MLB Player News

Finally. Rice will get a chance to face Royals left-hander Noah Cameron after spending the first couple of weeks on the bench against southpaws in favor of veteran Paul Goldschmidt. The 27-year-old burgeoning slugger launched his sixth round-tripper of the season during Friday’s series opener at Yankee Stadium and is hitting .339 (20-for-59) through 19 games this season. He’s 4-for-15 with one homer against lefties this year and is beginning to see more opportunities in those matchups, which would provide a meaningful boost to his fantasy value from a volume standpoint.

Kim has been sidelined since the winter with a torn tendon in his middle finger, so he will need a long ramp-up. The Double-A team plays six games this week, so Kim could stay with them the whole week before moving up to Triple-A. If all goes well, he could be in Atlanta by the middle of May.

Ewing is MLB Pipeline’s 85th-ranked prospect overall. The 21-year-old is off to a strong start to the season, slashing .349/.481/.571 with two homers and 12 steals in 18 games at Double-A. The speed is obviously elite, and he stole 70 bases in the minor leagues last season, but it’s nice to see the two home runs after he hit just three last year. His defensive fit is going to be a bit more of a question mark. He has played primarily center field this season, with four games at second base. Marcus Semien seems locked into the second base job, and Luis Robert is going to play center field unless he gets hurt, so it might take an injury to open up a job for Ewing.

Bazzana is off to a good start at Triple-A, slashing .287/.422/.511 with two home runs, 10 RBI, eight steals, and a 25/21 K/BB ratio. The 25 strikeouts in 24 games isn’t ideal, but his walk rate is tremendous and shows a strong sense of the strike zone. The speed has also been nice after he stole only 12 bases in 84 games last year. The Guardians are struggling to find an option at second base, so Bazzana could enter the conversation.

Eldridge now has three home runs and 14 RBI on the year while slashing .305/.411/.463. He does have 33 strikeouts in 25 games, so he will need to continue to work on making more consistent contact before the Giants give him another shot at the big leagues. However, the 21-year-old is close.

In 10 games at Triple-A, Marte is hitting .452/.500/.714 with two home runs, three RBI, six steals, and an 8/4 K/BB ratio. The Reds continue to play him only in the outfield, but with Ke’Bryan Hayes continuing to struggle with the bat, you have to wonder if Marte’s time in Triple-A might be better served getting him more reps at third base again to see if he can be a long-term solution there for the Reds.

Waldschmidt now has three home runs on the year while hitting .317/.416/.529 with 19 RBI and four steals. Lourdes Gurriel’s return has clogged his path to MLB at-bats a little bit, but if he keeps hitting like this into May, the Diamondbacks may need to think about a call-up.

The scoreless innings are great, but Priester also threw just 18 of his 45 pitches for strikes, which is a 40 percent strike rate. On top of that, his cutter averaged 88.7 mph, which is 3.6 mph below his normal velocity. His sinker was also 2.3 mph below his normal mark, and he only threw five of them on the day, none for strikes. There still seems to be a long way to go here. We would not be stashing Priester in fantasy leagues unless you have lots of IL spots.

Strider was still sitting just 95 mph with his four-seam fastball, but he did maintain that velocity through five innings, so that’s a positive. His slider had a 61 percent strike rate and 54 percent whiff rate, and he threw 61 percent of his 82 pitches for strikes overall. It’s hard to see the Braves keeping him in the minors much longer. They have shifted around their rotation with Reynaldo Lopez heading to the bullpen, and Martin Perez starting on Tuesday. That would make it very easy for Strider to pitch this weekend in Perez’s spot. However, that game is in Coors, and Strider still does not look like his pre-surgery self, so we would proceed with caution.

Tong struck out six, but he also walked three while throwing 50 of 86 pitches for strikes. It hasn’t been the start to the season that many hoped for Tong, as he has a 5.68 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 25 1/3 innings. He has struck out 38 batters over that time, but he needs to get the walks and home runs in check if he’s going to push for a spot in the Mets’ rotation.

Volpe will head to Double-A Somerset to start the week because they are closer to New York, and will play three games in two days on Tuesday and Wednesday. That could mean Volpe returns to the Yankees on Thursday. If he pushes Jose Caballero off of shortstop, that could mean Caballero gets more at-bats in the outfield or third base, which might impact playing time for Ryan McMahon or Jasson Dominguez.