MLB Player News

Yikes. Walker looked good during his relief stint in his last appearance, but didn’t come close to matching that success in his start. He allowed four homers, and he also gave up three free passes on top of six hits with just two strikeouts. It’s safe to say the Phillies do not currently have a fifth starter right now. Fortunately for them that won’t matter in the postseason, but at this point it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if Walker is left off the playoff roster.

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.

McCarthy drew the start in right field and hit leadoff for the Diamondbacks in this one. The speedy 27-year-old outfielder led off the third inning with a double, swiped third base as part of a double steal with Alek Thomas and scored the game’s first run as Randal Grichuk bounced into a double play. His defense will keep him in the lineup more often than not, though expect him to hit in the bottom half of the lineup when Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll are in there.

Blalock, acquired from the Brewers for Nick Mears last summer, has been a nice surprise in camp, with all of his pitches trending up one to three mph in terms of velocity. The Rockies rotation is supposed to be set, barring injury, but Blalock might step in as next in line for a shot.

Yates gave up ringing doubles to Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar before exiting. Fortunately, his velocity was nearly a match for his 2024 numbers. His splitter might not be all of the way there yet, but he’ll figure that out. He appears destined to work in the seventh and eighth innings for the Dodgers initially.