MLB Player News

Diaz (hamstring) is expected to make his Cactus League debut this weekend after looking good in a live batting practice session Wednesday, Pat Brennan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Diaz tweaked his hamstring during a fielding drill in late February, but it appears he's put the injury behind him. The 28-year-old is expected to open the 2025 season as the Reds' closer and as a reliever still has enough time to ramp up before Opening Day.

Pallante could be competing for the final spot in the Cardinals' rotation, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.

Pallante entered camp as a favorite for a starting role, but with Michael McGreevy pitching well and the team leaning toward using Steven Matz in the rotation, it appears there's a chance Pallante could get squeezed out. That still seems highly unlikely, given that the 26-year-old was one of the team's best starters for a large chunk of last season. Pallante's velocity has been down, but the Cardinals don't seem concerned at this stage of the spring.

Whitlock will make his spring debut Friday against the Marlins, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

Whitlock was on a strict throwing schedule this spring as he recovered from an internal brace procedure, which included planned one-week downtimes which the team described as "de-load" weeks. He'll pitch Friday in relief of starter Walker Buehler. Red Sox manager Alex Cora sees Whitlock has a high-leverage, multi-inning weapon that can deployed in the late innings. Save opportunities are not out of the question, but the Red Sox have Liam Hendriks, Aroldis Chapman and Justin Slaten pegged for closing duties.

Atlanta optioned Gonzalez to Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday.

Added to the 40-man roster this offseason, Gonzalez permitted two runs with a 4:3 K:BB over 3.2 innings this spring. The 25-year-old reliever posted a 38.8 percent strikeout rate in the minors last season and has a good shot to make his major-league debut in 2025.

Atlanta optioned Munoz to Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday.

Munoz allowed one run on two hits with two strikeouts and a walk across 2.2 innings during Grapefruit League play and will now finish out the spring in minor-league camp. The right-hander was added to the 40-man roster in November in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft after posting a 3.98 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 56:18 K:BB at Double-A Mississippi last year.

Crochet allowed two hits and one walk while striking out seven over three scoreless innings in Wednesday's spring game against the Rays.

Crochet cruised through his third Grapefruit League start and finished it in style by striking out the side in his third and final inning. The left-hander has not allowed a run over 6.1 spring innings while striking out 14.

Garcia walked one and struck out one over a scoreless inning in Thursday's spring game against San Diego.

Texas manager Bruce Bochy earlier in camp referred to Garcia as one of the main arms in the mix for the closer role, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com, but the pitcher's spring debut was delayed until Thursday due to nerve irritation in his left forearm. His ratios from 2024 don't jump out, but Garcia's underlying metrics, including 98th percentile hard-hit and barrel rates and a 94th percentile chase rate, indicate he was much better than a 4.22 ERA might indicate. At this point, Garcia and Chris Martin are the leading candidates for save opportunities in the Rangers' rebuilt bullpen.

Ragans allowed one hit and struck out six over three scoreless innings in Thursday's Cactus League win over the Cubs. He did not issue a walk.

The lefty was able to exact a measure of revenge against a Cubs team that rocked him for seven runs over 2.1 innings back on March 1. Ragans noted after the game he was hitting his spots and keeping hitters off balance Thursday after execution was an issue his last time out, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports. Ragans, the presumptive Opening Day starter for Kansas City, also mentioned that his goal this year is to be unpredictable to lefties to combat his rather surprising reverse splits from a season ago.

Long, who was hit by a line drive in his left hand during Monday's spring game, threw a bullpen session Thursday despite some swelling, MLB.com reports.

Long had test results that showed he didn't suffer any broken bones after he reached to grab a liner and it deflected off his pitching hand. It's possible his next appearance this spring gets delayed, however, so he could fall behind for being ready for Opening Day.

Kerkering threw a clean inning in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Rays, striking out two while picking up a hold.

Kerkering now holds a 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP while fanning three over three innings during spring training so far. The 23-year-old right-hander showed plenty of promise out of Philadelphia's bullpen in his first full season in the major leagues, featuring a 2.29 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 74:14 K:BB across 63 regular-season frames a year ago. Kerkering is slated to start 2025 in a setup role behind presumed closer Jordan Romano, but it's not out of the question that the former sees some ninth-inning work at some point later in the season.