MLB Player News

Musgrove allowed one run on four hits and a walk while striking out four over five innings Sunday against the Nationals.

Musgrove was informed earlier in the day that he won a spot in the rotation and will pitch the fourth game of the regular season. He turned that good news into a strong performance Sunday, facing one batter over the minimum after the first inning in a 79-pitch (53 strikes) outing. He'll take the ball April 6 against Seattle, and by his order in the rotation figures to be safe when Collin McHugh (arm), who could open the season on the 10-day disabled list, becomes available.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch confirmed that Musgrove won a rotation spot and will start the team's fourth game of the season, MLB.com's Brian McTaggart reports.

On the heels of a strong spring, the 24-year-old made the Opening Day roster for the first time in his career and will take the ball April 6 against the Mariners. Musgrove delivered a respectable 4.06 ERA (4.23 FIP) over 62 innings with the big club last season, striking out 55 batters. He may need to perform well to maintain his spot on the starting staff, however; Collin McHugh (arm) is expected to open the season on the 10-day DL, but would likely replace either Musgrove or Mike Fiers in the rotation once he's activated.

Clevinger was optioned to the minor leagues Sunday, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

This move does not come as a surprise, as manager Terry Francona announced Wednesday that he'd prefer Clevinger open the season in the minor leagues to serve as starting rotation depth rather than serve as a major league reliever. He'll likely make his way back to the majors if an injury occurs to one of the team's starting pitchers in 2017.

Cobb was scratched from his minor-league start Sunday due to left lower-back tightness, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Cobb missed the majority of the 2016 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but has appeared to be healthy during spring camp thus far. This is the first news of any sort of back issue, so this late scratch is certainly something worth monitoring. The 29-year-old will be an important piece to the Rays rotation in 2017.

Aiken, whose fastball had dipped more than five mph following Tommy John surgery, said his velocity has come back up and his arm feels "as ready as ever," MLB.com's Jim Callis reports.

As the consensus top prospect out of high school, Aiken was drafted No. 1 overall to the Astros in 2014. The deal later fell apart after his physical raised more than one red flag. He attended IMG Academy post-graduate program in Florida, where the left-hander suffered an elbow injury that led to surgery. Cleveland decided to take a chance on the 20-year-old by drafting him with the 17th overall pick in 2016. Aiken told Callis that he believes the comeback experience will make him a better pitcher in the long run. The Tribe's No. 9 prospect is worth keeping an eye on in dynasty formats this season.

Paxton (illness) was able to make a minor league start Saturday, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

Paxton has been under the weather for a few days, but he was able to get his work in. He looks good, too, as he has recorded an outstanding 11:1 K:BB during Cactus League action.

Carrasco (elbow) has only been stretched out to three innings, so there is a chance he'll begin the season on the 10-day disabled list, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

Carrasco tossed three scoreless frames in his most recent Cactus League start nearly two weeks ago, although it wasn't exactly a who's who in the Cubs lineup. Still, he is making progress. The team might begin with eight relievers since it does not need a fifth starter until April 15, allowing Carrasco more time to heal.

McCullers (foot) allowed four runs on six hits over 3.1 innings Saturday, Brian McTaggart of the Astros' official site reports. He didn't walk anyone but hit two batters and threw a wild pitch.

McCullers didn't fool too many batters Saturday and needed 83 pitches to get his 10 outs, so he wasn't very efficient. On the bright side, he's on schedule to take the ball when the regular season opens. His five-day routine lines him up to pitch the third game of the season.

Mejia gave up six runs over six innings in a minor league game Saturday. He appears to have fallen behind Tyler Duffey in the fifth starter competition as a result, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Duffey didn't allow an earned run and had 10 strikeouts in six innings in a separate minor league outing Saturday. With Jose Berrios optioned to Triple-A, the fifth starter race appears to be between Mejia and Duffey. However, the Twins haven't indicated their plans and it's possible Justin Haley or Nick Tepesch could still factor in the mix.

Berrios was optioned to Triple-A Rochester, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Berrios may have been the leading candidate for the fifth starter role at the start of spring training, but he wasn't seen as getting enough work to be ready for the start of the regular season. He threw just 10.2 innings this spring between pitching for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and MLB spring training. He may not be in Triple-A too long however, as it's possible he could be recalled after just a few starts.