MLB Player News

Morton gave up four runs on three hits and a walk over 4.1 innings while striking out seven during Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Rays.

A three-run home run by Manuel Margot in the first inning marred his line in the box score, but Morton still looked pretty dominant as he fired 46 of 70 pitches for strikes before exiting. The veteran right-hander has a 12:4 K:BB through 9.2 innings this spring and seems just about ready for Opening Day, as he looks to top 200 strikeouts for the fifth straight full season.

Soroka (hamstring) threw live batting practice Friday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

According to David O'Brien of The Athletic, he was able to get his fastball up to 93 mph over two innings of work. It sounds like a Grapefruit League outing could be on the horizon, as Soroka has been slowed this spring by a right hamstring strain and isn't going to be ready for Opening Day, but he might not miss too much time if he can keep progressing. Once he's healthy and stretched out, the right-hander should push the winner of the battle between Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd for the fifth starter spot in Atlanta's rotation, but Soroka has thrown only 13.2 big-league innings since his 2019 breakout due to multiple surgeries and injuries.

Pfaadt allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven over four relief innings in Thursday's spring game against the Cubs.

After giving up a solo home run in his first inning of work and getting out of a none-out, runner on third base jam an inning later, Pfaadt was dominant the rest of the way. The right-hander turned heads in what was the best outing among the candidates vying for the fifth starter spot. "He can throw any pitch in any count," manager Torey Lovullo told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. "He had great carry today on his fastball. It's not just 94-95 [mph]; it's got good finish to it. It was a very good outing by him today." In 12 spring innings, Pfaadt has a 3.75 ERA with four walks and 15 strikeouts. He was initially viewed as a dark horse for the job, but the 24-year-old has pitched better than Tommy Henry (7.71 ERA), Drey Jameson (7.45 ERA) and Ryne Nelson (13.50 ERA), although results are not necessarily the only thing clubs use to make spring training evaluations.

Brubaker has allowed eight earned runs to go along with 20 strikeouts and three walks across 12.1 innings in Grapefruit League action.

Brubaker has an ugly 5.84 ERA in the exhibition season, but he has shown impressive strikeout stuff. He has a mediocre 23.3 percent strikeout rate across 315.2 career innings in the majors and has been primarily reliant upon groundballs to get outs, so it's not clear where his uptick in strikeouts is coming from, or if it's sustainable. In his most recent outing Wednesday against Toronto, Brubaker punched out the likes of Whit Merrifield, Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk.

Senga allowed one earned run on three hits and no walks while striking out five across three innings in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Nationals.

Senga was scratched from a start Saturday due to tendinitis in his right index finger, though he looked sharp in his return to the mound. He's now thrown five innings during the exhibition season, and he's allowed two earned runs while striking out seven and walking two. Assuming he doesn't suffer any setbacks, Senga should be ready to begin the campaign in the Mets' rotation.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson acknowledged Thursday that Suarez (forearm) won't be fully built up for the start of the regular season, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports.

The Phillies still intend to carry him in their rotation and will stretch him out on the fly. Suarez fell behind earlier this month when he experienced a bit of tightness in his left forearm as he prepared to represent Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. He's been throwing on the side without issue since he arrived back at camp, but fantasy managers should expect some abbreviated outings early on.

Wright (shoulder) threw two innings Wednesday on a back field, Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

The workout went really well, per manager Brian Snitker, and the next step for Wright could be his Grapefruit League debut. He's behind Atlanta's other projected starters after requiring a cortisone injection for his right shoulder back in January, but the hope is that the 27-year-old will be able to jump into the starting rotation in early April. Wright won 21 games in 2022 with a 3.19 ERA and 174:53 K:BB across 180.1 regular-season innings.

Soroka (hamstring) was spotted taking part in pitcher's fielding practice Wednesday, but Atlanta has yet to provide an update on when he'll make his spring debut, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

Though Soroka received a clean bill of health heading into spring training, the snake-bitten right-hander strained his right hamstring early in camp and had his throwing progression slowed down as a result. While Soroka hasn't been shut down from activity and looks as though he's drawing closer to pitching in a game, the fact that he hasn't yet made his debut this late in spring training essentially takes him out of the running for a spot in Atlanta's Opening Day rotation. Soroka will most likely open the season on the injured list and should continue to ramp up to a starter's workload at the club's spring facility in Florida, leaving Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd as the primary candidates for the No. 5 spot in the rotation to begin the campaign.

Padres manager Bob Melvin expressed concern Thursday about Darvish's lack of usage in the World Baseball Classic, Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports.

Darvish was brought on in relief for Team Japan in Wednesday's win over Team Italy, and he has logged only five total innings so far in the WBC. Opening Day is just two weeks away, and the Padres are worried that the ace right-hander won't be fully built up out of the gate. Maybe he can be pushed a little longer in the next round(s) of the tournament to mitigate some of the frustration coming out of Padres camp. Japan is set to play a semifinal game Monday.

Thomas was optioned to Triple-A Memphis by the Cardinals on Thursday, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Thomas had allowed four earned runs on 12 hits and one walk through nine innings (three starts) this spring in the Grapefruit League. He figures to open the 2023 campaign in the Memphis rotation.