MLB Player News

Fitts, who missed the end of last season with elbow neuritis, was throwing heat today; he topped out at 98.6 mph and averaged 97.6 mph with his fastball. Last year, he averaged 95.9 mph for the Red Sox. If that sticks, he’ll be a more attractive fifth starter candidate in the competition with Kyle Leahy and others.

Wells broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth, sending a solo homer off Nick Martinez 414 feet into right center to give the Yankees the lead. It was the fourth homer of the season for Wells and his first in May, as the 26-year-old catcher has struggled mightily at the plate this month. Wells is slashing just .125/.208/.188 in May and is best left on fantasy benches until he can straighten things out at the plate.

Cole allowed a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson in the first inning and followed that off with a walk to Junior Caminero. Despite the rough start, Cole would get Jonathan Aranda to fly out and then picked off Simpson at second and struck out Yandy Díaz to end the threat. Cole settled in after that, pitching four-straight scoreless frames while at one point needing just 11 pitches combined to get through the third and fourth innings. The veteran righty was in command all night, throwing a first pitch strike to 18 of the 22 batters he faced while seemingly hitting all of his spots. The Yankees couldn’t have asked for a much better start from Cole, who made his first regular-season appearance since September 26, 2024. He’ll look to ride this hot start into his next outing, which is scheduled for Wednesday at the Royals.

Martinez allowed baserunners in each of the first five innings, but managed to battle his way out of danger until the fifth inning, when Austin Wells led things off with a solo homer to break a scoreless tie. That homer would be the only run Martinez would allow on the night, but he left the game trailing 1-0 after six innings. Martinez continues to be solid for the Rays, consistently inducing weak contact to get batters out while limiting walks. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in every start this season. Martinez’s next start is scheduled for Wednesday against the Orioles, who were swept by the Rays earlier in the week.

The magic elixir for struggling starting pitchers this season has often been facing this hapless Mets lineup. Juan Soto was literally the only player who could touch Pérez in this one, accounting for both of the hits he allowed. The first of which was a loud, 449 foot home run in the first inning and it underscored a lot of Pérez’s struggles so far this season. Without much confidence in his secondary pitches, he threw Soto five fastballs in that at-bat. Two of which he fouled straight back and the third straight with two strikes was parked in the stands. Nevertheless, no other hitter gave Pérez trouble and this was his first start all season where he didn’t walk a single batter. Also, he found a good feel for his sweeper as the game went on and finally displayed at least solid command of it. Hopefully this is an outing he can build on ahead of a meeting with the Blue Jays next week.

Fairbanks made easy work of the bottom of the Mets’ lineup with two strikeouts before walking Carson Benge who reached base as the tying run. Tense as it was, he forced a lazy fly ball from Bo Bichette to end the threat and save his first game in a month, before he went on the injured list. His hold on the closer’s job still appears to be strong despite an ugly 8.25 ERA so far this season.

Ruiz is making the most of his chance with the Marlins. With just eight hits in 37 at-bats so far this season, six have gone for extra bases. Plus, that stolen base was already his eighth. He’s also been trusted in all three outfield spots already and has appeared in 22 games despite only starting 10. He can be an asset in a very deep league.

Soto was almost literally the only Mets’ hitter to make any noise in this game. In fact, there was a point in the eighth inning where the Marlins’ pitchers had just faced one batter over the minimum, and Soto had two hits. His solo home run stood as their only run and coming off a 99.8 mph fastball from Eury Pérez, it was the hardest pitch to be homered off of all season. That’s some solace, right?

The Mets were a bit coy on how they were going to deploy Tong ahead of this game, and he would up following Tobias Myers and Sean Manaea in a bit of a college baseball-esque swing-man, bullpen game. His stuff looked electric though. His fastball had great life at the top of the zone, sat around 96 mph, and topped out at 99 mph. His changeup was nasty as well, forcing a whiff on all three times the Marlins swung at it. We also got to see four total of Tong’s reworked breaking stuff – two sharp dropping sliders, one cutter, and one firmer curveball. Those pitches hold the keys to his short and long-term future success, so it’ll be worth paying close attention to them should he stick with the major league team.

There was plenty of good to pull from this outing by Manaea. Following opener Tobias Myers, he had plenty of luck against a left-handed heavy Marlins lineup. He also threw his fastest pitch of the season at 93.9 mph and saw the average velocity of every pitch in his repertoire up a couple of ticks. That’s a great sign for someone who’s struggled to get their velocity up thus far. He also commanded his sweeper a good bit better than he has otherwise this season and he’s now thrown 55 and 65 pitches in his last two outings. He could be working towards relative viability.

It’s unclear if he’s joining the Rays on their taxi squad in the event that Jonny DeLuca has to go on the injured list or if Mesa is actually being recalled. The 24-year-old has hit an impressive .318/.416/.545 with two homers and seven RBI in his first 77 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this season.