MLB Player News

Peña extended Houston’s lead to 5-3 with a homer in the seventh inning off Trevor Richards. The 26-year-old shortstop has homered seven times in 2024, and a three-reach game helps improve his slash to .280/.327/.400 over 325 at-bats.

Coming off consecutive subpar outings, Keller was terrific today, at least aside from a Brandon Nimmo two-run homer. He allowed nothing but singles otherwise, and he wound up with six strikeouts and no walks. Keller improved to 10-5 with a 3.40 ERA. That’s about what he was at this time last year, when he made his first All-Star team, but at least for now, he’s currently set to stay home next week.

Scott allowed just one hit and one walk today, but unfortunately, the former followed the latter and happened to be an Oneil Cruz home run. That was enough to keep Scott winless once again. He’s gone without a victory in spite of allowing two runs or fewer in four of his seven big-league starts and no more than four runs in any.

Cruz has five homers in his last 15 games, and his current .747 OPS is his highest mark since mid-May. It seems like there’s probably still more to come here; Cruz is tied for 10th in the majors with 36 barrels, but he’s merely tied for 36th with his 14 homers.

Palacios delivered 10 homers while batting .239/.279/.413 in 264 plate appearances for the Pirates last season, but he spent the first three months of this year in the minors before being recalled Thursday. He’s since gone 3-for-9 with five walks, which is a little surprising since he totaled just 12 walks in his 91 games last year. The Pirates will continue to give him a fair amount of playing time in right field versus righties.

Francisco Lindor is having the best season of anyone snubbed from the All-Star roster, but that was at least somewhat understandable, given the strength at shortstop in the NL. Nimmo actually seems like the worst snub of all, given how good he’s been and how weak the NL outfield is as a whole. Plus, he’s been a borderline All-Star for several years now and has still never gotten to go to the game. Perhaps that will change as players start to drop out.

Baddoo was sent to the minors on Friday when the team brought back Parker Meadows, but with Meadows getting hurt on Sunday, the Tigers will bring Baddoo back up. The 25-year-old is hitting just .132/.242/.340 with two homers, four RBI, and one stolen base this season and should remain off fantasy radars.

Meadows was making his return to the big league club after being demoted just 32 games into the season. He had made a swing adjustment in the minors that led to a recent surge and was also hitting 4-for-12 with a home run and two RBI in his first three games back with the Tigers before he suffered a hamstring strain. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch didn’t seem optimistic about this being a short stint on the IL, so it may be a while before we see Meadows get another shot in 2024. What brutal luck. Akil Baddoo was called up to take his place on the active roster.

With Javier Báez back from the IL, Kriedler was sent down to make room. The 26-year-old was just 5-for-40 in 19 games with the Tigers this year and will go back to serving as organizational infield depth.

Báez has been out for almost a month with spine inflammation. The veteran went 4-for-12 with one home run in four rehab games at Triple-A and will come back to the big league club. He should remain off fantasy radars, but will likely cut into Zach McKinstry’s playing time at shortstop. Ryan Kreidler was sent down in a corresponding move.

It’s a bit of a surprising move since Wilson has pitched to a 3.46 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 26 innings for the White Sox this season. He might get another chance later this summer, especially after the trade deadline if the White Sox are able to deal Michael Kopech or John Brebbia. Shoot, he might even close for the White Sox if that happens.