MLB Player News

Tovar’s home run was his 22nd of the season. He hit a solo shot off Reynaldo Lopez in the sixth inning. The stolen base was his sixth of the season. Tovar had been struggling. He was hitting .190 with three home runs in 29 games since the beginning of August. Tovar is hitting .270 with a .762 OPS and 64 RBI on the year.

Trent Grisham’s homer provided the lone run. Skenes has a 3.60 ERA and a 12/5 K/BB over 10 innings through three spring starts. He averaged 98.2 mph with his fastball today, leaving him barely off his 98.8 mph average from last year.

Schlitter, a 2022 seventh-round pick, has been moving up the SP depth chart with Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil hurt, but he cratered today after two strong outings to begin the spring. The right-hander had a 3.36 ERA and 154/55 K/BB in 120 2/3 innings in the minors last season. About two-thirds of those innings came in high-A, but he was promoted to Double-A in the second half. He’ll probably open up this season back at that level.

Cook is just 3-for-16 this spring, but he has walked seven times. The 26-year-old righty had appeared to be in line for a spot on the Pirates bench before the team added Tommy Pham in free agency. He remains one of the candidates to fill in for Spencer Horwitz at first at the beginning of the season, but he probably doesn’t have a role on a healthy Pirates roster.

Abel was one of the premier pitching prospects in baseball just two years ago, but wound up stalling out in the upper minors, and has yet to reach the big leagues. The 23-year-old was added to Philadelphia’s 40-man roster during the offseason and figures to reach the majors at some point this season if injuries strike the rotation.

Brown allowed two hits and walked none. We don’t want to read too much into 8 1/3 innings, but Brown has done a terrific job of keeping the ball out of the air so far. That was a strength of his when he debuted, but his groundball rate, while still good, has since decreased. It he can get back to being exceptional there, the sky is the limit.

Megill seemed to be bound for Triple-A at the beginning of the spring, but the injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea opened the door for him, and at this point, he really ought to be penciled into the rotation, given his obvious improvement over the last year. Either Paul Blackburn or Griffin Canning can head to the bullpen for a spell.

He’s 3-for-21 through nine games. Dubón is probably the Astros’ preferred choice to start at second base with Jose Altuve moving to left, but it’d make sense to give Brendan Rodgers a shot first. It seems abundantly clear what Dubón can do at this point; his versatility and ability to hit lefties make him a solid part-timer, but he’s come in at just .252/.284/.352 lifetime against righties.

Giolito can’t seem to catch a break. The 30-year-old former impact fantasy contributor was pulled from his spring debut — his first start since undergoing elbow surgery last March — on Tuesday after just one inning due to left hamstring tightness. He’ll undergo additional testing to determine the severity of the issue and determine how much time he’s going to miss, if any. There should be an additional update on his status later this week. There’s a chance he won’t be ready for Opening Day following this latest setback. His absence would open the door for either Quinn Priester or Richard Fitts to break camp in the rotation.

Robertson will open the season as extra relief depth in the minors after making nine appearances last year between the Blue Jays and Cardinals.

Cartaya was shipped to Minnesota back in early January by the Dodgers after his stock tanked last year in the upper minors when he struggled to a pedestrian .686 OPS between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City. The 23-year-old is a reclamation project for the Twins after being a consensus top-25 prospect in the game just two years ago.