MLB Player News

Gatewood has shown some pop since being a first-round pick by the Brewers all the way back in 2014, but the rest of the tools never developed. He’ll likely head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Bradley’s odds of making Minnesota’s season-opening rotation rose exponentially when Pablo López underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this spring. The 24-year-old will stick around in Twins camp rather than heading out to pitch for Team Mexico in the upcoming international showcase.

Acuña suffered a cut above his left eyebrow and will undergo further evaluation to determine whether he’ll require stitches. He was 2-for-2 with a pair of singles and his first steal of the spring before departing. The 23-year-old infielder, who came over from the Mets in the Luis Robert Jr. trade last month, is presumably day-to-day for the moment. He’s competing for a spot on Chicago’s bench this spring.

This development carries real fantasy weight, as a long-term agreement would effectively remove the lingering service-time calculus that could keep Griffin off Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster. The 19-year-old prodigy has been the story of the Grapefruit League after a two-homer eruption against the Red Sox earlier this week. There’s little historical precedent for a teenager reaching the majors with just 21 games above High-A — Juan Soto in 2018 represents the most recent example — but Griffin’s extraordinary power/speed blend gives him a chance excel right away. If this spring is any indication, his fantasy stock isn’t just rising; it’s skyrocketing.

The 22-year-old Liranzo missed time and struggled to a .206/.308/.351 line in Double-A last year, causing him to fall off the annual Top 100 prospects list. Still, his bat remains plenty interesting, and he might be able to make it as a first baseman or DH if he can’t last behind the plate. It looks like the Tigers have a long-term starter at catcher anyway in Dillon Dingler.

It was to be expected, but it’s still fun to see Ponce’s velocities all up 3-5 mph from his Statcast “yearly average.” For him, that yearly average is from 2021, when he averaged 93.2 mph with his fastball in 15 appearances for the Blue Jays. He turned into a mid-90s guy in Japan, and he averaged 96.0 mph on his 10 fastballs today.

Mize’s velocity today was right around his 2025 norms, but interestingly, the spin rates on all his secondary pitches were significantly improved (his fastball held steady). That might be something to keep an eye on in the spring progresses. Mize isn’t looked at as being much of a factor in mixed leagues, but he was quite solid last year and is in a nice situation in Detroit.

Now well established in the Tigers pen and not having to compete for a job, Vest appears to be saving his best stuff for the season. His average velocity on all of his pitches today was down 2.5-3 mph from last year. It’s probably not worthy of concern at this point.

Clement has been hitting leadoff so far this spring, but we assume that’s because George Springer isn’t yet playing. Clement would be fine at the top of the lineup against lefties, but he hit just .254/.295/.327 versus righties last year. The Jays are set to treat him as a full-timer at second base this year, but it will be interesting to see if they need to go look for an upgrade against righties at some point.

Minter is ticketed for the injured list to open the regular season but should return to New York’s high-leverage mix behind new closer Devin Williams in the early portion of the year. The 32-year-old southpaw is recovering from surgery to repair a torn left lat muscle last May. He’s on track to make his first Grapefruit League appearance before spring training wraps up.

Gorman ruined Jonah Tong’s day by hitting a ball 386 feet with one out in the third. Gorman has mostly played second base in the majors, but the Cardinals appear set to make him Nolan Arenado’s replacement at third base this year. He has some work to do to show he deserves it; since hitting .236/.328/.478 in his first full season in 2023, he’s come it at .204/.284/.385 the last two years.