MLB Player News

Rodon allowed one hit and struck out four over three scoreless innings in Tuesday's spring start against the Padres.

Rodon, who has worked fewer than 70 innings in three of the last four seasons due to injury, is making a bid for a back-end rotation spot. The left-hander has thrown five scoreless innings in Cactus League play without a walk. He made adjustments to his core with the help of pitching coach Ethan Katz and feels it's easier to command his four-seamer with additional spin, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Rodon's main competition for the final rotation slot is Reynaldo Lopez, who followed him Tuesday and allowed two runs, four hits and one walk over three innings.

Manager Kevin Cash announced Wednesday that Glasnow will start Opening Day against the Marlins, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

It was expected that Glasnow would start the Rays' first game of the regular season, and Wednesday's announcement confirms as much. Glasnow looked tp already be in regular-season form in his last spring start, punching out seven batters over four scoreless frames. He will take the ball again Wednesday and likely once or twice more before the exhibition slate comes to a close.

Canning logged four innings Tuesday in a Cactus League game versus Cleveland, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out five.

Canning gave up some hard contact early and was far from dominant, but his outing was an improvement over his first two spring starts, during which he yielded a combined five runs across 3.2 frames. The right-hander should get in two more Cactus League appearances before opening the season as one of the Angels' six starters.

Cole hurled 3.2 innings against Detroit in a Grapefruit League game Tuesday, allowing two runs on three hits and one walk while striking out five.

Cole mostly kept the Tigers off the basepaths, but he was burned by a pair of second-inning solo homers. The long balls were the first allowed by the Yankees' ace this spring. Across three Grapefruit League starts, Cole has pitched 7.2 frames, allowing four runs and posting an 11:2 K:BB.

Bassitt allowed an earned run on four hits across 3.2 innings in a Cactus League loss to Cleveland on Monday. He struck out five.

Bassitt lowered his spring ERA to an impressive 2.70 with the strong outing, one which Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports was marred only by some poor location on the slider with which Bassitt has been experimenting this spring. "I just didn't have the slider today," Bassitt said. "I gave up the first double -- which I thought was going to be a home run -- on it. I was trying it, but it was not good today."

Gibson will start on Opening Day against the Royals.

This has more to do with the state of the Rangers' roster than the talent of Gibson, as he would be more of a No. 3 or No. 4 starter on most teams. He reportedly added a cutter after utilizing five different pitches last season, so Gibson will enter 2021 with one of the deeper repertoires in the game. However, he logged a 5.35 ERA, 1.53 WHIP and 58 strikeouts in 67.1 innings in 2020.

Paxton has had two Cactus League starts canceled due to appointments to sort out a visa issue, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

The Canadian lefty has pitched simulated games instead of making those starts. He's yet to appear in a Cactus League game this spring but has reportedly looked good in those sim games. Assuming he gets it all sorted out this week, Paxton will debut in exhibition action Sunday against the Brewers.

Ryan, who Adam Berry of MLB.com reports was reassigned to minor league camp Tuesday, has fired three clean innings across three Grapefruit League appearances, recording four strikeouts.

A seventh-round pick in the 2018 first-year player draft, Ryan has been impressive at every minor-league stop thus far, with his 2019 stint at Double-A Montgomery counting as his highest professional foray. Ryan was a candidate for the Rays' 60-man roster pool last summer but never saw major-league action. However, his body of work this spring has at least planted the seed for a possible big-league promotion at some point in 2021, especially if the right-hander is able to keep it up wherever he starts the minor-league season.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday that Schmidt (elbow) is close to resuming a throwing program, Marly Rivera of ESPN.com reports.

Schmidt has apparently demonstrated some notable progress since the Yankees shut him down March 6 with a common extensor strain in his right elbow, so he looks like he could be cleared to begin playing catch off flat ground by the end of the week. Due to the time he's already missed with the injury, however, Schmidt won't be in contention for an Opening Day rotation spot with the Yankees. Domingo German and Deivi Garcia are currently vying for the fifth starter's role.

Manoah has an 11:0 K:BB through five scoreless innings this spring while allowing only one hit.

The big right-hander isn't in line to break camp on the major-league roster, but Manoah is trying to prove that he's nearly ready to make his Blue Jays debut. A first-round pick in 2019, the 23-year-old only made it up to High-A that season before spending last year at Toronto's alternate training site, but an aggressive assignment to Triple-A to begin 2021 should be in the cards.