MLB Player News

After 6 1/2 years in the Rays organization, Schnell, the 32nd overall pick in the 2018 draft, signed with the Nationals as a minor league free agent last year and hit .257/.321/.478 with 23 homers between Double- and Triple-A. Unfortunately, he struck out a whopping 175 times in 129 games. The Padres gave him a minor league deal in January, and he’s already lasted longer in spring training than should have been expected. Still, he’s probably never going to get a chance to show off his power in the majors unless he cuts back on the whiffs.

Bregman took familiar foe Gerrit Cole deep in the opening frame on a 96.1 mph sinker at the bottom of the strike zone. The 31-year-old free agent import will bat in the heart of Chicago’s lineup and projects as a top-10 range fantasy option at the hot corner heading into the year.

Weathers closed out an extremely impressive spring by limiting a fully loaded Cubs lineup to just a Miguel Amaya homer over five frames out of the bullpen in relief of Gerrit Cole. The most important variable for the 26-year-old southpaw heading into the regular season is that he’s healthy after being limited by injury to just 24 starts over the past two seasons. He was a popular late-round sleeper in fantasy drafts this spring and will make his Yankees debut on Monday against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

It was extremely encouraging to see Cole wrap up spring training by averaging a sizzling 96.3 mph on his fastball, especially since it was a 91-degree afternoon in the Arizona desert. A solo homer by Alex Bregman accounted for all of the damage against him. The 35-year-old veteran fantasy ace will continue building up his pitch count and stamina on a minor league rehab assignment before making his return from Tommy John surgery at some point in late April or early May. He appears to have been undervalued in early-spring drafts based on how his stuff has looked in game action recently.

Cabrera’s mostly excellent spring ends on a sour note after coughing up seven hits, including three home runs, on a 91-degree afternoon in the Arizona desert. He struck out three and issued a pair of walks. Fortunately, the results don’t matter here. The 27-year-old will make his Cubs debut this weekend with an extremely favorable home matchup against the Nationals.

It was Buxton’s second home run of the spring and was a 403-foot shot off Ranger Suarez. The 32-year-old is coming off a career-best season that saw him play the most games he has since 2017 while hitting 35 home runs and stealing 24 bases. The production was obviously great, but Buxton had not played more than 102 games since 2017 before last year, so he remains a major health risk.

Abel also struck out four and walked one while allowing an average exit velocity of 81.2 mph. It was an overall strong performance for Abel, who figures to start against the Royals next week in his first MLB start of the season. If you can wait until Sunday to add Abel, that’s great, but he is a priority waiver target for many right now, so you may need to add him now and hold him until that first start. He has a great foundation with strong fastballs and could be a plus starter for the Twins this season.

Suárez allowed two runs in the first inning and then a two-run home run in the second before settling down and throwing two straight scoreless frames. The fifth inning included three singles and a home run before Suárez was removed from the game. The veteran had only six whiffs on the day, and his velocity was down two mph on his four-seam fastball. We know Suárez is behind schedule due to his time in the World Baseball Classic, so it was good to see him throw 69 pitches here, but he’s also clearly not fully ramped up for the season. We wouldn’t read too much into a spring training start, especially for a pitcher who we know is behind schedule, but we also likely wouldn’t use Suárez against the Astros in his first start.

Lambert has been cut loose to pursue opportunities elsewhere after failing to make Houston’s season-opening rotation as a non-roster invitee.

Leiter walked none to finish the spring with an 18/3 K/BB and a 3.38 ERA in 16 innings. There’s not much in Leiter’s numbers to support him as an above average starter, but with his velocity, even modest improvements in his command or his changeup would still have the potential to lead to a breakthrough. He’ll start the Rangers’ second game of the season Saturday against the Phillies.

Lugo, who was pitching in a game for the first time since being pulled in the first inning of Team Puerto Rico’s loss to Italy on March 14, struck out four and got up to 82 pitches today. His velocity was up 0.5-1 mph from last year, so while the Royals couldn’t have been happy about that very early exit in the WBC, it seems he’s completely set for the start of the regular season. He’ll face the Braves on Sunday.