MLB Player News

Sanoja rarely strikes out and has put together a strong season in the upper minors, batting .286/.346/.418 with seven homers and 17 steals in 553 plate appearances between Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Jacksonville. The 22-year-old offers plenty of defensive versatility and will get his first look in the big leagues over the final few weeks of the year.

Rodriguez entered camp fully healthy after undergoing offseason right thumb surgery and is going to wind up missing a couple full-squad workouts out of an abundance of caution. The 21-year-old on-base machine, who batted .280/.459/.567 with nine homers and nine steals in 209 plate appearances last year between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul, figures to join Minnesota’s outfield mix at some point later this season and is considered a long shot to crack the club’s season-opening roster. He’s a borderline top 20 prospect for dynasty purposes at the moment.

Medina was officially put on the 60-day injured list earlier on Monday to make room for infielder Luis Urías on the A’s 40-man roster. The 25-year-old will miss the entire 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery that he underwent last August.

Zastryzny helps address New York’s extreme shortage of left-handed relief depth and might have a decent shot at securing a spot in the club’s season-opening bullpen. The 32-year-old southpaw, who compiled a strong 1.17 ERA, 0.65 WHIP and 5/1 K/BB ratio across 7 2/3 innings (nine appearances, three starts) last year for the Brewers, opted to test the free agent waters last week after being jettisoned from Chicago’s 40-man roster.

Sims split last year between the Red Sox and Reds, finishing with a pedestrian 4.38 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 49/30 K/BB ratio across 49 1/3 innings (58 appearances). He has plenty of high-leverage experience and would figure to be in the mix with Jorge López, Derek Law and Jose A. Ferrer to close for Washington. Even if he winds up winning the job, his fantasy appeal is limited to extremely deep mixed leagues.

De La Cruz said he’s standing taller in the box and using a “controlled aggression” approach to reduce strikeouts. The 23-year-old speedster led the majors last year with 218 strikeouts in 618 plate appearances but still managed to post a strong .339 on-base percentage in addition to 25 homers and 67 stolen bases. He doesn’t necessarily need to cut back on the punchouts to remain a fantasy superstar, but some additional contact would theoretically lead to additional stolen base opportunities.

Poteet is among a handful of options vying for a spot in Chicago’s season-opening pitching stable after coming over back in December from the Yankees in the Cody Bellinger trade. The 30-year-old projects as a versatile swingman for the Cubs after posting a strong 2.22 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 16/8 K/BB ratio across 24 1/3 innings (five appearances, four starts) last year in New York.

The 27-year-old came over from Japan on a modest two-year, $3.5 million deal but has a chance to open the season in the Nationals’ starting rotation. He doesn’t throw the ball hard, but he has a deep arsenal of pitches and the “ability to change speeds and make everything look the same coming out of his hand.” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said, “His arm action looks just like a fastball coming in...it’s really, really good. There’s a whole lot of swings, not very good swings, as we saw today. But he’s got to understand that he needs to be over the plate with it, down.” It’s too early to start drafting Ogasawara in fantasy leagues until we know what his role will be, and his lower velocity will likely make him volatile, but there’s a chance he could emerge as a streamer in deeper leagues this season.

The Tigers acquired Hao-Yu Lee from the Phillies in a trade for Michael Lorenzen back in 2023. In 2024, Lee hit .298/.363/.488 with 12 home runs and 16 steals in 87 games across High-A and Double-A. Stavenhagen mentions that Lee is almost assuredly going to start the year at Triple-A, but many people believe he could be a plus defender at second base and has looked better than Jace Jung at third base this spring. While he shouldn’t be drafted in redrafts leagues, Stavenhagen believes Lee could be playing third base for the Tigers by the end of the 2025 season.

Rivera was a minor league free agent after having played four years for the Angels after they drafted him in the fourth round of the 2019 MB Draft. Rivera has battled injuries throughout his minor league career, pitching just 3.1 innings in 2021, missing the entire 2022 season, returning for 22 innings in 2023, and then pitching 35 1/3 innings in 2024. All of that coming as a starting pitcher. He does have a 3.26 career minor league ERA and 61 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings, so perhaps the Red Sox can get something out of his arm if he can stay healthy.

The 33-year-old spent all of last season at the Triple-A level between the Mets and Cubs organizations. In total, he hit .233/.315/.471 with 23 home runs and nine steals in 432 plate appearances. Thompson struggled in 2023 in his last season at the MLB level and is just a career .212 hitter with a 32.7 percent strikeout rate. His best bet figures to be organizational outfield depth in Boson.