MLB Player News

Heaney (elbow) threw five innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday, giving up three runs on five hits and no walks. He struck out seven batters in the outing.

Heaney had previously made three rehab appearances with the Angels' rookie-level Arizona League club, but he moved up a few levels on the minor-league ladder Tuesday as he enters the final phase of his 13-month recovery process from Tommy John surgery. The left-hander tossed 81 pitches in the outing and was able to pound the strike zone, an encouraging sign as he prepares for a return from the 60-day disabled list. According to Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register, Heaney will likely require two additional rehab starts with Salt Lake before being activated by the Angels, likely around mid-August.

Montgomery is in line to start Saturday's game against the Indians, Meredith Marakovits of YES Network reports.

The Yankees' acquisitions of Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia over the previous two days is expected to result in Montgomery moving out of the rotation over the final two months of the season, but manager Joe Girardi has elected to roll with a six-man rotation this week in order to afford an additional day of rest for Luis Severino, who needed 116 pitches to get through five innings Tuesday. With an off day looming next Monday for the Yankees, however, Girardi will likely scale the rotation back to five starters, presumably resulting in Montgomery moving to a long-relief role. Montgomery should still pick up a few more starts in 2017 beyond Saturday's outing, but those starts will probably come more sporadically as the organization aims to limit the rookie's innings count.

Carrasco rebounded from a rough June (5.68 ERA) by logging four quality starts in five July outings while posting a 3.31 ERA with 39 strikeouts over 32.2 innings.

The 30-year-old pitched six-plus innings in all five of his starts last month while capturing his largest strikeout rate (29.3 percent) since August of last year. Carrasco's 3.18 FIP in July was his best such mark for any month this season, and the same can be said for his 6.5 K/BB. He'll enter the campaign's stretch run ranked within the top 10 in the American League in ERA (3.58), WHIP (1.09), strikeouts (135) and wins (10).

In five July starts, Kluber went 1-1 with a 2.62 ERA and 56 strikeouts over 34.1 innings.

After setting a career-best mark with a 13.4 K/9 in June, Kluber topped that with a 14.7 K/9 in July. Saying the right-hander is on fire wouldn't do him justice. Over his last 11 starts, opponents are slashing just .177/.224/.275 over 292 plate appearances. Furthermore, batters have connected for hard contact just 22.4 percent of the time, the lowest percentage for any pitcher during that period. If not for a back injury that sidelined Kluber for nearly all of May, he'd be neck and neck with Boston's Chris Sale in the AL Cy Young race.

On the heels of an encouraging month of June, Hammel regressed in July, going 1-2 with a 4.75 ERA over six starts and 36 innings.

Hammel showed incredible command in June, posting the AL's lowest walk rate while managing his best FIP (3.86) since April of 2016. July saw the veteran's numbers fall more in line with what we've seen throughout his career. For example, Hammel -- who owns a career 69.9 percent strand rate -- escaped June by leaving 88.5 percent of runners left on base, but ended July with a 65.2 percent mark. The 34-year-old is serviceable in AL-only leagues, but there's a plethora of better options in mixed formats.

Miley went 2-3 in July while posting an 8.68 ERA and surrendering a .408 wOBA -- the worst such marks for any month during his seven-year career.

Despite inducing groundballs at a career-high rate, Miley's 1.4 HR/9 through 22 starts is his worst ever. Command continues to plague the 30-year-old, whose 5.2 BB/9 is tied for highest in MLB. Miley's 1.76 WHIP is worst in baseball among qualified pitchers, although one could argue that his career-high .345 BABIP has something to do with that. More troubling than any of this may be the fact that batters have been squaring the ball up more than ever before against the righty, racking up a 34.6 percent hard-contact rate. With a large sample size in place, mixed-league owners have no reason to hang on to Miley in hopes of a late-season rebound.

Gausman enjoyed his best month of the campaign by going 4-0 with a 3.63 ERA and 45 strikeouts over six July starts and 34.2 innings.

The right-hander will enter August with his best ERA and winning percentage since April 13. Gausman's now pitched into the sixth inning while allowing one run or less in five of his last seven starts. July's 11.7 K/9 blew away the 26-year-old's career mark of 8.3 K/9, while last month's 3.47 FIP also trumped Gausman's career 4.12 FIP. After a brutal first half of 2017, he's landed in the waiver pool in many formats, but his recent performances suggest a late-season rebound is in order.

Bundy struggled mightily in July, posting an 8.41 ERA -- his worst such mark for any month of his career -- while opponents battered him for a season-high .282 BAA over four starts and 20.1 innings.

Bundy's ERA has been inflating since ending April with a 1.65 mark, and it's now up to a season-high 4.53 through 20 starts. Hitters had no trouble squaring the ball up against the right-hander last month, as Bundy managed a career-worst 7.6 percent soft-contact rate. Expectations ran high before his sophomore campaign began, but the 24-year-old has shown this season that he has a lot to learn before owners can trust him on a regular basis.

Stroman went 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA in July -- his best such mark for any month of the campaign -- with 25 strikeouts over five starts and 31 innings.

The right-hander was effectively wild last month, posting a career-worst 14.5 percent walk rate. It wasn't just free passes that hurt Stroman, as his strikeout percentage was a season low. That said, opponents' hard-contact rate dropped, and for the first time in his four-year career, Stroman did not give up a home run all month. The 26-year-old will enter August with a 3.08 ERA, which is sixth best in the American League.

Blackburn (2-1) allowed five runs on eight hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 6.1 innings in a win Monday against San Francisco.

Blackburn didn't get any help from his bullpen, which allowed two inherited runners to score. Had they managed to shut the door in the seventh, Blackburn would have had his second straight quality start and his fifth in six MLB outings. Even so, he still owns a solid 3.05 ERA and is establishing himself in Oakland's rotation.