MLB Player News

Woodruff struck out four batters and allowed an unearned run over three innings in Friday's exhibition game.

Woodruff tossed two scoreless frames in his first start of the spring, and he was sharp again in his second trip to the mound. Woodruff already appears ready for the regular season, and he is tentatively lined up to start the Brewers' second game of the campaign, which will come Apr. 1 against the Cubs.

Smyly tossed four scoreless innings in Friday's Cactus League game against the White Sox. He allowed four hits and struck out two.

Smyly entered the contest with an 11.25 ERA across his first four innings this spring, so this was a welcome rebound. The lefty had allowed three home runs over his first two Cactus League starts, but he managed to avoid any long balls Friday. Smyly had a strong 3.47 ERA across 106.1 innings for the Cubs in 2022, and he should be able to post similar results this year if he can limit the damage from homers.

Wright said his shoulder "felt great" during his live batting practice session Friday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

Last season's only 20-game winner, Wright received a cortisone injection in his shoulder in January and is behind schedule. However, he still thinks he has a chance to be ready for the team's second series of the regular season in St. Louis (April 3-5). Wright might throw 2-3 innings against minor leaguers next week in a final tuneup before he pitches in spring games.

Pfaadt allowed four runs on three hits and two walks while striking two over three innings in Friday's spring start against the Reds.

Pfaadt was yanked with two outs in the first after Cincinnati knocked him around and built up his pitch count. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo's wanted to get him out of the damage and have Pfaadt return in the second frame, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports. With 30 pitches left in his projected count, the prospect managed to throw another 2.1 innings, allowing one hit during that stretch. He found his rhythm and started landing his breaking stuff after the first inning. The right-hander is competing for the fifth starter job, but Pfaadt, who has minor-league options, is expected to return to Triple-A Reno for start of the 2023 season.

Kershaw pitched three innings against the Angels in a Cactus League contest Friday, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out two batters.

Kershaw pitched in a B game last Sunday, but this was his first official appearance in a Cactus League contest this spring. His outing got off to a bad beginning when Taylor Ward greeted him with a leadoff home run, and Kevin Padlo also took the left-hander deep in the third inning. There were also positive takeaways from the start, as Kershaw tossed 58 pitches and said that he felt good physically while hitting 93 mph with his fastball, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. The future Hall of Famer averaged 91.6 mph on his fastball last season, so he appears to be progressing well toward a potential Opening Day start.

Seabold has allowed one earned run across seven innings while striking out seven and walking none during three Cactus League appearances.

Seabold hasn't started a game, but he has worked multiple innings in each of his three appearances during the exhibition season. The Rockies haven't made their plans for Seabold clear at this point, though it appears he'll occupy a multi-inning role regardless of whether it comes as a starter or reliever. Colorado acquired him from the Red Sox this offseason after he posted an 11.29 ERA and 2.35 WHIP across 18.1 innings with Boston in 2022.

Darvish pitched three innings for Team Japan against Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic on Friday, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and no walks while striking out one batter.

After inking a six-year extension with San Diego in early February, Darvish took a measured approach to the start of spring training, as he didn't pitch in any Cactus League contests before joining Japan for the WBC. The veteran right-hander started smoothly in Friday's game against Korea, retiring the first six batters he faced. However, he gave up three runs in the third inning, including two on a home run by Euji Yang. The rough frame shouldn't deter fantasy managers from pursuing Darvish in drafts, where he's generally been going among the top 25 starting pitchers.

Mets manager Buck Showalter told reporters Friday that the team is still gathering information on the stress fracture in Quintana's rib, Tim Healey of Newsdayreports.

Showalter told reporters there's no new information on the injury, and the team is waiting to get some results back. The left-hander was diagnosed with a small stress fracture on the fifth rib on his left side after leaving Monday's Grapefruit League appearance. There's a very good chance Quintana will start the 2023 season on the injured list, but how long he might be sidelined for isn't yet clear.

Miller is not expected to pitch in any Cactus League games this spring, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Miller upped his workload significantly in the minors last season, so the Dodgers are slow-playing him this spring. He remains one of the team's better prospects and should push to debut at some point in 2023.

Brown was optioned to Double-A Tennessee by the Cubs on Friday.

Brown was added to the Cubs' 40-man roster over the winter after being acquired from the Phillies in the David Robertson trade. He'll join Tennessee's rotation.