MLB Player News

After missing most of spring training due to illness, Abreu was a one-man wrecking crew in Boston’s season-opening win, taking Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi deep in the fifth inning with a 415-foot blast to right field before launching a go-ahead blast off veteran reliever Luke Jackson in the top of the ninth inning. It was the second multi-homer performance of his young career. The 25-year-old slugging corner outfielder is going to strike out more than a quarter of the time, but he’s a legitimate 25-homer threat and is also capable of chipping in double-digit stolen bases. There’s top-30 fantasy outfielder upside lurking here, especially with Boston’s strong supporting cast helping his counting stats.

Aces doe what aces do. Wheeler made mincemeat of a poor Rockies lineup and ran into virtually no trouble all night long. His only blemish was a solo home run from Hunter Goodman in his third time around the order. Otherwise, no other Rockie reached scoring position and Wheeler forced a gaudy 25 swings-and-misses in total. He’s set to face the Braves and Cardinals next in what lines up as a two-start week.

There may not be a hotter hitter in baseball right now than Sosa. He’s had at least two hits in all four of his starts this season and gave the Phillies some valuable insurance in the eighth inning of this one with a two-run double. Trea Turner’s brief absence opened the door for him to get a few starts at shortstop earlier this week, but Sosa drew the start at second base over Bryson Stott in this one against the left-handed Kyle Freeland. That’s interesting as Stott has been solid to start the season despite a dreadful 2024 campaign. It’s a situation to monitor as Sosa remains hot at the plate.

It’s impressive to see anyone get a good swing off against Wheeler. It’s especially impressive when you don’t have a single teammate that even reached second base in that particular game, but Goodman took him out of the yard the third time he saw him and later smoked a double off José Alvarado. A popular breakout pick, Goodman has been great to start the season as the Rockies’ catcher. He even drew the start at DH on his off-day behind the plate. Colorado would be silly to take his bat out of the lineup at this point and he looks like he could be primed for a huge season.

Maybe this is a new Freeland. His stuff wasn’t as sharp as it was on opening day, but he managed to nearly get through seven innings against the Phillies strong lineup. He once again leaned on his new sweeper and it forced eight swings-and-misses. His command waivered a bit against right-handed batters though as Trea Turner, Alec Bohm, and JT Realmuto were tough outs for him. Still, it’s hard not to be encouraged by Freeland so far. It will be a whole new challenge in his next scheduled start on Tuesday though, as he heads home to Coors Field for a start against the Brewers.

Marte was jettisoned from the Angels’ 40-man roster last October and didn’t end up latching on somewhere else until after spring training. The 28-year-old righty, who looked sharp last year in 14 relief appearances for Los Angeles, is working his way back from shoulder surgery, so this deal will have more of an impact for the Mets in the late stages of the year or next season.

Neris passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment earlier this week by the Braves. The 35-year-old journeyman reliever will test the open market in search of a new opportunity. He’s made 610 relief appearances in the big leagues dating back to 2014.

Pop will head to free agency after going unclaimed on waivers. The 28-year-old righty was designated for assignment last week by Toronto. He’s made 158 relief appearances in the big leagues since 2021, recording a serviceable 4.45 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 123/53 K/BB ratio across 155 2/3 innings of work.

It’s amazing that Crochet can set down a lineup as good as the Orioles’ without having his A-game type of stuff. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable early on, consistently missing his spot with his cutter and looked frustrated at times on the mound. Baltimore put runners on in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, but Crochet turned it on in that fifth. He got out of that inning with two strikeouts and wound up setting down 11 straight Orioles. Alex Cora entrusted him to come back out for the eighth inning and left him out there after a hard hit, lead-off single by Ramón Urías. Crochet rewarded that trust by rolling a double play ball and completed eight innings for the first time in his major league career. He’s scheduled to face the Blue Jays next Monday and then the White Sox in what should be a two-start week.

It is incredible that Chapman is still sitting 99 MPH and saving games at 37 years old. His command wavered a bit, as it often does, but he set down the Orioles rather easily to earn this save. He seems entrenched as the closer for the Red Sox and should see plenty of save opportunities this season.

A game like this had to feel great for Devers. Mired in a horrific slump and becoming the first player in major league history to strike out at least 15 times over the first five games of a season, he actually made contact in his first two trips to the plate and finally came through with a two-out, run-scoring double in the fifth inning. He was smiling ear to ear standing on second base and was clearly thrilled to finally get the monkey off his back. In the end, he had three hard-hit balls and looked like himself for the first time all season. It may not be long until his dreadful slump is a distant memory.