MLB Player News

Velázquez is 5-for-17 with just one strikeout. He has a realistic shot at a spot on the Cardinals’ bench as a platoon guy against lefties, though it doesn’t help his case that he doesn’t really have much of a positive split against lefties in his career. He’s hit .211/.306/.428 with a 30% strikeout rate versus lefties and .212/.276/.435 with a 28% strikeout rate against righties in his 615 major league plate appearances.

Aleman has thrown 2 2/3 innings out of the bullpen over the last three days, so the Guardians are just trying to get a fresh arm in the bullpen. He should get another chance in the near future.

Heuer has a 2.57 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 12/7 K/BB ratio in 14 innings at Triple-A this season. The 29-year-old had the look of an impactful reliever when he made his MLB debut as a 23-year-old back in 2020. However, he battled injuries and didn’t make any MLB appearances between 2022 and 2024 before returning for just 4 2/3 innings in 2025. It would be a nice story to see him re-emerge as a solid bullpen piece.

Volpe was recalled from Triple-A on Tuesday after Jose Caballero (finger) was put on the injured list. However, it was Max Schuemann who started at shortstop on Tuesday. Volpe should now play every day at shortstop until Caballero is back, but he hit just .205 in nine games at Triple-A. Caballero is also not expected to be out much longer than two weeks, so Volpe is more of a short-term add in deeper formats right now.

The Guardians are throwing a left-handed pitcher, so Nolan Schanuel will be on the bench, but Zach Neto is also being dropped from the leadoff spot to sixth in the order. Neto is hitting .167/.265/.310 in 11 games since the start of May with a 31 percent strikeout rate, but Grissom is also hitting .188/.257/.344 in 10 games in May with an 11.4 percent strikeout rate. Grissom has been the hotter hitter in the most recent games, going 4-for-13 over the last three games with one home runs, one double, and four RBI. It remains to be seen if this is a consistent change the Angels make because that would put Grissom on the radar in deeper formats.

Kwan continues to struggle this season, slashing .206/.311/.265. His hard-hit rate is down to 9.5 percent, and his average exit velocity has fallen to 82.4 mph. He’s still making a tremendous amount of contact and not chasing outside of the zone at all; however, he may be too passive overall. Kwan’s swing rate has fallen by six percent, and he’s swinging at pitches in the heart of the strike zone almost eight percent less than last year while taking four percent more called strikes overall. This feels like the same hitters we’ve come to know but just one whose being too passive and second-guessing himself. We expect Kwan to snap out of his funk, but for Wednesday, David Fry will play left field and bat fifth.

Sandoval spent all offseason continuing his recovery from last year’s Tommy John surgery and made two rehab starts at Triple-A in April before being sidelined with biceps tightness. The left-hander is already throwing from 90 feet on flat ground and should return to the mound by the end of this week. Provided that goes well, he could face hitters next week and go back on a rehab assignment shortly after that.

“We continue to progress well there,” said Red Sox manager Chad Tracy. Crochet has been sidelined with shoulder fatigue and inflammation since April 29th, but there is no structural damage in his shoulder. The Red Sox will need to see the left-hander throw multiple times off a mound before he moves to facing hitters. He would then need at least one rehab start before rejoining the Red Sox, but he could return by the early part of June if all goes well.

Anthony injured the top of his hand on a swing against the Tigers last Monday and was placed on the 10-day IL on Thursday. The Red Sox had hoped he would return when first eligible, but that will not be the case. The 22-year-old still hasn’t swung a bat as the Red Sox work on the strength in his hand. “Eventually, we’ll get to strong gripping,” said Tracy. “That’s the biggest thing for him: when do we get to feel like the grip strength is there? When we’re in there, we’re in a better spot.” It does feel like his recovery could speed up considerably once his hand is strong enough to grip a bat again. We just don’t know how long that first step is going to take.

Gonzalez had surgery on his left shoulder at the beginning of March and was confident at the time that he would return by the end of May. We still don’t have any update on his timeline, but it’s nice to see him on the field and doing baseball activities. Coming back in the next two weeks feels unlikely, but perhaps Gonzalez could return in early June, which would be a boost to the Red Sox lineup, particularly against lefties, where he would likely start over Marcelo Mayer. Gonzalez hit .305/.343/.483 with nine home runs and six steals in 341 plate appearances last year.

Melton has been sidelined since spring training with a right elbow strain, but has already made two rehab starts and looked good. The right-hander was put on the 60-day IL back on March 25th, so he can’t be activated until the end of this month. If he looks good in Triple-A on Wednesday, then he would likely make one more rehab start and then could return to a Tigers’ rotation that currently only has four starting pitchers with Tarik Skubal (elbow), Casey Mize (groin), and Justin Verlander (hip) all sidelined.