MLB Player News

Alvarado, who struggled to a career-worst 4.80 ERA and 1.87 WHIP in 2019, feels highly confident he'll have a bounce-back year in 2020, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports. "When he's right, he's as dominant as anybody in the game," said manager Kevin Cash. "The thing that really sticks out right now is the strike-throwing and that he's landing his breaking ball. His delivery is really clean."

The hard-throwing southpaw was the picture of dominance in 2018 with a 2.39 ERA and 80 strikeouts across 64 innings, but a family matter in Venezuela last season led to a month-plus absence and essentially derailed Alvarado's campaign. However, the 25-year-old worked out diligently nearly every day during the recent shutdown, and he blew Cash away with his live batting practice session Saturday. Alvarado threw 15 pitches while facing Brandon Lowe and Willy Adames, and he reportedly landed all but one offering in the strike zone according to Cash.

Taylor has tested positive for COVID-19, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports.

Taylor tested positive during his intake test and will need to test negative twice before rejoining the team, according to the league protocols. It's unclear whether he'll be able to rejoin the team prior to the regular season.

Leclerc had some command issues early in his pitching session Friday but improved after making a mechanical adjustment, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports.

Leclerc was taken deep by Rougned Odor before making the adjustments later in the session. The right-hander enters summer camp as the Rangers' closer, although his spotty command was problematic early in 2019 when he lost the ninth-inning job.

Hernandez struck out all four hitters faced Friday, allowing just one foul ball during the at-bats, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports.

Hernandez had spent the shutdown in New York, an epicenter of the coronavirus, and was unable restart a throwing program as other teammates did. He only started throwing to live batters earlier this week. "All I can say is he was absolutely filthy," manager Chris Woodward said. "His command was probably the most impressive. He's got elite stuff as we know. Upper 90s, ton of movement on his fastball, really good slider. Changeup was really good." Hernandez is hoping to crack the active roster as a multi-inning reliever and spot starter.

Phillips (elbow) was added to Baltimore's 60-player roster pool Friday and will throw live batting practice in a few days, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.

The 25-year-old was shut down from throwing in early March and wasn't included on the team's initial 60-man pool, but it appears he progressed well in his recovery during the hiatus. Phillips made 25 appearances in the majors last season but mostly struggled with a 6.43 ERA, 1.86 WHIP and 40:20 K:BB over 28 innings.

Martin has tested positive for COVID-19, Levi Weaver of The Athletic reports.

Martin has Type 1 diabetes, placing him in a high-risk group. Thankfully, he's only had mild symptoms thus far.

Hernandez signed a minor-league deal with Cleveland on Friday and will join the team's 60-man roster pool.

The 35-year-old has been an effective reliever at times during his 10-year big-league career, saving 24 career games while posting a career ERA of 4.12. He looked quite poor in 42.2 innings with the Reds last season, however, struggling to an 8.02 ERA, though he did at least record a 26.8 percent strikeout rate, his highest mark since 2012.

Fulmer (elbow) threw a bullpen session as the Tigers resumed workouts Friday, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reports.

Fulmer underwent Tommy John surgery back in March of 2019. He was originally expected to miss roughly half of this season, but the delayed start means he should be ready to go once play resumes, albeit presumably on a carefully managed workload. The 27-year-old righty owns a solid 3.81 ERA through three MLB seasons, though his ERA jumped considerably each year, coming in at a career-worst 4.69 in 2018.

Weems, who is part of the group of players reporting to the Oakland Coliseum portion of the Athletics' summer camp, could carve out a role on the Opening Day roster, Alex Coffey of The Athletic reports.

The 27-year-old took a circuitous route to the Athletics and pitching in general, considering he was a catcher in the Red Sox organization for seven professional seasons before heading to the mound in 2016. Weems boasts a fastball that typically averages between 94 mph and 97 mph, a blistering power pitch he complements with a slider and changeup. Control has been an issue, but Weems impressed over six Cactus League appearances this spring by hurling six shutout innings and recording seven strikeouts. Factoring in rosters will accommodate 30 players for the first two weeks of the regular season and Weems has been invited to the camp location that will house players with the best chance of making the Opening Day roster, the right-hander seemingly has a chance to garner a spot with an impressive ramp-up period.

With the 2020 season now officially set at 60 games, Puk should be free of any workload restrictions during the significantly abbreviated slate, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.

As a pitcher entering his first full major-league season, Puk, who's previously topped out at 125 innings in his professional career, was slated to have his workload capped at some point in the latter portion of a 162-game campaign. With a season of that duration now out of the equation, Puk is scheduled to be utilized without any true restrictions beyond any early-season precautions the Athletics may opt to take with him during his first couple of turns. The towering southpaw's current conditioning will be evaluated first-hand by Oakland's coaching staff when the team's summer camp begins Saturday.