MLB Player News

With his velocity up by 1.5 mph and some extra movement on his sinker, Kochanowicz might rank as one of the Cactus League’s most improved players. Still, he was so bad last year that he could take two steps forward and still be below average for the Angels. He’s in line to start in Houston against the Astros on Sunday.

Realmuto will continue receiving treatment and should benefit from Thursday’s off-day after suffering a contusion when he fouled a ball off his right foot during Tuesday’s game in San Francisco. It’ll be a pain-tolerance issue that determines whether Realmuto is ready later this week. It’ll be Rafael Marchán handling the catching duties if he’s unable to go.

The procedure, performed by Dr. Keith Meister, will sideline Eflin until at least the early stages of the 2027 season. The 32-year-old veteran suffered the injury during his season debut last week, and it marks the first reconstructive surgery of his career. His absence is a significant hit to Baltimore’s rotation depth and likely means that one of Dean Kremer, Cade Povich or Brandon Young will have to step into a more prominent role this season.

It’s a significant milestone as Smith-Shawver continues working his way back from last year’s Tommy John surgery. The 23-year-old former top pitching prospect figures to be ready to rejoin Atlanta’s rotation mix at some point in the second half, barring any setbacks.

Cease struck out eight while allowing one unearned run in a tie game through five. If he’d still been pitching for the Padres, that probably would have been the end of his day. However, the Blue Jays were hoping for a little more, given the current state of their rotation. Unfortunately, the sixth started with a walk, a single and another walk, necessitating his removal. Louis Varland came in with the bases loaded and none out and managed to strand two of three baserunners, with Teoscar Hernández’s sac fly producing one run. Cease has a 2.45 ERA through three starts, but he’s yet to be involved in a decision. He’ll face Milwaukee next time out.

Hoffman had to face the top of the Dodgers order today. He struck out Shohei Ohtani before Kyle Tucker singled and Will Smith walked. He then got Freddie Freeman to chase strike three and induced an easy groundout from Max Muncy to end the game. Hoffman is just 2-for-4 saving games, but he has a 15/2 K/BB (with the only previous walk being intentional) in 6 2/3 innings.

Ohtani left with a one-run lead, but that was blown right away in the seventh in the eventual 4-3 loss. The Dodgers were hamstrung today after Ohtani’s very first pitch of the game was accidentally challenged; Ohtani was just adjusting his cap, but catcher Will Smith saw him and tapped his head, thinking Ohtani wanted an overrule. However, the ball was clearly low, and the Dodgers never risked using their second challenge, even though they had a couple of occasions when they should have. Ohtani ended up going 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts at the plate. He struck out only two on the mound and was often checking out his hand late in the outing, indicating that perhaps he was having a nail or blister issue. His velocity was better today; he averaged 98.3 mph with his fastball, up from 96.8 mph in his debut. He’ll probably make his next start on six days’ rest next Wednesday against the Mets.

Smith raised his OBP from .278 to .341 today. He hasn’t gotten hot yet, but batting between third and fifth for the Dodgers, he has six runs scored and eight RBI while starting nine of 12 games.

The reigning NL Player of the Week saw his hitting streak snapped at eight games. He’s fanned nine times in his last four games after totaled four in his first eight games.

It sounds like a trip to the injured list is on the table for Meyers after dealing with a back issue during spring training. There should be a definitive update on his status at some point in the near future. An extended absence would pave the way for Joey Loperfido in center field with Brice Matthews seeing more time in left field.

The encouraging update here is that Rasmussen and his family are healthy and doing well after his wife gave birth to their second child earlier this week. The 30-year-old righty had been scheduled to take the ball on Tuesday against the Cubs. It sounds like he’ll be ready for Friday’s showdown against the Yankees at Tropicana Field.