MLB Player News

No comment yet from MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, who was the source of Taylor’s unretirement on Saturday. That appears to be a case of getting some wires crossed. The 35-year-old Taylor was hitting .255/.382/.321 in 32 games for Triple-A Salt Lake in the Angels organization before suffering a fractured forearm when he was hit by a pitch Wednesday.

Duran’s 15th homer overtook his previous high of 14 from 2023. His .273/.331/.450 line this year is a near match for his .276/.324/.443 line from his one other nice season as a big leaguer. He hit just .237/.278/.309 with three homers over 504 plate appearances in the two years in between.

86 pitches to get nine outs. Rocker struck out seven of the 17 batters he faced today, but four walked and the six who put the ball in play against him collected four singles. Rocker finishes August with a 6.00 ERA, 31 strikeouts and 17 walks in 27 innings over six starts. It’d seem to be time to try him in relief if either Nathan Eovaldi or Jack Leiter were ready to return, but since they’re clearly not, Rocker should face the Rays next weekend.

Latz fanned one and got a couple of easy flyballs to end the game. It’s the first time in eight appearances this month that he went without walking a batter. Only the first of those appearances was a bad one, though. He’s pitched nine scoreless innings and collected six saves in his last seven outings.

May had decent enough stuff today after leaving his last start because a comebacker got him in the shoulder, but the five hard-hit balls he allowed all did damage, turning into a homer, three doubles and a single, and he hurt the cause by walking three batters and hitting another. He dropped to 6-9 with a 4.69 ERA. He’ll face the Reds next weekend.

Carter has hit .145/.188/.197 in 82 plate appearances this month, lowering his OPS from .672 to .608. His defense in center still grades out well, and he’s not going to make much money as a first-time arbitration-eligible player next year, so September isn’t necessarily a make-or-break month for his future in Texas. It sure would be nice to see something encouraging from him offensively, though.

It’s been slow going in recent years, but Sánchez is the 21st catcher (min. 50 percent of career games) to reach 200 homers. Four of those catchers barely made it (200 for Bill Freehan, 201 for Gene Tenace and 202 for Bill Dickey and Todd Hundley), so Sánchez should move up a few spots quickly. He will, however, also get overtaken by Willson Contreras, who is at 198 and is still a couple of years away from no longer qualifying here.

The homer was a two-run blast off Seth Lugo in the fourth, J-Ram’s first since June 6. He missed time with a hamate injury, which has since sapped some of his power. It was only his 11th homer of the season, though he’s partially made up for it with 31 stolen bases. Ramírez is on pace for his third consecutive 40-steal season despite the injury. Flashing more power down the stretch will go a long way toward easing any concerns fantasy managers have entering 2027, his age-34 campaign.

Messick struck out five and walked two, lowering his ERA to 2.46. He gave up a first-inning run but quickly settled down as Cleveland’s offense exploded in the middle innings. Messick has had a phenomenal rookie season. He easily leads all rookie pitchers in fWAR and has the third-lowest ERA among American League starters. His fWAR is already in the top 10 for rookie arms dating back to 2000, and there’s a meaningful chance he finishes in the top three. Spencer Strider in 2022 and Yu Darvish in 2012 are at the top of that leaderboard he’s chasing down.

Lugo’s ERA climbed over 5.00 with the disastrous outing, which included home runs from José Ramírez and Nathaniel Lowe. The veteran righty had a career-best season two years ago, his first with the Royals, throwing 206 2/3 innings with a 3.00 ERA. He hasn’t replicated that since. He’ll look to bounce back with a home start against the Blue Jays next time out.

That makes 21 RBI in 23 games for Adell since the Guardians acquired him at this summer’s trade deadline. He has consistently hit in the heart of the order, which has lengthened the team’s lineup alongside José Ramírez’s return from injury. Fellow newcomer Nathaniel Lowe also drove in three in Sunday’s offensive eruption against Seth Lugo. Adell will be arbitration-eligible for the final time in 2027, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Guardians handle his contract this offseason.