MLB Player News

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo says it’s worth $6 million. Kiner-Falefa still plays passable defense at short and has a plus glove at second or third, but he offers nothing but the occasional single with the bat. He’s even stopped walking the last two years, and his OBP was down to .297 last season. He ought to be a true backup in Boston, even if the team fails to make further upgrades on offense.

As is typical, Caminero’s home run was a blast, traveling 404 feet at 106.8 mph off the bat. It was his sixth home run of the year to go along with 12 RBIs. The Rays’ lineup doesn’t figure to be much better than league average this season, so that may impact Caminero’s counting stats, but there should be no worry about his power now that he’s no longer in a minor league ballpark.

No word yet on the corresponding move, but it’s likely speedster Esteury Ruiz coming off the injured list for Friday’s series opener against the Giants, not a pitching prospect like Robby Snelling or Thomas White being promoted. Slater hit .174 (4-for-23) with zero extra-base hits, one RBI and one steal in 12 games for the Marlins after signing a one-year contract last month. The 33-year-old is merely a bench option against left-handed pitchers at this stage of his career.

The left-hander struck out three and walked three while posting just a nine percent swinging strike rate and 22 percent CSW. His cutter was really the only pitch he had working here, throwing it for a strike 70 percent of the time and posting a 20 percent swinging strike rate. He failed to miss bats with many of his other pitches, and the Rays weren’t chasing anything out of the zone. If Nick Lodolo (blister) is finally able to make his return from the injured list, then it’s likely that Williamson will lose his spot in the rotation.

Freeland is working his way back from shoulder inflammation that put him on the shelf back on April 15. The 32-year-old southpaw might be able to jump back into Colorado’s rotation without needing a rehab assignment, but that remains up in the air.

The positive news here is that X-rays came back negative after Jiménez was removed from Wednesday afternoon’s contest against the Cardinals. It sounds like he’ll avoid a trip to the injured list.

He also walked one and struck out six while posting a 16 percent whiff rate and 36 percent CSW. Martinez threw 75 percent of his pitches for strikes and showed off his six-pitch mix, even though he relied mainly on his sinker and changeup. This just seemed like a game where Martinez was getting ahead early with the sinker and just kept going to it, mixing in the changeup and cutter to try and get some whiffs. The 35-year-old has been solid for Tampa Bay this season, but he provides a low fantasy ceiling because of his lack of strikeouts. He makes for a fine deeper league streaming against the Guardians next week.

It’s notable that Ohtani is back to his usual two-way self after being limited to pitching exclusively for the first time since 2021 his last time out on the mound against the Mets last week due to concerns about a shoulder issue. The 31-year-old generational talent holds a microscopic 0.50 ERA across 18 innings on the mound this season while also riding a surreal 53-game on-base streak. In case you were wondering, the all-time on-base record is 84 consecutive games, set by Ted Williams in 1949.

Chourio progressed to on-field batting practice Wednesday for the first time since hitting the shelf with a fractured hand on Opening Day last month. The 22-year-old franchise cornerstone figures to be ready to get into minor league action early next week and should be ready for his season debut at some point in late April or early May.

Schanuel, who is getting over an ankle problem that was bothering him earlier this month, is hitting a middling .239/.308/.380, but he’s up to 18 RBI in 23 games on the season. He’s already one-third of the way to his totals of 54 RBI in 147 games in 2024 and 53 in 132 games last year. There should be some mixed-league value here now that he’s back playing every day.

Soriano exited with a 3-0 lead after 84 pitches, but it disappeared in the top of the seventh before the Angels came right back with four in the bottom of the inning. So, no win for Soriano. He did bring his ERA down from 0.28 to 0.24. He settled for four strikeouts, but he generated 16 whiffs. He walked none and gave up just four hard-hit balls. He’ll face the White Sox next week.