Betting

Kuhnel, a 31-year-old journeyman with a lifetime 5.78 ERA, recorded his previous save with the Reds in 2022. He had the good fortune to face J.C. Escarra, Amed Rosario and Ryan McMahon in the ninth tonight, as the Yankees didn’t even try calling on Austin Wells or Paul Goldschmidt off the bench. Kuhnel had a nice spring and probably would have made the A’s on merit if not for the fact that he was on a minor league deal with no out clause. Consider him part of the ugly mix for saves in Sacramento, but we still wouldn’t suggest rushing to pick him up.

The Miami native capped off another impressive showing in his hometown by taking Marlins starter Eury Pérez deep in the fifth inning for his third round-tripper of the young season. He also picked up his third theft of the year in this one. The talented 22-year-old rookie sensation is off to a phenomenal start, hitting .366 (15-for-41) with three homers, eight RBI and three steals through 12 games. He looks like a potential franchise cornerstone for Cincinnati to build around for years to come and is making a significant all-around fantasy impact already.

Hoerner served as Chicago’s primary catalyst during Wednesday evening’s series finale at Tropicana Field, taking Rays starter Joe Boyle deep to left field to open the contest. It was his first big fly of the year. The 28-year-old speedster also added an RBI double in the fifth inning as part of a three-hit effort. He’s recorded three multi-hit efforts over his last seven games and is batting .333 (14-for-42) with six doubles, one homer and nine RBI through 12 games. He’s also taken eight walks and only struck out six times during that span.

Fuentes handed out four free passes while scattering a pair of hits, needing just 86 pitches (51 strikes) to navigate six frames. He averaged 96.9 mph on his fastball and generated 13 swinging strikes. The hard-throwing 20-year-old has fired 9 2/3 scoreless innings over two starts at the Triple-A level and appears close to being ready to join Atlanta’s injury-ravaged rotation. He offers enough strikeout upside to be worthy of a speculative roster spot in deeper mixed leagues.

Schultz authored a masterful performance, generating 14 swinging strikes and finishing with a ridiculous 44 percent CSW. The towering 22-year-old southpaw was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball before knee issues last year re-routed his trajectory in the wrong direction. His velocity remains up across the board as he’s sitting back in the mid-to-upper 90’s with his fastball and continues getting whiffs on his curveball. He holds a microscopic 1.29 ERA with a 19/2 K/BB ratio across 14 innings through three starts this season. It feels like only a matter of time before the White Sox are forced to give him a shot at the highest level.

Wheeler’s fastball velocity was down for the second consecutive outing, averaging just 92.9 mph after sitting near 96 mph last year. The bigger concern is his inability to sustain velocity, as he dropped from nearly 94 mph in the opening frame to barely 92 mph by the fourth inning in his latest rehab start. He threw 61 pitches (44 strikes) in his third rehab tune-up. The 35-year-old former ace can still be an effective fantasy contributor at reduced velocity, but his chances of reclaiming ace status appear slim if that extra gear doesn’t return. All indications are that he’ll rejoin Philadelphia’s rotation for his season debut at some point in the near future.

There is absolutely no stopping Walker right now. He launched a hanging slider from Brad Lord over the center field fence to push his home run total up to six on the season. That’s tied for the league-lead as of Wednesday afternoon and is just one shy of the six he hit in 111 games all of last season. This is far and away the most sustained power he’s ever had. On top of that, his swing decisions have trended way up and there seems to be a meaningful adjustment to his bat path that’s finally allowed him to lift that ball. Remember, he’s still only just 23 years old. It’s wheels up for Walker.

The procedure, performed by Dr. Keith Meister, will sideline Eflin until at least the early stages of the 2027 season. The 32-year-old veteran suffered the injury during his season debut last week, and it marks the first reconstructive surgery of his career. His absence is a significant hit to Baltimore’s rotation depth and likely means that one of Dean Kremer, Cade Povich or Brandon Young will have to step into a more prominent role this season.

Ohtani left with a one-run lead, but that was blown right away in the seventh in the eventual 4-3 loss. The Dodgers were hamstrung today after Ohtani’s very first pitch of the game was accidentally challenged; Ohtani was just adjusting his cap, but catcher Will Smith saw him and tapped his head, thinking Ohtani wanted an overrule. However, the ball was clearly low, and the Dodgers never risked using their second challenge, even though they had a couple of occasions when they should have. Ohtani ended up going 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts at the plate. He struck out only two on the mound and was often checking out his hand late in the outing, indicating that perhaps he was having a nail or blister issue. His velocity was better today; he averaged 98.3 mph with his fastball, up from 96.8 mph in his debut. He’ll probably make his next start on six days’ rest next Wednesday against the Mets.

Ward had 36 homers and 31 doubles last year. Through 11 games this season, he has zero homers but an MLB-high nine doubles. A bit of a reversal was expected there with Ward trading Angel Stadium for Camden Yards, but it’s not a ballpark thing at all so far; none of Ward’s doubles would have been homers in any ballpark. In fact, his farthest pulled flyball to date this season was a 260-foot single. It’s probably all pretty meaningless at this point. Ward is hitting .383/.464/.574 and has eight RBI despite hitting only first and second.