MLB Player News

Holliday is racing against a ticking clock to be ready for Baltimore’s season opener in late March, but he’s trending towards a return to game action before Grapefruit League play concludes. The 22-year-old second baseman is recovering from surgery to address a hamate injury in his right wrist. He’s resumed swinging a bat and should be ready to face live pitching at some point in the next week or two.

Wheeler, coming back from thoracic outlet surgery, threw 38 pitches. His velocity was down 2.5-3 mph from last year, which might or might not be a concern. If he was trying to throw as hard as he could and only came in at 92-94 mph, that would be a problem. But if he was just easing into things, being down 2-3 mph sounds about right. We will just note that last year, Wheeler averaged 95.9 mph with his fastball in his first spring outing, which was practically a match for the 96.1 mph he averaged during the season. Wheeler is due to make two more rehab starts before being reevaluated.

Gaddis, like pretty much every pitcher placed on the 15-day IL prior to the start of the season, will be eligible to return on Apr. 6. He’s been on the shelf since the beginning of the month due to forearm tightness.

If his arm bounces back on Sunday, he’s likely to make his next start as scheduled Tuesday against the Dodgers. Of course, that is a tough assignment, and since the Guardians are off Thursday, it’s likely to be Bibee’s only start of the week. It probably makes sense to sit him in mixed leagues.

Robert played the hero in the 11th inning in a game where runs were at a premium. Down by one run with two runners on, he took Hunter Barco deep for a three-run blast to walk it off. He also drew a walk in the game. The 28-year-old outfielder is making a good first impression with his new club, going 3-for-8 over his first two games with two walks to one strikeout.

Reynolds reached base with a single in the seventh inning, then scored a run in the tenth as the runner starting on second, the first run of the game for Pittsburgh. He then knocked in a run with his second hit of the game in the 11th. The 31-year-old outfielder is looking to bounce back after posting a career-low .720 OPS last season.

Williams got his first work with his new team, pitching in a scoreless tied game in the ninth. He worked around a double and a walk, striking out two to keep the Pirates off the board. As long as he can continue to generate strikeouts, Williams is a great bounce-back candidate as the Mets’ closer.

Peterson did an excellent job managing traffic while holding the Pirates scoreless over 5 1/3 innings. He scattered six hits and two walks while striking out three and generating nine groundouts. One thing to note was his 90 mph average fastball velocity, down a couple of ticks from 92.3 mph last season. The 30-year-old left-hander will make his next start against the Giants in San Francisco on Thursday.

Keller was outstanding on Saturday, holding the Mets scoreless over six frames. He scattered three hits with no walks on an efficient 77 pitches while striking out three batters. Keller would get saddled with a tough-luck no-decision as the Pirates failed to get him any run support. The 29-year-old right-hander draws another tough matchup against the Orioles in Pittsburgh on Friday.

McLain had three hits four times last year. He had two walks seven times. It should surprise no one that he never did both in the same game while batting .220/.300/.343 in 577 plate appearances. He did, however, reach five times on March 31, at which point no one could have guessed what kind of season he’d end up having. Hopes are high again now after McLain hit a ludicrous .509 with seven homers in 18 games this spring. He had the hardest-hit ball of today’s game, checking in at 110.5 mph on a 387-foot double, and also got up to 107.0 mph on one of his singles.

After two scoreless innings, Singer gave up a Trevor Story homer in the third and two more runs on three singles and a wild pitch in the fourth. That got him up to 74 pitches, and since the latter half of his spring was affected by a blister, the Reds didn’t bring him back for the fifth. Singer’s sinker today was down 1.7 mph from last year. He was about one mph better in the spring, so this was probably a temporary drop. He’s due to make his next start Friday in Texas.