MLB Player News

Farmer will start the first game of Friday's doubleheader against the White Sox, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports.

The Tigers flipped the order of Friday's starters and will instead have Farmer start things off in Game 1 while bumping Matt Boyd back to the nightcap. This will mark Farmer's first big league action of 2017. In nine starts at Triple-A Toledo this season, Farmer owns a 4.12 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP to go with 54 strikeouts and 10 walks in 54.2 innings. The Tigers will officially add Farmer to the roster early Friday in all likelihood.

Diaz pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his eighth save of the season during Thursday's win over Washington.

It's probably safe to assume the Seattle brass wants Diaz to succeed as the closer, and he's now pitched four consecutive scoreless innings over his past three outings. Considering the hard-throwing righty is a converted starter and skipped the Triple-A level entirely last season, it shouldn't be surprising that there have been some struggles. His current form is encouraging, and Diaz's fantasy upside remains high.

McHugh (elbow) threw off a mound Thursday for the first time in his rehab, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports.

While this marks a significant step in McHugh's recovery process, he still remains without a timetable for return. A clearer return date should start to materialize once the next steps in his rehab process are determined.

Rogers pitched the eighth inning and struck out two in Wednesday's win over Baltimore for his 12th hold of the season.

Rogers was able to pitch around a leadoff single and an error by second baseman Brian Dozier to record a scoreless inning. The 12 holds now leads the AL, but seven of those holds have come from outings where the southpaw pitched less than one inning. The Twins have continued to use Rogers in situational opportunities, and until the time comes when they trust him to handle a full inning more consistently, it seems he will remain a lefty specialist out of the pen.

Whalen, who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday, could be a candidate to start Saturday against the Red Sox, Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune reports.

The Mariners have a vacancy in their rotation after Chris Heston was shipped back to the minors following a disastrous start last weekend, so if Whalen goes unused in long relief in the team's next two games, he may be asked to step in as the fifth starter. Even if he ends up starting Saturday and shuts down the Red Sox offense, Whalen may not have much longevity in the rotation, as the Mariners are expected to bring back James Paxton (forearm) from the disabled list May 31. Either Whalen or Sam Gaviglio would likely shift back to the bullpen once Paxton is activated.

Diaz fired a scoreless seventh inning in Wednesday's 5-1 loss to the Nationals, issuing two walks and recording a strikeout.

The young reliever put together his second straight scoreless outing since being jettisoned from the closer's role, although Wednesday's performance featured some of the control problems that derailed the May 15 appearance which led to his demotion. Diaz had only issued five walks over 10.1 innings in April, but has already handed out seven free passes in 8.1 frames across nine May appearances. Following his previous outing on May 19, manager Scott Servais had previously hinted that he would re-evaluate the 23-year-old's suitability for the closer's role after his next appearance; therefore, it remains to be seen if Wednesday's effort was enough to vault Diaz back into the ninth-inning job.

Leclerc (finger) could be cleared to throw off a mound Friday, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports.

Leclerc, who is working his way back from a bruised right index finger, resumed playing catch Wednesday and experienced no issues, so he'll be able to move on to the next phase of the recovery process. After Leclerc tosses a bullpen session and faces hitters in batting practice, the Rangers could have him head out for what would likely be a brief rehab assignment. Prior to landing on the disabled list, Leclerc had turned in a 2.31 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 18 strikeouts in 11.2 innings. Once he's activated, Leclerc will likely slot in as one of the top setup men to closer Matt Bush.

Stanek notched his third hold of the season in Wednesday's 4-2 win over the Angels, striking out the side in a scoreless eighth inning and allowing one walk.

Stanek's strikeout victims notably included Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, and he's now put together three straight scoreless appearances. The 25-year-old right-hander experienced some trouble with his control in his previous outing in the opening game of the series, but managed to issue just one walk in a 24-pitch inning. Stanek has proven to be a valuable and increasingly trusted asset in an injury-hampered bullpen, compiling a 2.25 ERA in four innings across six appearances.

Norris (2-3) allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks over 6.1 innings in Wednesday's win over the Astros. He struck out five.

Norris didn't factor into the decision, but he pitched well enough against a strong lineup to set the Tigers up for the win. After allowing five earned runs in his last start, this was a nice bounce-back effort for the young lefty. He lines up to face the Royals on Monday in his next start, which gives him a decent chance to keep the momentum going.

Almonte's scheduled start against the Yankees on Thursday has been postponed due to rain.

Almonte had been tabbed for his first start of 2017 in place of Nate Karns, who recently landed on the DL with a forearm injury. It's unclear what the Royals plan to do with their rotation for the time being, though it's certainly a possibility that Almonte's spot start will be skipped and the team turns to Ian Kennedy on Friday, as planned. If that turns out to be the case, Almonte wouldn't be in line to start again until Tuesday.