MLB Player News

Giolito allowed four runs on six hits -- including two home runs -- and two walks while striking out seven over five innings against the Cubs on Friday.

Giolito has a 6.91 ERA in the Cactus League, mirroring his body of work in 2018, but the right-hander accentuated the positive after another lackluster outing. He told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune that he's happy with the state of his curveball. "The feel for my curve is 10 times better," Giolito said after an 82-pitch effort. "So I'm confident going into every game I'll be able throw that pitch for strikes and will be able to get on top of it and throw it in the dirt to get chases as well. Whereas last year I wouldn't really know going into games what my curve would be doing." Giolito feels his stuff is better, but the results have been the same: a lot of traffic on the basepaths leading to runs allowed.

Kopech (elbow) has increased his throwing distance to 75 feet, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

Kopech continues to make steady progress in his return from Tommy John surgery, though he's still not expected to return at any point this year. He underwent the procedure in September, which should give him time to be ready to take part in spring training of 2020.

Severino (shoulder) won't be ready to pitch in MLB games until May 1 at the earliest, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

The flame-throwing righty received a cortisone shot in his inflamed right rotator cuff last week and said he was no longer feeling pain when lifting his arm. However, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Friday that Severino will be sidelined for at least the month of April, so it's confirmed the club will have to roll without its ace for the start of the season. Severino is in the midst of a two-week rest period before he'll start a throwing program as he works his way back into action.

Rodriguez allowed three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out eight over five innings.

Rodriguez had one bad inning and was sharp in the four others. The left-hander ran his pitch count to 76 and will have two more starts to prepare for the regular season.

Kikuchi fired five strong innings in an intrasquad game Wednesday afternoon, his final tune-up prior to a scheduled start in the second game of the regular season on March 21, Greg Johns of MLB.com repors.

Kikuchi battled strong gusts of wind that reached up to 30 mph, but he still managed to get quality work in after seeing his regularly scheduled Cactus League turn postponed by rain Tuesday. Kikuchi will ironically kick off his major-league regular-season career in his native Japan, where he'd spent the entirety of his professional career prior to signing with the Mariners this offseason.

Gonzales allowed four earned runs on five hits and three walks across 2.2 innings in an 8-4 Cactus League win over the Giants on Wednesday. He struck out five.

It was a mixed bag of a performance for the young lefty in his final tune-up prior to an Opening Day start March 20 against the Athletics in Tokyo. Greg Johns of MLB.com reports that Gonzales was unconcerned with his uncharacteristic control problems during the outing, with the pitcher noting he's still working on his timing. Gonzales becomes the first Mariners hurler not named Felix Hernandez to open a regular season since 2006.

Montas allowed an unearned run on two hits and a walk over four innings in a 12-11 Cactus League win over the Cubs on Wednesday. He struck out five.

Montas' push for the final rotation spot continued in excellent fashion during the relief outing, as he shut down what had been a hot-hitting Cubs squad up to his entry into the game. With his latest dominant performance, Montas lowered his spring ERA to a minuscule 0.69 across 13 innings. The combination of Montas' lack of minor-league options, his strong spring and an established big-league track record seemingly give him a leg up on the job, but manager Bob Melvin is also considering phenom Jesus Luzardo, among others, for the open spot.

Stroman allowed one run on two hits over 4.1 innings while striking out six in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Orioles.

Named the Jays' Opening Day starter earlier in the day, Stroman celebrated with another impressive outing. The right-hander now boasts a 2.19 ERA and 13:1 K:BB over 12.1 spring frames as he looks to rebound from a rough 2018 and return to the form that saw him top 200 innings and 160 strikeouts in each of the previous two seasons.

Eovaldi allowed one run on one hit and a walk while striking out one in three innings Wednesday against the Twins.

Eovaldi geared up quickly in his first Grapefruit League start, hitting 94 mph on his first pitch to leadoff batter Marwin Gonzalez, then hitting 99 mph before the at-bat was over. Earlier in camp, he talked about his growth as a pitcher since joining the Red Sox and echoed those comments to Ian Browne of MLB.com following the game. "Yeah, just being able to throw different pitches, not having to rely on just your fastball and your slider," Eovaldi said. "I can rely on other pitches, and I feel like I've grown as a pitcher since then, and just working with our catchers and pitching coaches to be able to do that." Eovaldi, who has become a mini-folk hero in Boston for what he did in the postseason, sounds confident as he steps into the fourth spot in Boston's rotation to begin 2019.

Cole allowed two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out four over 4.2 innings Wednesday against the Mets.

Cole was still hitting the upper 90s near the end of his 70-pitch outing. "His interest is getting up and down, hot and cold four times today," manager AJ Hinch told Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle before the game. "In a perfect world, when you talk about four innings, you hope for 60, 65 -- no more than 70 pitches." According to Hinch's vision, Cole is right on schedule. He'll have two more outings to ramp up to 90 pitches. The right-hander has a 1.69 ERA over four Grapefruit League starts and will start Houston's second game of the season.