MLB Player News

Freeland was unable to make the start in the series finale against San Diego, and his status going forward will likely be determined by imaging. Even if there’s nothing structurally wrong with Freeland, a trip to the injured list can’t be ruled out.

The shot to right off Brandon Woodruff was his first pulled homer of the year. He’d previously hit two to straightaway center and two to left-center. It’d be nice if he could go the short way more often, but no one is complaining while he’s hitting .274/.392/.613.

Brice Turang homered twice and Jake Bauers got him once. Littell has surrendered five homers but just seven total runs in 15 innings for the Nationals, leaving him with an adequate 4.20 ERA. He’ll face the Giants on Friday.

Clayton Beeter was off today after working the previous two days. Cole Henry seemed like he might be the primary fallback, but he came in mid-batter in the seventh today after a Ken Waldichuk injury and finished off a walk to Brice Turang before walking William Contreras and giving up a homer to Gary Sánchez. So, that won’t help his stock. The interesting thing there is that he was allowed to be removed after the homer, even though he officially faced just two batters; the initial walk was credited to Waldichuk yet still counted as far as the three-batter rule for Henry. PJ Poulin got four outs after replacing Henry, and Varland did a fine job in retiring Joey Ortiz, Turang and Contreras. Varland, who has allowed three runs in five innings, probably will be a factor in the ninth for the Nationals if Beeter struggles or gets hurt.

He left with a one-run lead that disappeared right away in the seventh. Woodruff surely would have liked to have still been pitching at that point; it took him just 70 pitches to get his 18 outs. His velocity is creeping back up some, and signs point to him being plenty valuable in mixed leagues while healthy. He’ll face the Marlins next.

Turang’s hardest-hit ball through his first two big-league seasons (2023 and ’24) was 108.3 mph. He topped 104 mph on three percent of his balls in play. Today, he came in at 109.6 and 104.0 mph on his homers and 106.9 mph on a line-drive single. He’s hitting .298/.441/.617 with three homers and five steals in 13 games.

This makes back-to-back games for Ohtani hitting leadoff dingers, with this one coming off Jacob deGrom. He’s now hit five homers over 15 games — a 54-homer pace — and he’s slashing a very Ohtani-like .286/.425/.571. Special stuff.

Carter smoked a 388-foot shot off Roki Sasaki to tie the game at 1-1 in the third inning. He also drew a pair of walks, and the 23-year-old has improved his slash to .233/.365/.442. If he can stay healthy, Carter could be in for a big 2026 campaign, and fantasy managers have obviously seen what he’s capable of when healthy and at his best.

Jakob Junis is the closer of the Texas Rangers. Weird. That’s the third save of the season for the right-hander, and he’s gotten the ninth inning in his last three appearances. The 33-year-old has looked the part thus far, and did so again Sunday with a pair of strikeouts versus one walk and not allowing a hit. It seems like the leash for Junis will be thin, but for those hunting for saves, if he’s still unrostered, there it is.

Sasaki had quality stuff in Sunday’s loss, which isn’t a surprise. He was able to procure 15 swings and misses among his 94 pitches, and his slider was particularly effective; generating five whiffs on 11 swings. The issue was once again control, as he walked five hitters and threw just 51 of those 94 pitches for strikes. There’s no denying that Sasaki has the swing-and-miss stuff to be one of the best fantasy starters in baseball, but until he figures out how to locate it, there are going to be more outings like this that frustrate more than satisfy. He’s scheduled to face the Rockies in Colorado next Sunday.

After giving up a homer to Cal Raleigh in the first inning in his last outing, deGrom gave up another solo dinger early, this time to Shohei Ohtani. From that point on, the 37-year-old was fantastic, allowing only three more hits and generating 15 swings and misses in the contest before exiting. His fastball averaged 97.2 mph, so the minor knee discomfort he was dealing with clearly didn’t have a major affect during Sunday’s bout. He’ll have a good chance to miss more bats when he faces the Mariners on Friday in Seattle.