Betting

There was speculation Yesavage would make his season debut next week, but that’s not happening. The Blue Jays want to see him continue building up his pitch count and stamina for at least another turn in the upper minors before bringing him back to the big leagues. The 22-year-old top pitching prospect should make it back to Toronto’s rotation by the end of April. He should be rostered in all fantasy formats given his immense strikeout potential.

Clark tied a career high with four hits, including his first Triple-A home run, which traveled 414 feet to straightaway center field. The 21-year-old center fielder appears poised to join longtime minor league teammate Kevin McGonigle as the next impact prospect to arrive in the Motor City as a potential core building block. The third-overall pick from the 2023 MLB Draft has let his on-field performance do the talking at the Triple-A level this season as he’s hitting .377/.444/.565 with 10 extra-base hits and six stolen bases through 17 games. The Tigers seem content to roll with veteran Javier Báez in center field for now, but Clark is going to force his way to the big leagues at some point in the coming weeks. He’ll have immediate fantasy appeal as a cheap speed source in deeper mixed leagues, but counting on anything else might be challenging.

Snelling looks ready to face hitters at the highest level after another impressive outing on the doorstep of the majors where he allowed just three baserunners and needed just 75 pitches to navigate six frames. The 22-year-old southpaw lowered his ERA to 1.89 in the process and boasts a sublime 31/9 K/BB ratio across 19 innings over four starts. He’s exceeded seven punchouts in three straight starts. It’s only a matter of time before he gets the nod to replace underwhelming veteran Chris Paddack in Miami’s rotation. Snelling should be stashed in deeper mixed leagues and will be worthy of a speculative roster spot in shallow formats once he’s promoted.

Murakami took a middle-middle fastball from Elvis Alvarado and hit it 431 feet to center. It was a bad pitch, but it was a 98-mph bad pitch, and given the questions about Murakami’s ability to hit MLB velocity, it was an encouraging development. Murakami is batting .200/.361/.477 with six homers through 83 plate appearances.

Soriano struck out eight. He walked four and threw first-pitch strikes to only 11 of 23 batters, but that didn’t hurt on a night in which he gave up two hits. He’s through five starts having allowed just one run this season, so he’ll take a 0.28 ERA into next week’s outing against the Blue Jays.

Glasnow scattered just two hits and two walks on the evening. The lone tally against him came as Mickey Moniak led off the fourth inning with a double and came around to score on a ground ball. Glasnow got 12 swings and misses on 92 pitches on the night to finish with a 28 percent CSW. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling as he carries a 3.24 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and a 29/6 K/BB ratio (25 innings) into Thursday’s matchup against the Giants in San Francisco. As long as Glasnow stays healthy, fantasy managers should continue to expect borderline elite results.

Cruz has done it again. His sixth inning home run vaulted the Pirates ahead and they never looked back. It was ridiculous to watch how he hit it out too. Cruz stuck with a back-door sweeper from Griffin Jax that would’ve landed perfectly on the low-and-outside corner. Instead, he extended his long arms to yank it over the tall right field wall at PNC Park. His bottom hand even flew off the handle and altogether it looked like the type of swing you’d see in a slow-pitch softball league. Instead, it had an 84 mph swing speed and he turned the game upside down with it. This was his sixth home run so far this season along with 19 RBI, nine stolen bases, and a .313/.382/.588 slash line. To this point, he’s been arguably the most productive offensive player in the whole league.

Varsho said he was already feeling it prior to the game Friday, which he left in the third inning. No MRI is planned at this time, and it appears that he’s day-to-day. Myles Straw figured to start at least Saturday’s game in this place.

Cole, who is returning from elbow surgery, struck out three in the 44-pitch outing. All of the runs came on a homer from Aroon Escobar in the second. There’s no Statcast in Double-A games, but it sounds like Cole’s velocity was down slightly from his shorter spring starts, though he was OK with that. “I didn’t feel like I needed to add any more today,” Cole said. “And it was kind of a nice working pace, and the offspeed was thrown with the same intensity. I was pleased with the changeup today. The curveball was very sharp. I didn’t make any mistakes with that pitch. The slider was good, I hung the one slider that was the double. The fastball was good overall.” The Yankees haven’t announced they date or location of Cole’s second rehab start.

Alvarez smacked a 378-foot homer into deep right-center in the third inning off Kyle Leahy for his eighth homer of the season and his second in three games. The left-handed slugger is now slashing .333/.479/.750 on the season and is tied with Aaron Judge for the league leader in home runs.