MLB Player News

Rivero last appeared in the majors for the Royals, getting into 34 contests over a two-year period from 2021-2022. He spent all of last season at Triple-A Charlotte and Double-A Birmingham in the White Sox’ organization. The 25-year-old backstop provides the Braves with some emergency catching depth heading into next season.

Littell pitched well enough to win this game and he was in position to do so until his bullpen promptly blew their lead. Alas, a solo home run by Harrison Bader was the only blemish on his line as he kept his fastballs high and splitters low in what was another quality start. That gave Littell 12 quality starts this season, which is just two off the league lead. Regularly pitching deep into games and holding on to a great 3.50 ERA has made him a reliable yet boring option in all leagues this season.

Can anyone or anything stop Raleigh right now? His first home run of this game was a 433 foot no-doubter that he scalded at 115.2 mph off the bat. He hit another off Pirates’ starter Bailey Falter a few innings later, and those were just two of the three total hits Falter allowed overall. That’s now 13 home runs since the start of June for Raleigh who is three clear of Aaron Judge for the league lead. The MVP race between those two figures to be one of the best stories this summer.

Woo just goes out there every fifth day and dominates. He had to work through a few long innings that drove his pitch count up and he struggled to get strike one on too many hitters, but this was another tremendous start. Despite falling behind a bit more often than usual, he had the confidence to go to both his slider and sweeper more often than usual. Those two pitches forced seven of his 12 total swings-and-misses and the slider was especially strong against left-handed batters. He’s scheduled for a fun start at Yankee Stadium next week before what’s hopefully his first All-Star game appearance soon thereafter.

Apart from Gonzales, the Pirates’ offense was absent against Bryan Woo in this one. He had three of their five total hits and their only one that went for extra bases in a shutout loss. Quietly, Gonzales has been a highly productive hitter since returning from his fractured ankle with a .308 batting average and .835 OPS over more than 100 at-bats. He’s also regularly hit fourth in the Pirates’ order over the past two weeks.

To start with the good news, Falter only allowed three hits in this game. Now the bad news, all three were home runs. Cal Raleigh hit two – the first coming after an error by first baseman Spencer Horwitz which added an unearned run to Falter’s line – and Randy Arozarena hit another. Falter has a surprisingly low 3.69 ERA on the season and has a nice matchup with the Royals coming up next.

The 33-year-old right-hander elected free agency earlier in the week after refusing an outright assignment to Triple-A Reno from the Diamondbacks. Scott had posted a 9.00 ERA, 1.89 WHIP and a 7/4 K/BB ratio over nine innings in six appearances out of the D’Backs’ bullpen. He’ll add extra depth for the Astros at the Triple-A level.

The 38-year-old hurler had been designated for assignment last weekend. He passed through waivers unclaimed and rather than assigning him outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, the club granted him his release. It’s unclear if García plans to pursue opportunities elsewhere, or if this could be the end of the line for him. He posted a 5.27 ERA, 1.83 WHIP and a 24/16 K/BB ratio over 27 1/3 innings during his time with the Dodgers.

The 28-year-old infielder suffered the injury during Wednesday’s battle against the Rays. The timing works out, as Zack Gelof returned from the injured list on Friday to take his place on the active roster — and would have significantly cut into Urias’ playing time. No word yet on how long he’ll be shelved for.

The dynamic 25-year-old second baseman will make his highly anticipated return to the A’s lineup on Friday evening against the Giants. Gelof will bat eighth against Giants’ right-hander Justin Verlander for his season debut on Friday night in West Sacramento. He makes for an intriguing addition in deeper mixed leagues for those looking for power and speed out of a middle infield spot. Just don’t anticipate him hitting for a good batting average.

The first game of the Subway Series in Citi Field went much differently for Soto than back in May when these two teams met in Yankee Stadium. His Mets fell behind 2-0 after the top of the first and he responded with a two-run homer of his own in the bottom of the frame. It was a huge moment and he followed it up with a double in his next at-bat before Pete Alonso drove him in for what at the time was a go-ahead run. Soto singled again later on, falling just a triple short of the cycle. He even hit another ball to the warning track in his final plate appearance. After a ‘cold’ start to the season, he now has 21 home runs and a .915 OPS that continues to climb.