MLB Player News

Culpepper’s home run was off Payton Tolle, and the 23-year-old is now up to three home runs on the season while hitting .294 with eight RBI and a .927 OPS. Brooks Lee has been off to a slow start in the big leagues, so there is a chance that Culpepper, who is MLB Pipeline’s 52nd-ranked prospect, could push Lee for a job by May if he keeps this up.

The Braves thought they might have something in Kerr, a former Padres reliever, a couple of years ago, but he got hurt that June and has gone the last two years without pitching in a game. He’s finally ready to now, but he’s going to have to prove himself all over again in the minors. The 31-year-old has a 5.30 ERA in 54 1/3 career innings in the majors, though it comes with a pretty nice 65/20 K/BB.

Honeycutt missed some time with a quad strain last month. The contact-challenged 23-year-old is hitting .180/.287/.346 with nine homers, 28 steals and 107 strikeouts in 248 plate appearances for Frederick.

Krook has declined the assignment and become a free agent. The 31-year-old allowed two runs in 2 2/3 innings during his brief time with the Nationals.

Jones has struggled mightily this year, but it’s possible he’ll go back to being useful against lefties. He’s out of options, so he’ll go on the major league roster and probably take Nate Eaton’s spot on Boston’s bench.

Despite falling to the 83rd pick in the draft, Hirschkorn, a right-hander out of a California high school, gets mid-first round money from the Braves. It’s actually the same bonus the Braves’ first pick at ninth overall, AJ Gracia, is getting, which is obviously intentional. Gracia signed for nearly $3 million under slot, and Hirschkorn is getting $3 million over slot.

The 30-year-old Martin was the Royals ' 25th-round pick in 2014. After seven years in the system, he joined the Nats organization in 2022 and then landed in indy ball for a time. He rejoined the Royals in 2025 and has been excellent this year, hitting .284/.414/.441 with 33 steals between Double- and Triple-A. It seems unlikely that another club would be willing to bring him right to the majors, but a contender might be open to adding him to the 40-man and looking at him as a potential tactical option down the stretch and in the postseason.

McGee, 28, was DFA’d by the Brewers on Friday. He pitched two scoreless innings for Milwaukee earlier this season and has a 3.08 ERA in 26 1/3 innings as a major league since debuting with the Rays in 2022, but since he doesn’t light up the radar guns or post big strikeout or groundball numbers, he’d had difficulty getting an extended look.

According to MLB.com, Mears had a setback last week after throwing to hitters, so he was destined to miss at least another month. This officially rules him out until July 27. He had a 5.12 ERA in 19 1/3 innings before going down at the end of May.

Smith began the season as the White Sox’s Opening Day starter and was demoted to Triple-A after only three starts. He then suffered a rotator cuff strain at the end of April and has been sidelined ever since. While a return to the Triple-A rotation doesn’t mean he’s close to a big league return, getting the 26-year-old healthy and effective would be a big win for the White Sox as they enter the playoff race.

Ayers has enjoyed a breakout season in his second full professional year. He hit six home runs in 11 games at High-A and was immediately promoted to Double-A, where he hit .304/.417/.591 with 16 home runs, 48 RBI, and three steals in 65 games. That came with a 15.1 percent walk rate. Ayers was old for the level at Double-A, so we’ll need to see if he can keep it up in Triple-A, but the power in his bat looks very real.