MLB Player News

Helvey has made 193 minor-league appearances, all of them with the Giants after being drafted by San Francisco in 2018. He appeared in 41 games with a 4.96 ERA for Triple-A Richmond in 204, and he struck out an impressive 102 batters over his 74 1/3 innings. He’ll have an outside chance of helping the Nationals’ bullpen to begin 2024.

Ramussen has been electric for the Rays so far this season, with a 2.82 ERA in 89 1/3 innings. However, he is coming off his third elbow surgery, and the Rays want to keep him on a strict 150-innings limit. That means they will continue to have Rasmussen start games, but only throw two or three innings, with Joe Boyle following him as a piggyback option. For fantasy purposes, that makes Boyle the more attractive option by far. He was dominant on Sunday in five innings, and his role as a follower will give him a good chance at wins. You may want to hold Ramussen on your team for another start or two just to see if the Rays follow through with this plan, but if they do, it will take away essentially all of his fantasy value in 2025.

Myers has been in the minor leagues, cleaning up his mechanics and working on some tweaks to his pitch mix. However, what we saw on Friday was also a career-high fastball velocity. Myers sat at 94.1 mph, which is up from his 92.8 mph mark from last year, but he also hit 98 mph, which is the hardest fastball he’s thrown in professional baseball. In Friday’s game, he struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter while allowing just two hits. With both Myers and Nestor Cortes pushing for a return to the big league rotation, you have to wonder how much more time Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, or Jose Quintana have. This feels like a situation ripe for a trade.

Chandler celebrated the July 4th with a dominant performance on the mound, allowing just five hits and two walks in his six innings while striking out six. He threw 59 of his 91 pitches for strikes and even retired 12 batters in a row at one point. There’s simply nothing left for him to prove in Triple-A, and it’s long overdue for him to get a shot to face MLB hitters.

Adames got the Giants on the board in the opening inning as he worked a walk off of Jacob Lopez with the bases loaded. He then gave them the lead with a 432-foot (102.4 mph EV) majestic blast off of Lopez in the third. The 29-year-old shortstop then strolled to the dish once more with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and again picked up an RBI by drawing a walk. His bat has started to show signs of life in recent weeks and he’s now hitting .226/.313/.370 to go with 11 homers and 45 RBI.

Matos smacked a two-run ground rule double off of J.T. Ginn in the fifth inning that extended the Giants’ lead to 5-1. That would be his only hit in five at-bats on the night, but it played a key role in the victory. He has struggled mightily at the dish overall this season, slashing just .176/.222/.376 with four homers, nine RBI and a pair of stolen bases in his first 90 plate appearances with the Giants.

The 23-year-old right-hander scattered three hits on the evening, though he also issued five free passes. The lone tally against him came on a solo shot off the bat of Tyler Soderstrom in the fourth inning. The poor command led to an elevated pitch count of 90 (46 strikes) through five innings, which prohibited him from working deeper into the game. Birdsong got 10 whiffs on the evening while posting a solid CSW of 29 percent. He’ll see if he can build off of this strong start and further improve upon his 4.11 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 68/33 K/BB ratio (65 2/3 innings) when he takes on the Dodgers at home on Saturday.

Soderstrom got the A’s on the board in the fourth inning with a 432-foot (105.3 mph EV) solo shot off of Hayden Birdsong that pulled the A’s to within a run at 2-1. That would be as close as they would get. The 23-year-old slugger also doubled off of Camilo Doval in the ninth inning, finishing the night 2-for-4. On the season, he’s slashing a respectable .253/.334/.436 with 15 homers and 49 RBI in 370 plate appearances.

On the plus side for fantasy managers, the 27-year-old southpaw did manage to punch out eight batters on the night while walking one. Lopez walked Willy Adames with the bases loaded in the first inning to force in a run, then served up a solo homer to him in the fourth inning. He then turned the ball over to the bullpen with two men on and one out in the fifth inning and both inherited runners came around to score. Lopez got 15 swings and misses on 88 pitches on the night, registering a CSW of 34 percent. He’ll bring a 4.26 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and a 64/19 K/BB ratio (50 2/3 innings) into Saturday’s matchup against the Blue Jays.

The 26-year-old superstar led off the home half of the first with a single off of Jack Leiter but wound up getting stranded at third base. He then walked to open the third inning, stole second base and scored the Padres’ first run on an RBI single by Luis Arraez. Tatis also drove in a run of his own with an RBI double in the fourth inning, giving the Padres a 2-1 lead they would never relinquish. He’s enjoying another solid season at the dish, slashing .261/.355/.444 with 15 homers, 39 RBI and 19 stolen bases through his first 87 ballgames.

Arraez got the Padres on the board and evened the score at a run apiece with a two-out RBI single off of Jack Leiter in the third inning. He also singled in the opening inning, but the Padres wound up stranding the bases loaded without pushing a run across. With his two-hit attack, the 28-year-old professional hitters is now slashing .292/.325/.401 with four long balls, 34 RBI and four stolen bases.