MLB Player News

Carrasco was diagnosed with a mild strain of his right hip flexor Friday.

The news brings with it a sigh of relief after Carrasco was seen walking with a crutch in the clubhouse Thursday. He's merely considered day-to-day and will seemingly have plenty of time to get ready for Opening Day with the injury happening so early in camp.

Luzardo caught the eye of manager Bob Melvin with his velocity during his first live batting practice session of spring Thursday, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.

The 22-year-old southpaw came into camp with high expectations after a brief but impressive big-league stint last season. Luzardo posted a 1.50 ERA and 0.87 WHIP across six appearances, and the fact he impressed on the radar gun while facing the trio of Sean Murphy, Jonah Heim and Collin Theroux serves as an encouraging first step in what the team hopes will be a breakout season. Luzardo averaged 96.4 mph on his fastball during his cup of coffee in the majors last season, the type of velocity that could make him one of the better back-end rotation pieces in all of baseball.

Montas, who's coming off a career-best season in 2019, was impressive while facing live hitters for the first time Thursday, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.

The right-hander could be poised for his best year yet in 2020 if he can remain healthy, and Thursday's strong showing was certainly an excellent first step. Montas was subject to an 80-game suspension for violating MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program last season, but he still managed career bests in wins (nine), ERA (2.63), WHIP (1.11) and strikeouts (103) across 16 starts. Given his mid-90s fastball and body of work in 2019, Montas could ultimately prove to be the ace of the staff this season if he manages to stay on the field.

Cortes is slated to start Saturday's Cactus League opener against the Padres, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

The 25-year-old southpaw was acquired from the Yankees back in November in exchange for international bonus pool money, and although he won't factor into the team's rotation plans this season, Johns reports Cortes has a good chance of serving as a long-relief or swingman option. Cortes has had a rough go of it during his first two big-league stints with the Orioles and Yankees, respectively, posting a career 5.80 ERA and 1.64 WHIP across 37 appearances.

Morton appeared to be in "midseason form" during a 30-pitch live batting practice session Thursday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

The right-hander is coming off the best season of his career, one in which he established new career bests in innings (194.2), strikeouts (240), wins (16), ERA (3.05) and WHIP (1.08) across 33 starts. The fact Morton already looked exceedingly sharp during his first time facing hitters this spring is encouraging, and manager Kevin Cash emphasized the 36-year-old's breaking ball was especially effective during the session.

Snell featured a revamped slider during his first live batting practice Thursday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports. "He looked awesome; he looked really good," said Rays manager Kevin Cash. "I think he put some weight in his lower half to get stronger and it looked pretty easy today."

The left-hander is fully healthy and looking like it, impressing during the 30 pitches he threw to Ji-Man Choi, Randy Arozarena and Willy Adames. Snell used all four of his pitches Thursday, but eight of his offerings were sliders. Notably, Snell threw the pitch just 6.7 percent of the time in 2019; however, the 27-year-old is focusing on refining the slider this spring after he generated an impressive .208 xBA when deploying it last season, and he plans to utilize it as a way of making his changeup and fastball more effective in the coming campaign.

Skubal will start Friday's exhibition game against Southeastern University, Emily Waldon of The Athletic reports.

Skubal was a non-roster invitee to major-league spring training and will get his first chance to throw in game action this season. Though he won't be matching up against the stiffest of competition, Skubal will take the mound after a dominant 2019 campaign that saw him rise to Double-A Erie.

Verlander completed his first bullpen session of spring training Tuesday, stating afterward that he's mainly focused on locating his fastball and replicating his mechanics at this stage of camp, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. "I felt good," Verlander said. "I threw everything. I definitely wouldn't say everything was working, but I would say it's where it needs to be now."

After winning his second American League Cy Young Award in 2019 and covering 258.1 innings between the regular season and the playoffs, Verlander said he waited until January to begin his offseason training program in earnest. As a result, Houston will play things slowly with Verlander this spring and will likely limit his use in the Grapefruit League, but there's little doubt that he'll be ready to roll for the March 26 Opening Day game against the Angels.

Sale (illness) tossed a bullpen session during Thursday's full-squad workout, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

The side session was Sale's second of the week after he returned to camp Monday following a bout with pneumonia. The time the ace missed due to the illness along with an organizational desire to save his bullets for the games that count may prompt Boston to push back his Grapefruit League debut until next week or the first week of March, but Sale's ability to resume mound work at least indicates he's healthy again.

Keller is scheduled to start Monday in the Royals' Cactus League game against the Padres, Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star reports.

While he makes his first start of the spring, Keller is expected to unveil a curveball, a new pitch he added to his arsenal during the offseason, per Alec Lewis of The Athletic. Keller is hopeful that the addition of the curveball as a fourth pitch will give him more time to further hone his changeup in side sessions while providing him with another alternative for hitters who handle sliders better than curves. Though he'll essentially be trading out the changeup for the curveball, Keller is still expected to rely heavily on the four-seamer/slider/sinker combination that accounted for 98.6 percent of his overall pitches in 2019.