MLB Player News

An increasingly popular late-round breakout pick based on his sublime average exit velocity and barrel percentage last year, Encarnacion’s plate skills leave plenty to be desired. The 27-year-old’s mammoth raw power upside is undeniable, but he’s going to need to make better swing decisions if he’s going to get to it consistently in game action. He appears to have a relatively clear path to regular at-bats as San Francisco’s primary DH to open the regular season, which gives him some appeal in deeper mixed leagues as a cheap power source.

We don’t think Rafaela is getting enough love as an everyday player in Boston this season. He was a consensus top-40 prospect last season who hit 15 home runs and stole 19 bases in his debut season. He spent this offseason working on his plate discipline and then hit .316/.409/.526 in 44 plate appearances this spring with two home runs, six walks, and just four strikeouts. He could be in for a breakout season.

Mears is better now, but since he lost a fair amount of weight and pitched only three innings this spring, he’ll start the year on a rehab assignment before joining the Brewers pen.

Well, now it’s official. Everything had been tracking towards Campbell opening the season as Boston’s second baseman, and has he has gotten hot at the plate over the last week, that seemed like a foregone conclusion. The 22-year-old shot through the minor leagues last year and is one of the top prospects in all of baseball. Boston’s full lineup is: Jarren Duran LF, Rafael Devers DH, Alex Bregman 3B, Triston Casas 1B, Trevor Story SS, Kristian Campbell 2B, Wilyer Abreu RF, Connor Wong C, Ceddanne Rafaela CF.

Quintana only signed on March 5, so he’ll serve a brief stint in Triple-A to continue to build stamina before joining the Brewers rotation in mid-April.

Bauers overcame the late additions of Mark Canha and Manuel Margot, both since subtracted, to keep his spot on the Brewers bench. Patrick was initially sent down three weeks ago, but he’ll make the Brewers as a middle reliever as a result of some of their pitching injuries.

Pendrod started experiencing elbow soreness at the end of February, but we still don’t have any sense of his timeline other than he’ll “be out a while.” He was a potential bullpen asset for the team this season.

Poteet was traded to the Cubs from the Yankees in the Cody Bellinger deal this off-season, so we guess that move truly was a salary dump. If Poteet is not claimed by another team, he could return to the Cubs’ minor league system.

That’s not great news. Hendriks had already lost the battle for the closer’s job to Aroldis Chapman in part because his velocity was down this spring. Considering the veteran is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, the elbow inflammation is at least mildly concerning. We’ll wait for more information but Justin Slaten could pick up some saves to start the season if Chapman is needed to get left-handed hitters out in the eighth inning.

The positive news here is that Darvish has already resumed throwing after being shut down last week with right elbow inflammation. The 38-year-old veteran doesn’t have a clear return timetable yet, but he should progress to throwing bullpen sessions and facing hitters in the near future, which would put him on track to return at some point before the end of May, if not sooner.

Waldron was expected to open the year in either San Diego’s starting rotation or bullpen prior to suffering an oblique strain earlier this month. Barring any setbacks, he should be an option before the end of April.