MLB Player News

Both players are now not eligible for the Rule 5 Draft in December. Hassell was one of the top prospects acquired from the Padres in the deal for Juan Soto, but hasn’t lived up to expectations just yet. Lara is one of the better pitching prospects in the Washington system, and both certainly would have had interest in the draft next month.

Arozarena got the scoring started in the ballgame as he drove in Julio Rodriguez with an RBI double off of Tyler Anderson in the top half of the first inning. He also started a rally with a one-out single in the fifth inning then swiped second base and scored on an RBI knock off the bat of Jorge Polanco. With his three-hit attack, Arozarena is now slashing .228/.344/.386 with seven homers, 26 RBI and 11 stolen base (in 11 attempts) on the season.

The 31-year-old infielder smacked a game-tying single into center field off of Tyler Anderson in the fifth inning that made it a 2-2 game. With his two-hit attack, Polanco is now slashing .259/.306/.476 with 10 homers, 31 RBI and two stolen bases over 184 plate appearances in his first 52 ballgames.

The 26-year-old hurler hadn’t pitched since the previous Sunday where he blew his second consecutive save. He looked a bit rusty after the extended layoff, struggling with his command and issuing a leadoff walk to Jorge Soler. He settled in after that though, getting Zach Neto on strikes, Nolan Schanuel on a line drive to right and Mike Trout on a swinging third strike to end the ballgame. Muñoz now holds a 1.35 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and a 35/10 K/BB ratio over 26 2/3 innings on the season to go along with 18 saves and a pair of victories.

Carter had one extra-base hit in 46 plate appearances for the Rangers this season coming into the day, so it was nice to see him punish a couple of baseballs today. His exit velocity stats have been pretty discouraging, but at least he’s not striking out much, and his defense should help keep him in the lineup. He’s not a very good mixed-league option at the moment, but maybe that will change in the second half.

The 27-year-old right-hander allowed just two hits on the afternoon and didn’t walk a batter. Those two baserunners came in succession, as Mike Trout singled with two outs in the fourth inning and Taylor Ward crushed a two-run homer. Kirby then settled back in and retired each of the final 10 hitters that he faced in order. He also punched out every batter in the Angels’ lineup at least once during the magnificent performance. Kirby generated 14 swings and misses on 96 pitches in the ballgame — eight of them on his fastball which averaged 96.6 mph — while registering an elite CSW of 39 percent. He’ll see if he can build off of this stellar effort when he carries a 6.53 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 25/4 K/B ratio (20 2/3 innings) into Saturday’s tilt against the Guardians.

Latz figured to be more of an opener in his second big-league start and first in 2021, but since he struck out six and faced the minimum through three innings, the Rangers stuck with him. That turned out to be the wrong call; the fourth started with a homer, a strikeout and a walk before Latz was pulled during a visit with the trainer. The word after the game was that he had a cut on his thumb, though it was also the case that the Rangers were eager to lift him when they did and that reliever Jacob Webb had only just started warming up. Latz’s seven strikeouts topped his previous career high by three. He’ll likely head back to the bullpen now, but it’s possible he could start once more against the White Sox next weekend.

Garcia retired James Wood with one on to end the eighth and then set down three out of four batters in the ninth, striking out two of them. Nathaniel Lowe had three hits today, including the one off Garcia, but the Rangers are definitely happy with how the winter trade with the Nationals has worked out. Lowe, a free agent at season’s end, currently has a .667 OPS. Garcia has four saves and a 3.12 ERA, and he won’t even be arbitration eligible until 2027.

The Angels didn’t get a baserunner off of George Kirby until Mike Trout smacked a two-out single into right field in the fourth inning. Ward then followed with a 432-foot (107.5 mph EV) two-run shot that gave the Angels a 2-1 advantage. It would be short lived. The 31-year-old struck out in each of his other two plate appearances in the ballgame, finishing the day 1-for-3. On the season, he’s now slashing .212/.264/.490 to go with the aforementioned 18 long balls and 45 RBI.

It’s the fourth time in five starts that Williams has been pulled before completing five innings, but at least his ERA came down from 6.03 to 5.91 today. The Nationals have to be thinking about alternatives to Williams at the back of their rotation, but since they’ve turned Brad Lord into a short reliever, they don’t have anyone who is clearly a better bet right now. Williams is due to face the Marlins next weekend.

Wood finished May on a tear — he hit .360 with five homers and 19 RBI over the final 13 games of the month — so we’re not going to worry much about a little seven-game skid here. The Nationals, though, definitely have some team-wide concerns; they’ve scored a total of 11 runs in these last seven games.