MLB Player News

Shaw has officially made Chicago’s season-opening roster and will likely make his MLB debut on Tuesday against the Dodgers in the first game of the season-opening Tokyo Series. The 23-year-old top prospect boasts strong bat-to-ball skills and a power-speed combination that makes it easy to envision realistic 20-homer, 25-steal upside in his rookie campaign. He takes over as the Cubs’ starting third baseman after batting .284/.379/.488 with 21 homers and 31 steals in 523 plate appearances last year between Triple-A Iowa and Double-A Tennessee. He’s a borderline top-15 option at the hot corner for fantasy purposes entering the regular season.

Núñez was brought along slowly this spring after finishing last season on the shelf with a forearm injury. The hard-throwing 28-year-old righty will get some extra time to ramp-up out of the spotlight at Triple-A Syracuse. He figures to rejoin New York’s bullpen mix at some point in April.

Mercado stuck around until the end of Phillies camp this spring, but didn’t end up making the club’s season-opening relief mix. The 25-year-old made five appearances (two starts) last year at the big-league level.

Miley latched on with the Reds back in late January as a non-roster invitee and will continue working his way back from last year’s Tommy John surgery in the minors. The 38-year-old lefty figures to gobble up some innings for Cincinnati at some point later this season.

Wells was a big disappointment in his first postseason last year, but the Yankees certainly haven’t held if against him. He’s set to serve as the team’s leadoff man against righties initially, and he’s due to play plenty against lefties, too, since his backup, J.C. Escarra, is also left-handed.

Fried walked three and gave up a homer to Junior Caminero. His velocity is still down about 1.5 mph from last year, though part of that is just because he’s backing off at times; he topped out at 94.9 mph today. Making his official Yankees debut, Fried will face off against Nestor Cortes and the Brewers on Saturday.

Hamilton made his spring debut Thursday, after which the Yankees decided he’d need an IL stint. He doesn’t seem far off, but his velocity was down just over one mph from last season in today’s outing. He’ll likely be activated once his 15 days are up.

The Rays are moving Pepiot up to Opening Day because of Shane McClanahan’s injury, hence the brief outing today. Fortunately, Rockies vs. Rays is the one opener not set for Thursday, so Pepiot will still be on four days’ rest Friday.

The homer off Max Fried today was actually Caminero’s first hit in two weeks. However, Caminero’s poor spring, even in combination with Curtis Mead’s scorching start, hasn’t led to any talk of a season-opening demotion. He’s batting .129/.156/.419 in 45 plate appearances, but we’d be quite a bit more concerned if he were striking out a bunch. His K rate is 20% currently.

Fermín wound up being the final cut from Cardinals camp as the club finalized it’s season-opening roster. Barrero turned some heads this spring as a non-roster invitee and might get a look with St. Louis at some point later this year.

Thompson was shut down 3-4 weeks earlier this month after suffering a tear in his left lat muscle. The 27-year-old lefty will be sidelined until some point in early April and will need several weeks, if not longer, to build up his arm strength and pitch count. He might be an option for the Cardinals at some point in mid-to-late May.