MLB Player News

Heaney and Carlos Rodón were both outstanding Tuesday, but neither ends up getting a decision. Heaney gave up three hits with one walk, and was rarely in trouble while throwing 54-of-86 pitches for strikes. The 33-year-old has now allowed just one run over his last 10 innings, and his ERA has improved to a respectable 3.86 in the process.

The 33-year-old defensive specialist started in left field and hit leadoff for the White Sox in this one. He worked Triston McKenzie for a walk to begin the fifth inning, swiped second base and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Austin Slater. With Andrew Benintendi (hand) shelved to start the season, the door appears to be open for Taylor to secure a regular role in the White Sox’ outfield for the first month of the season.

The 33-year-old southpaw recorded a pair of strikeouts — Daniel Schneemann and Dom Nunez — and didn’t walk a batter (though he did hit one). Regardless of how he pitches this spring, Pérez has a secure spot in the White Sox’ opening day rotation. His lack of strikeouts however, combined with the poor run support that he’s likely to receive, render him a poor option for fantasy purposes. That’s why his average draft position resides outside of the top 500 players overall.

The 26-year-old southpaw piled up four strikeouts on the afternoon while allowing only one free pass, though he also plunked two batters including Andrew Benintendi who suffered a fractured hand. The lone hit that Allen allowed was a leadoff single to Tristan Gray to begin the third inning. He got five whiffs on 44 offerings, posting a CSW of 32 percent. He’s still a long way away from being a viable fantasy option, but this was a nice step in the right direction.

Yikes. McKenzie entered the game to start the fourth inning and walked Austin Slater to start things off. After getting Josh Rojas on a fly ball, he walked Brandon Drury and Omar Narvaez to load the bases before Lenyn Sosa walloped a two-run double on which Narvaez was cut down at the plate attempting to score. McKenzie was then lifted but returned in the fifth inning where he walked Michael A. Taylor and Dominic Fletcher before mercifully exiting. His velocity was up again — with his fastball averaging 94.5 mph — but he threw only 17 of his 39 pitches for strikes while generating five swings and misses (CSW of 23 percent). McKenzie has about as wide of a range of outcomes as any pitcher in the league heading into 2025.

Turang was hitting second today, and that would be a great spot for his fantasy value in the regular season. However, things probably aren’t going to work out that way after Christian Yelich returns to the lineup. Turang mostly led off against righties last season, but the Brewers appear to be leaning towards Jackson Chourio there now. Turang wound up hitting a modest .254/.316/.349 last year, so the bottom half of the order is where he would seem to belong.

Henderson pitched the seventh and eighth innings, so he was facing backups. Still, it was a second straight nice outing for him, and he now has five strikeouts over three scoreless innings. The soon-to-be 23-year-old isn’t a threat to crack the Brewers rotation this spring, but he could be a factor by the summer.

Stripling just signed a week ago, so it’s understandable if he’s behind. Still, he’s not working with a lot of margin for error in making the Royals, not after going 2-11 with a 6.01 ERA for the A’s last season.

In a lineup that contained many of the Reds’ regulars, Candelario found himself starting at first base and batting sixth on Thursday, ahead of Spencer Steer who served as the designated hitter. Even in a down season, Candelario slugged 20 home runs in just 463 plate appearances for the Reds in 2024 and he represents a nice potential bargain around pick 300 in fantasy drafts at the moment.

Witt also walked today. He’s 2-for-11 with a 3/2 K/BB through four games.

Ashcraft struggled with his command a bit, as he issued two walks and threw just 22 of his 43 pitches for strikes, but he also punched out three batters and limited the damage overall. The lone tally against him came as Jake McCarthy scored while Randal Grichuk bounced into a double play in the second inning. Ashcraft got six whiffs on the day — four of those on his slider — while posting a CSW of 23 percent. He’s on the outside looking in at a spot in the club’s Opening Day rotation but could be the next man up should injury or ineffectiveness strike.