MLB Player News

Strider has been named Atlanta's Opening Day starter, Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

You could have made a case for Max Fried given his tenure with the club, but Strider is the sensible choice after he won 20 games while piling up a league-leading 281 strikeouts last season. It will be a marquee matchup on March 28 in Philadelphia, with Strider going up against Zack Wheeler.

Freeland will start on Opening Day for the Rockies.

He'll take the ball March 28 on the road against the Diamondbacks. Freeland has had a strong showing this spring, displaying increased velocity and posting a 3.21 ERA and 14:1 K:BB over 14 innings. He's not an advisable fantasy start at home but could be considered as a streaming option on the road.

Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said Monday that Cecconi will pitch "bulk innings" in the minors but stopped short of saying he would be a starter, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports.

The Diamondbacks plan to have Cecconi, who was optioned to minor-league camp Monday, be as versatile as possible at Triple-A Reno. Whether that be as a piggyback starter or straight multi-inning reliever, the organization views him as someone that can help the parent club if needed. There were concerns last season about Cecconi going through an order a third time, which suggests his best fit going forward will be in a bulk-inning role.

The Diamondbacks on Monday named Gallen the starter for Opening Day, Damon Allred of Arizona Sports reports.

Gallen was widely speculated to take the ball for Opening Day on March 28 at home against the Rockies, and now it's official. It will be the second straight Opening Day nod for the right-hander, who's coming off an All-Star season in 2023, when he posted a 3.47 ERA over 34 starts. Gallen, who logged 4.1 scoreless innings and 58 pitches in his previous outing Sunday, will make one more spring start before the regular season.

Kelly allowed four hits and one walk while striking out seven over 3.1 innings in Monday's spring start against Oakland.

Kelly, on track to pitch the second game of the regular season, was pleased with the shape of his pitches in talking to Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. "Everything was sharp, fastball is coming out of the hand well, really liking the progress of the slider, I saw some really good swings and misses and some good location on it today," Kelly said. A byproduct of his seven punchouts, however, was an elevated pitch count; Kelly needed 65 pitches to secure those 10 outs. The right-hander will have one more Cactus League start to get the pitches up to the point where he can throw five or six innings in his first start of the regular season.

Perez has allowed one earned run across 12 innings with a 13:4 K:BB in Grapefruit League action.

There are a couple of vacancies at the back of the Pirates' rotation, but Perez will be locked in as a starter to begin the regular season. He built up to five innings in an outing against the Phillies on Monday, racking up eight strikeouts against two walks without allowing a run. Despite the strong form, there should be some skepticism about Perez's performance, as he's posted an ERA above 4.40 in six of his last seven campaigns.

Snell agreed to a two-year, $62 million contract with San Francisco on Monday, which includes an opt-out after the 2024 season, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.

Snell finally has a landing spot after several teams balked at his asking price over the offseason and into spring training. He'll benefit from one of the more pitcher-friendly home ballparks in Oracle Park and join 2023 National League Cy Young finalist Logan Webb at the top of the Giants' rotation to form one of the deadliest one-two punches in all of baseball. It remains to be seen how soon Snell will be able to ramp up for the 2024 season with only 10 days remaining before Opening Day, but he just tossed four simulated innings Friday and could make an appearance in a game situation later this week, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Smyly could start the regular season in the rotation with Jameson Taillon (back) set to miss some time into April, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

Taillon could return as soon as April 8 in San Diego, but the Cubs will have to fill his rotation spot until then. Justin Steele is set to start Opening Day on March 28, and Chicago gets an off day after that. However, the Cubs then have games on five straight days, so a full rotation will likely be needed. Beyond Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Shota Imanaga should be locked into starting spots, and Jordan Wicks is making a strong case in camp. That could leave Smyly, Javier Assad and Hayden Wesneski to compete for the No. 5 spot, at least until Taillon returns.

Hendricks appears to be lined up to start Chicago's second game of the regular season, behind Opening Day starter Justin Steele, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

The southpaw Steele has emerged as the team's definitive ace, but the rotation gets a little more jumbled after that. Hendricks makes sense in the No. 2 spot, particularly as a veteran righty with Shota Imanaga, Jordan Wicks and possibly Drew Smyly joining Steele as left-handed starting options. Hendricks won't wow with strikeouts, though he's a steady pitcher who recorded a solid 3.74 ERA across 24 starts last season, giving him some fantasy appeal in the right matchups.

Lodolo (tibia) is expected to be ready to make his season debut April 10 against the Brewers, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Lodolo is behind schedule after he reported that his leg still didn't feel 100 percent entering spring training, which led to the team ordering another round of scans. Nothing new turned up, and despite still not feeling at full strength, the left-hander has cruised through his two Cactus League starts (one run, five strikeouts in 4.2 innings). The tibia will remain a lingering concern given a recurrence of the injury ended his 2023 season, but Lodolo looks on track to be ready relatively early on in 2024, barring a setback. Andrew Abbott and Brandon Williamson (shoulder) are competing to fill Lodolo's rotation spot to begin the campaign.