MLB Player News

It’s great to see Scott getting a chance to play over Preston Wilson against right-handers. He’s not going to stay this hot forever, but he could remain a significant upgrade. Wilson will remain in the lineup against left-handers.

There haven’t been any rumblings of Toglia dealing with any sort of injury, so perhaps the new coaching staff is working with Toglia to retool his swing and that’s the reason for the extended absence. Either way, he shouldn’t be anywhere near fantasy lineups at the moment. Kyle Farmer will once again start in his place at first base and bat seventh for the Rockies against Clarke Schmidt and the Yankees.

It appears to be a routine night off for the dynamic 32-year-old, and getting him a breather against a right-hander makes a great deal of sense. Miles Mastrobuoni will start in his place at second base and bat eighth for the M’s against Ryan Gusto and the Astros on Friday evening in Houston.

The Red Sox scored 13 times off Cionel Pérez and Emmanuel Rivera in the eighth to turn this one into a laugher. Devers’ first homer came in a 3-2 game in the sixth, but the rout was already on when he hit the grand slam off a position player in Rivera. It’s his 19th career multi-homer game, and the eight RBI topped his previous high by two. He’s the first Red Sox player to have eight RBI since Mookie Betts in 2017, and he’s now first in the majors with 47 RBI.

With Andrew Vaughn and Tim Elko both optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, it looks like Vargas will see the bulk of the playing time at first base for the White Sox. He has picked it up dramatically after a brutal start to the season, slashing .258/.324/.545 with five homers and 12 RBI since the calendar flipped to May.

He allowed six hits and walked one. It took Bello 87 pitches to get his 12 outs, so the Red Sox didn’t send him back out for the fifth. It’s the fourth straight start in which he’s failed to complete five innings, though he’s only been truly ineffective in one of those outings (he gave up seven runs to the Braves on Sunday). There might still eventually some hope of mixed-league value here, but there’s no reason to roster him right now. He’ll face either the Brewers or Braves on the road next time out.

No one would believe it from the 19-5 final score, but the Orioles were up 2-1 when Povich departed. He has a 3.86 ERA and a 26/9 K/BB over 28 innings in his last five starts. That’s not reason to pick him up in mixed leagues, but the Orioles will take it. He’ll probably make his next start Wednesday against the Cardinals.

It could have been an even better day, as he had a homer taken away from him by right fielder Heston Kjerstad in his first at-bat. Alternatively, it could have been a considerably worse day if the Orioles didn’t bring in Emmanuel Rivera in the eighth. Both of Narváez’s doubles and his two RBI came against the third baseman. He’s all the way up to .291/.357/.480 for the season, and he’s playing his way into All-Star consideration, which is pretty good for someone who wouldn’t have made the old paper ballots.

Refsnyder was thinking a couple of years ago that he’d be retired by now. Instead, he’s hitting .325/.352/.633 with four homers in 54 plate appearances as Boston’s lefty killer. He’s batting .290/.357/.495 with 15 homers in 361 plate appearances since the beginning of last year.

The Mariners wanted to add a fresh arm to their bullpen that could give them some length on Friday night, as their bullpen has been taxed recently and Friday’s starter Emerson Hancock has struggled to work deep into games. Castano had been working as a starter at Triple-A Tacoma where he registered a 3.43 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and a 28/19 K/BB ratio across 44 2/3 innings. He’ll be making his big league debut if he gets into a game with the M’s.

The 35-year-old hurler was just promoted from Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday. He appeared in three games this season with the Mariners, posting a 5.40 ERA, 2.20 WHIP and a 3/5 K/BB ratio across five innings of work. It seems likely that he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed, where it’ll then be up to Hahn if he wants to accept an outright assignment back to Tacoma or peddle his wares on the open market.