MLB Player News

Nunez had some flashes early in the season, but the 24-year-old has scuffled as of late to see his ERA balloon to 4.98 with a 38/14 K/BB ratio over 34 1/3 innings. He should be back at some point this summer, but Ryan Helsley (elbow) is back to resume closing duties for Baltimore.

Báez, who put together an unreal four-homer performance earlier this week, is arguably the most intriguing power/speed combo fantasy prospect on the doorstep of the majors, which makes him worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats. The 22-year-old leads the entire International League with 24 round-trippers through 64 games. He’s also chipped in 12 stolen bases during that span. There are some lingering concerns in the contact department since he’s struck out nearly 31 percent of the time at the Triple-A level this season. Still, he offers enough fantasy-relevant skills that fantasy managers should be willing to overlook the contact issues. He figures to get his opportunity with the Cardinals at some point soon.

The central question for fantasy managers is how Ingle fits into Cleveland’s lineup since they swung a trade for defensive-oriented backstop Patrick Bailey last month. The 24-year-old slugging prospect has homered 12 times in 47 games this season and could fill a multi-position role with the Guardians, splitting time between catcher, DH and left field. He’s an interesting prospect that fantasy managers need to have on their radar screens this summer.

Perhaps more importantly, Wells completed the full nine innings behind the plate in his second rehab contest. It’s possible the 26-year-old backstop will return to New York for Friday’s series opener against the Reds, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him play a few additional rehab games before coming back. He’s been on the shelf with cervical headaches since early June.

Pérez threw 51 pitches (37 strikes) in his first rehab outing since hitting the injured list with an unusual thigh muscle strain in his right leg back in late May, which was originally expected to sideline him for two months. The 23-year-old is on track to beat that initial timeline since he’s likely to only need one or two additional rehab outings before returning to Miami’s rotation. He’s struggled to work deep into starts this season, but he’s offered enough strikeouts to remain a relevant fantasy option in most leagues.

Jump was getting a battle at the end of his outing, throwing eight pitches to Denzer Guzman with two outs in the seventh. However, the last of those saw Vaughn Grissom wander too far off first on a ball in the dirt and get picked off by Shea Langeliers. Jump threw 107 pitches, an unusually high total for a rookie hurler in the year 2026, but he was in control from start to finish, striking out a new high of seven batters in his fifth major league start. He’s allowed a total of four runs in his four starts this month, with three of those coming in Las Vegas last week. He should be just fine to use in San Francisco next week.

All five runs came in the first. After a clean single to start the inning, novice outfielder Christian Moore botched Nick Kurtz’s fly to left for a double and back-to-back homers followed. Johnson finally escaped the frame after 35 pitches and then never gave up any extra-base hits or walks afterwards. His career ERA actually dropped from 10.17 to 9.96 with the performance. He’ll probably be sent down for a fresh arm Friday, but we’ll see.

Tyler Soderstrom immediately followed with a solo shot to make it 4-0. Langeliers has seen his production slow in recent weeks — he entered tonight with a .179/.250/.396 line over the previous 30 days — but his Statcast page remains very red, and he’s still hitting in one of the league’s best situations for offense in Sacramento. The homer tonight was his 19th and gave him 39 RBI. He’s 10th in MLB in homers and tied for 14th with 48 RBI.

At least the night doesn’t look quite as bad as it would have if Vaughn Grissom hadn’t gotten a hit to bring him to the plate with two outs in the ninth and given him a chance to collect a late single. Moore, though, had a really tough time in left field, a position he’d played just nine times as a pro and sparingly in college. He misjudged Nick Kurtz’s fly to deep left in the first and gave him a double that helped fuel a five-run inning, and he was charged with an error on a tougher play in the fifth, when he slightly overran Jonah Heim’s fly and had it go off his glove for an error. The Angels might keep Moore in left field for now, but he’d surely be more comfortable at second or third.

This frees up the Pirates to carry on with Endy Rodríguez and Henry Davis behind the plate. Bart has missed the last five weeks with a foot infection, but he’s about ready to return now after going 4-for-16 with a homer in five rehab games, and that the Braves DFA’d Sandy Léon to make room for him suggests he will come off the IL and join the team right away. Bart seemed to have a breakthrough 2024, hitting .265/.337/.462 with 13 homers in 282 plate appearances, but he hasn’t kept it up in coming in at .251/.345/.346 with six homers in 394 plate appearances the last two seasons. The Braves will have him back up Drake Baldwin for now, but like they did with Jonah Heim, they could move on from Bart once Sean Murphy is healthy.

Stratton was designated for assignment on Wednesday. This returns him to the organization that drafted him in 2017 and for which he made 47 major league appearances between 2023 and ’25. The 29-year-old has a 3.75 ERA and a 60/17 K/BB in 69 2/3 innings as a major leaguer. He’d pitched just one inning for the Braves in the majors this season, and the Pirates will stick him in Triple-A for now.