MLB Player News

Robert takes a seat with rookie sensation Carson Benge shifting over to patrol center field and Brett Baty making his first career start in right field. The 28-year-old’s Mets debut has gone swimmingly as he’s hitting .455 (5-for-11) with one homer and five RBI through three games. The home run was a walk-off blast in the 11th inning of Sunday’s marathon extra-inning win over the Pirates.

De La Cruz took Rays starter Steven Matz deep in the opening frame before taking position player Ben Williamson deep in the ninth inning to record his first multi-homer performance of the season. The final blast came in garbage time, but it counts all the same for fantasy purposes. He added an RBI single in the seventh inning to extend Cincinnati’s advantage to nine runs at the time. The dynamic 24-year-old fantasy superstar has left the yard eight times in 24 games, while also chipping in six stolen bases.

Aranda put Tampa Bay on the board with a two-run homer against Reds starter Chase Burns in the sixth inning. He also drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning to pick up an additional RBI. The 27-year-old first baseman has four homers and 19 RBI in 23 games to open the year.

Stewart continues to find a way to make a fantasy impact, even when he’s not driving the ball into the seats. The 22-year-old sensational rookie smacked a two-run single to cap off a four-run outburst in the sixth inning and also added a sacrifice fly in the next frame. He also picked up his sixth stolen base of the year in this one.

Burns carried a shutout into the sixth inning before surrendering a two-run homer to Jonathan Aranda. The hard-throwing 23-year-old righty has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his five starts at the outset of the season, while completing five frames every single time. It’s fair to say he’s exceeded expectations after a rough spring training where it looked at times like he wasn’t going to make the season-opening rotation. He’ll carry a strong 2.57 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 30/11 K/BB ratio over 28 innings into a tasty home matchup against the Rockies on Tuesday.

Matz was burned by the long ball in this one, serving up round-trippers to Elly De La Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Dane Myers. He’s coughed up five homers already in just 24 1/3 innings. The 34-year-old lefty has struggled to work into deep into starts, pitching beyond the fifth inning just twice in five starts. He’ll carry a pedestrian 4.81 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 25/10 K/BB ratio into a road matchup against the Guardians on Monday.

Martínez homered in the second and then helped start a six-run rally in the eighth with a soft single. This comes after he was held out of the lineup two of Cleveland’s previous three games. At .275/.324/.464, he’s been one of the Guardians’ most productive players so far, but the team hasn’t been willing to use him at all in the infield and has turned some of his outfield time over to George Valera, sapping away his fantasy value for the short term.

Although he threw a career-high 112 pitches in his near no-hitter Thursday against the Orioles, Messick pitched on four days’ rest. He still looked good tonight, with his velocity up just slightly over his season norms, and he opened with up four scoreless innings before giving up all three runs in the fifth. Of the Astros’ four hits in the inning, only the first, a groundball single from Isaac Paredes, was a hard-hit ball. Messick, though, didn’t help himself by mixing in a HBP and a walk. Messick’s ERA jumped from 1.05 to 1.76. He’ll likely make his next start Monday against the Rays.

That was close to the best-case scenario, considering that Weiss gave up five hits and walked four of the 19 batters he faced. Weiss hasn’t made it out of the fourth in either of his starts. He has a 6.50 ERA and a 22/14 K/BB in 18 innings overall. The Astros have Thursday and Monday off, so Weiss probably won’t start again in the near future.

After coming in with a 4-2 lead, De Los Santos gave up two hits and a walk while retiring one batter. King took over and gave up two more hits and two walks (one intentional) before finishing the six-run inning. De Los Santos was charged with the loss, while King got the blown save. The two have been the favorites for saves in the Houston pen of late, but it’s hard to justify rostering either right now. Kai-Wei Teng has been the team’s best reliever, but he’s thriving as a multi-inning guy, having pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings tonight. What the Astros really need is for Bryan Abreu to figure things out.

Langford was replaced in left field by Ezequiel Duran after going 0-for-1 with a walk and his third stolen base of the season. It’s worth noting that the issue isn’t related to the minor quad issue that caused him to miss three games earlier this month. There should be an update on his status shortly.