MLB Player News

That just feels right. Jones last played in the majors in 2019 as a member of the Diamondbacks before a two-year stint in Japan with the Orix Buffaloes between 2020-2021. He originally came up with the Mariners in 2006 before being dealt to Baltimore in the Erik Bedard trade, which worked out wonderfully for the Orioles, as he would go on to spend 11 seasons with the club. Jones emerged as a cornerstone member of the team while making five All-Star teams and winning a Gold Glove. He’ll finish his career with 1,939 hits, 282 home runs, 945 RBI, and a .277/.317/.454 batting line over 1,823 major league games.

Because he plays for the worst team in baseball, Freeman hasn’t gotten enough attention for how good he’s been in his first year with the Rockies. The 26-year-old has his second three-hit game in the month of July, and is now slashing .338/.422/.456. He’s also added 12 stolen bases, so the only thing to complain about here is the lack of power. If he keeps hitting at a semblance of this average, it won’t matter as much.

Sosa ambushed a German Márquez pitch in the second inning to give the White Sox a 5-2 lead with a runner on. He singled in two in the eighth as well to up that lead to 8-2, and it gives him 27 RBI to go with seven homers. Sosa is slashing .275/.294/.419 on the campaign, but doesn’t get enough help — or steal enough bases — to be a must-roster player in leagues.

Montgomery went hitless in his MLB debut Friday, but his first hit in the majors was a triple, and he added a pair of singles for a three-knock night. Montgomery was once considered one of the upper-echelon prospects in baseball, but hasn’t played up to that level in a while. Considering he’s only 23, there’s time for him to find that form, but fantasy managers should remain skeptical for now.

Oh, right. That Germán Márquez. After pitching solidly in his last four starts, Márquez was awful against Chicago, and he’s now 3-10 on the season with an abhorrent 5.84 ERA to go with that record. He should be nowhere near fantasy lineups when he faces the Reds in Cincinnati on Friday.

Cannon was not exactly dominant as he allowed eight hits and only picked up one strikeout against two walks, but effective nonetheless while picking up his third win. This was his second start since coming off the injured list, and it’s good to see him get into the sixth inning after going just three against the Giants last week. His final start before the break will come Thursday against the Guardians.

Valdez gave up a solo homer in the first, another run in the second and then a two-run homer in the fourth, but he held the line from there and moved into a tie for the major league lead with 10 wins this season. That’s quite an accomplishment, given that he was 1-4 through seven starts. He’s 9-0 in his last 11 outings. Valdez will finish off the first half Friday against the Rangers.

Hader was brought in to face pinch-hitter Michael Conforto in the eighth, but he wound up facing Esteury Ruiz instead and struck him out. He then allowed only a Shohei Ohtani single during the ninth. Hader is all alone in first place in the majors in saves, one ahead of Carlos Estévez and Robert Suarez.

Ohtani got three strikeouts while facing the minimum tonight. At the plate, he hit a couple of hard grounders for outs before finally singling off Josh Hader in the ninth. That failed to lead to a rally, though.

He struck out six, but he gave up seven hits, including a Yainer Diaz homer. With an off day Thursday, the Dodgers might send down Wrobleski through the All-Star break and get him some work in Triple-A. If not, he could again pitch in a bulk role Friday or Saturday.

In spite of his success tonight, Rojas was removed in favor of Michael Conforto against Bryan Abreu in the eighth. The Astros countered with Josh Hader and then the Dodgers went to Esteury Ruiz, who struck out. Rojas has started two of the three games at third base since Max Muncy went down, but the team does have Tommy Edman worked out there and could soon start using Edman at third and Hyeseong Kim at second against lefties.