MLB Player News

Rodriguez has a stress reaction in his back and will open the year on the disabled list at Low-A Burlington, MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo reports.

Considered by some to be the Angels' top pitching prospect in the minor leagues, Rodriguez will miss a good chunk of the first half of the season with this injury. He has legitimate mid-rotation upside, with a plus fastball, a changeup that projects as a second plus pitch, and two quality breaking balls. The 19-year-old righty didn't post a pretty ERA (5.84) in 24.2 innings at Low-A last year, but his 3.17 FIP was more indicative of how well he pitched.

Stephan will open the year at High-A Tampa, MLB.com's Jim Callis reports.

He didn't pitch above the New York-Penn League last year after the Yankees selected him with the 92nd overall pick, so this speaks to how advanced the organization thinks the 6-foot-4 righty is. He is 22, so it's not like he's young for the level, but the jump in competition will still be illuminating. His mid-90s fastball and quality slider make the big-league bullpen a legitimate fallback option, but the Yankees are expected to continue developing him as a starter in hopes that his changeup ticks up in the coming years.

Kelly was outrighted to Double-A Bowie on Thursday, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

Kelly will remain in the Orioles' organization after being designated for assignment by the team earlier in the week. The 25-year-old split time with Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso in 2017, compiling a combined 4.19 ERA across 126.2 innings. He'll serve as organizational pitching depth for the Orioles.

Abreu (appendix) will open the season on the disabled list at High-A Tampa, MLB.com's Jim Callis reports.

He had an appendectomy in February, and the recovery time on that surgery typically isn't more than several weeks, so it's a bit of a surprise that he won't be ready to go for the start of the season. Abreu only logged 53.1 innings last season, plus a stint in the Arizona Fall League, so the Yankees may simply be holding him out because he wasn't going to be able to log a full season this year anyway. Once healthy, Abreu should have no problem mowing down High-A hitters (he has 46 innings under his belt at that level) and forcing a promotion to Double-A.

Hall will open the year at Low-A Delmarva, MLB.com's Mike Rosenbaum reports.

The No. 21 overall pick in the 2017 draft, Hall logged 10.1 innings in the Gulf Coast League last year. The best part of this news is that we know Hall is healthy, otherwise he would have been held back in extended spring training. His fastball and curveball could each be 70-grade offerings in time, but command concerns and the lack of a quality third pitch could result in Hall ending up in the bullpen.

Leclerc was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock on Thursday.

Leclerc was likely to be unavailable Thursday after pitching a pair of scoreless innings during Wednesday's loss to the A's, so the Rangers opted to shuttle him back to the minors in order to open up a roster spot for Thursday's starter, Martin Perez, who was activated from the disabled list in a corresponding move. Leclerc should be back with the big club when a fresh bullpen arm is needed.

Andriese allowed two earned runs on three hits over 2.2 innings in Wednesday's 7-2 loss to the Yankees.

Andriese was touched up for the first time this season, following a two-inning scoreless outing against the Red Sox on Friday in his 2018 debut. The occasional starter and long reliever projects for plenty of multi-inning stints in the coming season, especially with manager Kevin Cash planning to utilize "bullpen days" to take the place of a regular starter from time to time.

Gonsalves is opening the year at Double-A Chattanooga, MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo reports.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, as Gonsalves dominated at Double-A last year and reached Triple-A late in the season. He struggled for the first time at the highest level of the minors, so perhaps there are things the Twins want him to work on against less advanced hitters before sending him back to Triple-A Rochester. He is on the 40-man roster and turns 24 in July, so it would not be surprising if he made his big-league debut at some point this season.

Rodney threw a scoreless ninth inning in a non-save situation in Wednsday's win at Pittsburgh. He had two strikeouts but gave up two hits.

Rodney entered the game with a four-run lead. It was an encouraging outing after he took the loss in his last outing by allowing a walk-off home run. Rodney looks set as Minnesota's closer, but he may have a shorter leash than last year in Arizona as setup man Addison Reed is capable of taking over closer duties.

Manaea (1-1) picked up the win over the Rangers on Wednesday, allowing one run on three hits and a walk over eight innings while striking out four.

The left-hander threw 64 of his 94 pitches for strikes in a strong outing. Velocity remains a potential issue for Manaea, however -- by the end of the night he was having trouble hitting 90 mph with his fastball, and he generated only seven swinging strikes in his eight innings. He gets an exploitable matchup Tuesday on the road against a Dodgers squad that has already shown signs of struggling against southpaws.