MLB Player News

Gore gave up five runs on nine hits and two walks over four innings in Friday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros. He struck out three.

Facing a Houston lineup that was a mix of Opening Day starters and guys competing for bench roles, Gore's command wavered all afternoon, particularly against Jeremy Pena as the shortstop tagged him for home runs in the third and fourth innings. Gore's talent is undeniable, but until the young southpaw shows some consistency he'll be a risky fantasy option. Through 14 innings this spring, he has a 9:6 K:BB and has served up three homers.

Nelson allowed one run on four hits and one walk while striking out six over 4.1 innings in Friday's spring start against Colorado.

The battle for the final rotation spot is heating up late in camp. Prospect Brandon Pfaadt has been the most consistent throughout, but he would have to be added to the 40-man roster which could sway the decision toward Nelson. His spring got off to a rocky start, but the right-hander cobbled together a couple of strong outings the past week. The competition has evolved since the start of camp with Drey Jameson and Tommy Henry each topping the group on iterations of the projected roster from MLB.com's Steve Gilbert, but it's now looking more like Nelson or Pfaadt.

Cabrera appears to be the favorite to win the final spot in the Miami rotation, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports.

Sandy Alcantara, Jesus Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and Johnny Cueto will make up the top four starters for the Marlins. The battle is between Cabrera and Braxton Garrett, and Cabrera appears to have the edge after his strong showing in spring training. The fact that Garrett has a minor-league option remaining also tips the scales in Cabrera's favor. Once considered among the very best pitching prospects in baseball, Cabrera has a chance for fantasy relevancy because of his swing-and-miss arsenal, but managers should take a wait-and-see approach before investing too much in the right-hander.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Pepiot was dealing with side discomfort during his Cactus League start Friday against the Cubs, Matthew Moreno of DodgerBlue.com reports.

"Kind of something in the midsection of his body," Roberts told Dodgers reporter Kirsten Watson. "We just felt after that long third inning, we felt it was smart to put on that next inning and get him ready for his next start." The right-hander went three innings while allowing just one run, walking two and striking out four. The long inning Roberts referred to is an eight-run burst for the Dodgers before Pepiot exited. The 25-year-old has a good chance to open the season in the rotation, and Roberts mentioned that he believes Pepiot will make his next start, but fantasy managers will want to pay close attention to this situation.

Suarez (forearm) threw a light bullpen session Friday and is set to throw a full bullpen session Sunday, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports.

Suarez has been dealing with left forearm tightness for a week or so but has made some nice progress. While the Phillies have acknowledged he will not be fully stretched out for the start of the regular season, they still plan to carry Suarez on their Opening Day roster and build up his stamina on the fly.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Gonsolin (ankle) will begin the season on the injured list, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

The news hardly comes as a surprise, as Gonsolin was expected to miss the first several weeks of the season, but Roberts has now confirmed it. The 28-year-old righty began throwing Wednesday, but the team will go slow with his recovery.

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.