rate. The 30-year-old pitched backward in this one, leading with his fastball and throwing 83 percent first pitch strikes with it. He also had a 25 percent whiff rate on it, so perhaps leaning on the slider so much is a good idea. The ceiling is still pretty low here, and he’s not a recommended play in Milwaukee later this week.

Pallante also walked four and struck out two while throwing 61 percent of his pitches for strikes. His velocity was down across the board, including 1.2 miles per hour on his fastball. He had three whiffs on his slider but just a 15 percent whiff rate overall in an outing that wasn’t overly impressive. We likely wouldn’t start him on Sunday against the Red Sox.

Michael Massey was activated from the injured list before the game, so that’s a little pressure on India, though he could play other positions when the Royals want to start Massey. India is 6-for-18 with two homers and eight RBI in five games this month after going 1-for-10 in April.

The lone run came on a Steven Kwan homer. Rhys Hoskins also made a bid for one, but his fly to right in the second went just inches foul. Wacha settled for three strikeouts and six whiffs on the Guardians’ 41 swings, but only two of the Guardians balls in play in excess of 100 mph turned into hits. He’ll take a 0.69 ERA into a nice matchup against the White Sox on Monday.

Erceg threw 30 pitches while giving up two runs to the Brewers on Sunday, but the Royals used him again tonight anyway, and he was able to retire the Guardians on 14 pitches. Matt Strahm has also worked the last two days, so John Schneider is probably the favorite to close for the team on Tuesday.

Bibee retired the eight and nine hitters to open the fifth but then gave up a double to Maikel Garcia and an infield single to Bobby Witt Jr. while facing them for the third time. The Guardians lifted him, and Tim Herrin retired Vinnie Pasquantino to preserve a 1-1 tie. Bibee has a nice enough 3.29 ERA after three starts, but after leaving his first start with shoulder inflammation, he hasn’t had the chance to complete five innings in his last two outings. He’ll likely face the Braves on Sunday.

Jensen was dropped to seventh in the Royals’ order Saturday, in his first game back from his punishment for oversleeping, but he was back up to fifth tonight. That actually might have won the Royals the game. In the fourth, Jensen reached on a wild pitch/strikeout ahead of Jonathan India’s RBI single with two outs. He also singled ahead of India’s homer with two outs in the eighth. If it had been Jac Caglianone batting fifth tonight, both of those innings might have ended before India got to the plate.

Kwan’s homer left the bat at 100.8 mph for just his second hard-hit ball in 47 plate appearances this season. His previous one barely clearled the threshold at 95.8 mph. Of course, Kwan has never been known for his hard-hit rates, but he’s been losing athleticism since the day he entered the league and it’s actually quite odd that the Guardians have decided this was the time to turn to him as a center fielder (he debuted with 80th percentile sprint speed in 2022, but he was down to 45th percentile last year and is in the 32nd percentile so far this season). His fantasy value would also seem to be trending downwards.

Stephenson provided a key insurance run with an eighth-inning homer off Marlins starter Janson Junk. It was his second round-tripper of the season and was one of just two extra-base hits for the Reds in a low-scoring affair at loanDepot park.