MLB Player News

Wood (10-0) pitched seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts during Wednesday's win over Arizona. He allowed just three hits and two walks.

Wood sports a 1.67 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 10.8 K/9, and he's collected a win in nine of his past 10 starts. He's locked in as an elite fantasy option in all settings until proven otherwise at this point. A road date with the Marlins is up next for the lefty.

Gowdy has yet to pitch this season due to biceps tendinitis, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philadelphia reports.

Gowdy has been throwing according to Joe Jordan, the Phillies' director of player development, and is expected to pitch for one of the team's affiliates this summer. Gowdy was the Phillies' second-round pick in 2016 and was rated as the top high school pitcher in California by Baseball America last year.

Manager Pete Mackanin said Velasquez (elbow) will continue to work as a starter when he comes off the disabled list, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philadelphia reports.

A report earlier this week indicated the Phillies could consider moving Velasquez to the pen, but that is not in their immediate plans. It is unclear if Velasquez will rejoin the Phillies' rotation when he comes off the disabled list or if he will go to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to get in some additional work there. The hard-throwing righty will make his next rehab start at Double-A Reading on Thursday.

Eickhoff (back) has been cleared to start Sunday against the Padres, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philadelphia reports.

Eickhoff has been sidelined since June 20 with an upper-back strain. He was sharp in a rehab start earlier this week, throwing 42 of his 57 pitches for strikes. He won't be activated off the disabled list until Sunday.

Lively (1-4) gave up four runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts over four innings in a loss against the Pirates on Wednesday.

The rookie right-hander hadn't failed to complete five innings in any of his first six MLB starts, but that run came to an end in ugly fashion when the Pirates hung a six-run fourth inning on him. Lively has only a 17:13 K:BB over 42.2 innings, and that minimal strikeout rate is going to make it hard for him to keep his ERA (currently 3.80) in fantasy-friendly territory.

Cole (7-7) struck out eight while holding the Phillies to two runs on seven hits and a walk in Wednesday's 5-2 win.

He's now won four of his last five starts, but Cole gave up seven runs in the other one -- a stretch that's fairly emblematic of his 2017 to this point. Cole may be one of the highest-upside pitchers around, but he's taken a turn for the inconsistent since going 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA and 1.09 WHIP back in 2015. Still, he's gotten unlucky in terms of HR/FB rate this year (it's a career-high 17.9 percent), and some positive regression on that front will help his stats normalize. Cole will probably start the Pirates' first game after the All-Star break, July 14 against the Cardinals.

Wheeler will have his next start pushed back following Wednesday's postponement, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports.

Wheeler was originally scheduled to pitch Friday, but after Wednesday's game was rained out, the Mets decided to push him back to allow Jacob DeGrom to take his place. While the big club hasn't hinted at anything regarding his next start, it seems likely that he'll simply slide back a day to take his turn in the rotation Saturday.

DeGrom will start Friday against St. Louis after Wednesday's game in Washington was rained out, NJ.com reports.

He's been on a roll lately, and fantasy owners certainly won't mind that deGrom will miss the Nats' powerful offense and instead face the mediocre Cardinals. DeGrom has gone through some trouble spots, but he's stabilized in a major way lately, winning four straight starts while putting up a 0.84 ERA, 0.72 WHIP and 31:8 K:BB over 32 innings in that span.

Manager Dave Roberts said Kershaw likely won't start the first game back from the All-Star break, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Kershaw is scheduled to make his next start Sunday against the Royals, and while that would potentially line him up to pitch the first game after the All-Star break, the Dodgers will apparently opt to give their ace some extra rest before calling upon his services again. The 29-year-old owns an impressive 2.19 ERA and 146:22 K:BB through 123.1 innings this season, so he'll likely return to the rotation for the second or third game after the break.

Oaks is reportedly dealing with an oblique injury, Jacob Unruh of The Oklahoman reports.

Oaks was scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday due to this issue. He underwent an MRI on the inflicted area Wednesday, so more information on his status moving forward should come forth once the results are disclosed. No matter what the results say, however, oblique injuries are notorious for sidelining players for a solid chunk of time, so Oaks may be facing a multi-week absence even if the MRI shows limited damage.