MLB Player News

Scott Cousins and Aaron Rowand looked like the favorites to serve as the Marlins’ reserve outfielders at the start of camp, but it’s going to be Coghlan and Austin Kearns making the cut instead. Coghlan, who missed time early on with back problems, is hitting .267 in 45 at-bats, though he’s still without an extra-base hit. He probably won’t have much fantasy value.

Basallo’s first career five-hit effort included three extra-base knocks, including a seventh-inning homer, as he reached the 20-homer threshold for the second time in his career. The 20-year-old power-hitting prodigy missed time earlier this week with an oblique injury, but didn’t show any lingering effects in one of the strongest performances of his career. Basallo would be capable of making an instant impact at the highest level, and offer immediate fantasy relevance, but the Orioles have shown zero sense to promote him to the majors before the 2025 season wraps up.

Tucker returned to Chicago’s lineup for Friday’s series opener against the White Sox after sitting out Wednesday’s contest against Kansas City with a right knee contusion. It doesn’t sound like a serious concern moving forward.

Naylor started at first base and batted cleanup in his Seattle debut against the division-rival Angels. The 28-year-old power-hitter was acquired earlier this week from the Diamondbacks in exchange for a pair of pitching prospects. He adds some much-needed thump to the heart of Seattle’s lineup for the final two months before heading to free agency.

It’s impressive to have a two-homer game against anyone. Hitting two homers against someone like José Soriano — a pitcher that had allowed all of five homers in 120 innings this year coming into Friday evening — is another. The pair of homers bring his total to 17 on the season, and he’s now plated 54 runs. Second-half Julio appears to be here, and fantasy managers should be thrilled.

Soriano allowed four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. The right-hander gave up both runs on homers to Julio Rodríguez, and that’s just the sixth and seventh homer he’s allowed all season. It’s nice to see back-to-back strong starts for Soriano, as he’s had a tendency of following quality starts with less-than-spectacular ones. He’ll get a chance to make it three in a row versus the Rangers on Wednesday.

Woo allowed both of his runs in the first inning on a two-run double by Jo Adell. The right-hander was exceptional from that point on while allowing just four hits in the outing with a pair of walks. Wood has now pitched at least six innings in every start this season, and it hasn’t been just quantity as seen in his 2.91 ERA. He’ll have a chance to keep the good run going against the Athletics on Wednesday.

Kurtz delivered a performance for the ages in Houston, launching a two-run homer in the second, an RBI double in the fourth, a solo shot in the sixth, another solo blast in the eighth, and capped it off with a three-run homer against position player Cooper Hummel in the ninth. In what may be the greatest single-game showing in major league history — rivaling Shawn Green’s iconic four-homer game in 2002 — Kurtz etched his name into the record books, coming up a few feet shy of a five-homer performance. He became just the 20th player ever to homer four times in a game and the first rookie to do it. He also tied the major league record with 19 total bases. The current front-runner for the American League’s Rookie of the Year is now slashing a ridiculous .305/.374/.686 with 23 homers and 59 RBI on the season.

While this game was mostly tight throughout, the Phillies blew it wide open late with 10 runs over the final three innings against the Yankees’ beleaguered bullpen. Schwarber was right in the middle of that onslaught with a two-run, eighth inning homer that was scorched at 115.2 mph. He also accounted for the only damage done against opposing starter Will Warren with another two-run, 113.8 mph shot in the fifth inning. He added a 108.9 mph lineout between those and is in the middle of a special power surge with 10 home runs in his last 15 games.

The Yankees jumped all over Walker for two quick homers in the first two innings. They had another solo shot later, but could never string enough hits together otherwise to put together a real rally. That was surprising though, because Walker allowed 10 hard-hit balls in total and didn’t seem to fool many hitters either with a steady dose of cutters in the strike zone. His next start is scheduled to come on Wednesday against the White Sox.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Volpe can’t exactly figure out the player he wants to be. This home run was his fourth homer in his last six games and came on a swing that was 75.6 mph, three ticks above his season average. He had three hard-hit balls in total and seems to be pushing himself to be a power hitter again, rather than the contact-oriented approach he struggled with over the last few months. Maybe it sticks, or maybe he will try to be a different player again tomorrow.