MLB Player News

The 25-year-old backstop tagged Yankees’ starter Max Fried for his 386-foot (104.0 mph EV) solo shot to open the fifth inning. He also drew a walk in the eighth inning and scored on a two-run double off the bat of Shawn Ross. Rodríguez is enjoying a nice spring, hitting .250 (5-for-20) with a pair of homers, five RBI and a stolen base. If he works his way back into the Pirates’ catching mix, he could wind up being an interesting deep league option for fantasy purposes.

Dezenzo will be able to DH, and an MRI showed “everything fully intact structurally,” so this doesn’t seem to be a major issue; however, it could hurt the 25-year-old’s chances of making the Opening Day roster.

The 28-year-old fractured the ring finger on his throwing hand during the first week of March, so it’s a good sign that he’s already throwing. If his finger is able to withstand the force of hitting off live pitching, there is a chance that he could be ready for Opening Day. If not, it doesn’t appear that he will miss too much time.

Espada is a reliever who is currently on the 40-man roster, so he should begin the year in Triple-A. De León is one of the team’s top starting pitching prospects and a top 100 prospect in baseball, according to FanGraphs. He reached Double-A last year and posted a 3.30 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 107/41 K/BB ratio in 87 1/3 innings across three levels. He should start the season at Double-A again with a chance for an early promotion to Triple-A if he pitches well.

Nori is fresh off a strong World Baseball Classic campaign, where he went 8-for-20 (.400) with two home runs, six RBI, and two steals. The 2024 first-round pick will likely begin the season at Double-A and could push for MLB at-bats in 2027. Reyes could also head to Double-A, but he did get six games at Triple-A last season after slashing .335/.365/.572 with 15 home runs and 13 steals in 95 Double-A games. Maybe the Phillies have seen enough of him at that level.

Sasaki pitched scoreless first and second innings before walking three in a row with one out in the third. He was pulled at that point, and Nick Robertson went on to strand the bases loaded. Sasaki came back out in the fourth and gave up a two-run homer to Luca Tresh before finishing the inning. He again returned in the fifth, but he was pulled after Starling Marte’s leadoff double. In all, Sasaki struck out five and walked four. His fastball averaged 97.9 mph and topped out at 99.5. The improvement in his stuff from last year provides hope that he’ll be of use in mixed leagues eventually. We wouldn’t want to count on him initially, though.

Falter was originally going to start the game, but the Royals changed their minds and had him pitch behind Aaron Sanchez, since he’s probably going to be a middle reliever once the season starts. The switch obviously worked out well, except for the rest of the Royals’ pitchers giving up 10 runs over six innings in the loss.

The double was a 109-mph laser to center. If Marte could still play quality defense in a corner, he’d probably be a solid enough regular at age 37. As is, it’s probably for the best that the Royals will mostly limit him to at-bats in left field and at DH against lefties. It shouldn’t be enough to make him helpful outside of deep AL-only leagues.

Freeland had a nice opportunity this spring with Tommy Edman out and Hyeseong Kim away. but after reaching on five-of-six plate appearances in his first two games, he’s gone 3-for-35 in his last 14 games. It seems like a given he’ll be opening up in Triple-A.

Ballesteros’s homers were projected at 423 and 441 feet. He also walked and struck out. Ballesteros was DHing tonight for the third time this spring. He’s started six games at catcher and one at first base. It’s unclear just how much catching he’ll do in the regular season with the Cubs wanting to get both Carson Kelly, who went 3-for-4 with a homer of his own tonight, and Miguel Amaya playing time, but it sure would be nice if he could gain position eligibility there in leagues in which he’s currently only a DH.

Jeimer Candelario’s solo homer in the fifth was the only hit given up by Imanaga tonight. With his velocity up across the board this spring, Imanaga is looking like a nice bounce-back candidate and an underrated draft-day option.