MLB Player News

It was Smith’s first save of the season after allowing four runs in one inning in his first appearance. On Tuesday, Smith avoided any trouble whatsoever and still appears to be ahead of the pack for saves in Kansas City. That said, he is not the most stable of fantasy assets and could have a few more blow-up outings coming his way. The Royals’ two best options if Smith were to falter appear to be James McArthur and John Schreiber, but neither of them is a clear handcuff target either for fantasy purposes.

To think that we were worried about how the Jays would fill the cleanup spot. Giménez is 6-for-18 with three homers, two doubles and three walks while batting behind Anthony Santander. 53% of his 15 balls in play have been hit hard. That figure was 27% in 2023 and 28% last year.

The runs came on back-to-back homers from CJ Abrams and James Wood leading off the sixth. Francis, though, recovered to finish the inning. He had a no-hitter going up to that point, not that there was ever a chance of him finishing the game. Francis actually gave up 20 hits in 15 1/3 innings this spring, but he’s allowed just 26 over 65 innings in his last 10 regular-season starts. He’ll face the Mets on Sunday.

Jeff Hoffman had this one off after throwing 38 pitches the last two days. Garcia has yet to allow a run in three appearances this season. He should be off Tuesday, but the Jays will have Hoffman back to close.

No one ever called Crews the next Rafael Devers, but it would have been fitting; the 2023 first-round pick is 0-for-15 with 10 strikeouts through four games. He did have a 399-foot fly tonight, but it was to the wrong part of the ballpark. He might be in line for a day off against José Berríos on Tuesday.

That Dave Martinez is rolling out new lineups daily based mostly on who went 2-for-4 and who went 0-for-4 the night before isn’t going to work out great for Bell, who got to hit cleanup the first two games. He hit sixth yesterday and fifth today. There’s probably not going to be much in the way of mixed-league value here, particularly with the Nationals being OBP challenged and not having a lot of runners to drive in.

Given some of the offensive lines in week one, maybe it’s a Torpedo baseball, too? It’s De La Cruz’s fourth career two-homer game, and the seven RBI are a career high. Even his lone out today was hit 355 feet, and all five of his balls in play were hit least 99 mph. De La Cruz is the first Red to drive in seven runs since Tyler Naquin and Nick Castellanos did so in 2021.

Singer allowed just one hit, an Adolis Garcia double, and got 15 missed swings on his 92 pitches. Call him Mr. March; Singer’s best start last season was a seven-scoreless-inning, 10-strikeout gem against the Twins on this very same date. His next turn will come in Milwaukee.

The Rangers are one of the rare teams with seven games in seven days to open the season, and they really needed more from Rocker tonight with the bullpen already tired. As it was, they left in the about-to-be-demoted Gerson Garabito to give up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings and then turned to infielder Ezequiel Duran to pitch the final frame. Rocker gave up two homers that accounted for five runs and seven other hard-hit balls. He figures to make another start against the Rays next weekend, but he could be sent down afterwards with Patrick Corbin coming up.

That’s three homers in four games for McLain, who appears to be back on the path to stardom after a lost 2024 due to shoulder surgery. He’s hit .291/.359/.525 with 19 homers in 93 games since debuting in 2023.

Mangum picked up his first major-league hit and stolen base in the second inning before extending Tampa Bay’s early lead with a two-run single in the fourth inning. He also drilled a ground-rule double and came around to score on José Caballero’s extra-base knock in the sixth inning. The unheralded switch-hitting outfielder capped off a four-hit performance, which included a pair of hits from both sides of the plate, with an eighth-inning single. It was certainly a memorable night for Mangum, who figures to continue getting opportunities with Josh Lowe (oblique) facing an extended absence. He’s at least worthy of a speculative flyer in extremely deep mixed leagues and AL-only formats.