MLB Player News

Maeda turned in his best outing of the spring Monday, limiting the Angels to one run on one hit while striking out seven in his 3.2 innings of work.

After two pedestrian outings to begin the spring, Maeda looked to be in mid-season form Monday. The only blemish on his dominant stat line was a solo homer off the bat of Albert Pujols. The 28-year-old sophomore reportedly added 10 pounds of muscle and a cut fastball this past offseason in an effort to combat the second half slump he went through last season. Even if he were to repeat last year's results, Maeda would still be considered a valuable fantasy asset.

Senzatela is making a push to open the year in the Rockies' rotation, The Denver Post's Nick Groke reports.

His fastball command was so stellar in his start Monday that he went back out for the fifth inning despite a pre-planned four-inning limit. He now has a 2.38 ERA over four spring appearances (11.1 innings), and appears to have a non-zero chance of opening the year in the big league rotation even without having ever pitched at Triple-A. There seems to be five more qualified options ahead of him on the depth chart, but he is in the mix if someone else stumbles or gets hurt, which means he needs to be on the radar in deep NL-only leagues.

Glasnow gave up five runs on six hits and a walk in 2.2 innings Monday. He balked once and struck out one batter, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

He retired the first six batters he faced before running into trouble with fastball command inside the strike zone. After the game, he mentioned the team's instruction for him to throw primarily fastballs as a reason why he struggled. "Especially the second time through the lineup when you know a fastball is coming, it's going to be easier to get hit," said Glasnow. "But I stuck to a gameplan and established (the fastballs) in the zone for strikes, at least. It was a little over the middle, but ..." Manager Clint Hurdle said Glasnow's execution was more of the issue than the gameplan. It's never good when a manager and his player are seemingly at odds. After a promising beginning to camp, Glasnow has fallen behind in the race for a rotation spot.

Strasburg allowed two runs on three hits while striking out five over four innings in Monday's Grapefruit League game against the Tigers.

The Washington Post reports that Nats pitching coach Mike Maddux spotted on video Strasburg was tipping his pitches in his last outing, and after making a slight adjustment to how he grips and sets the ball from the stretch, the right-hander posted much better results Monday. "I always have a tendency to tip pitches. I think it's just the way I grip the ball," he said. "My hands are pretty big, and if I'm not paying attention, I do little things. They've got everything on video, so they know all the little things that I do." The 28-year-old has only topped 200 innings once in a season during his career, so staying healthy remains the biggest obstacle between Strasburg and a Cy Young-caliber campaign.

Wacha gave up two earned runs on three hits over five innings in Monday's 6-3 Grapefruit League win over the Astros. He struck out four.

Wacha continued his stellar spring with his longest outing to date, although he finally surrendered his first runs over four starts in the third inning. Two came on Colin Moran's two-run double down the right-field line, but Wacha bounced back to retire the next seven hitters to wrap up his afternoon. The right-hander has generated a 1.38 ERA through 13 innings and looks much closer to the pitcher that notched a career-high 17 wins in 2015 than the one that endured an injury-riddled 7-7 season last year. The ability to get hitters out with his full arsenal of pitches has been especially key to his success thus far, a trend that continued Monday. "When he has his stuff like he had today," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, "I mean, I saw a strikeout with his fastball, which was really good, I saw a strikeout with his curveball, saw a strikeout with his changeup, saw a strikeout with his cutter. Those are all good signs. You can tell everything is right."

DeSclafani will be shut down for four weeks with a UCL sprain, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

DeSclafani was expected to miss his first turn in the rotation to start the season after the sore elbow delayed his spring debut. However, an MRI revealed he is dealing with a sprained UCL and will be shut down for at least four weeks, which ultimately lands him on the DL for Opening Day. It's not ideal news for both parties, but the injury is not considered surgical; it'll be big if the 26-year-old can avoid Tommy John surgery. He'll be reevaluated in a month, but for now, expect the young Cincinnati arms -- Cody Reed, Tim Adleman (shoulder), Amir Garrett and Robert Stephenson -- to compete for the vacated rotation spot.

Alcantara was reassigned to minor-league camp Monday, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.

The 21-year-old pitched in Single-A Peoria and High-A Palm Beach in 2016, posting a 3.96 ERA with a 153:59 K:BB across 122.2 total innings. Despite having only pitched in High-A up until this point, don't rule out the possibility of Alcantara pitching in the majors in 2017, as the Cardinals have notoriously skipped Triple-A stints with prior pitching prospects such as Trevor Rosenthal and Carlos Martinez.

Gonzales was optioned to Triple-A Memphis on Monday, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.

This was expected, as Gonzales is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and hasn't made an appearance in a game all spring. The 25-year-old will start the year in the minors, and after a rehab assignment, he should be an option for the Cardinals sometime around July.

Syndergaard (illness) returned to the mound and threw 3.1 innings Monday against the Marlins, allowing three runs on three hits while striking out four and walking one.

Syndergaard has been dealing with bronchitis over the last week, and he gave up his first runs of spring training in his return. The Mets may give Syndergaard some more rest moving forward, but it appears their ace has shaken his illness and should be 100 percent.

Wood started Sunday's split-squad game against the White Sox, surrendering a run on three hits while striking out three over his three innings of work.

Wood -- who is competing for both a role and a spot on the Opening Day roster -- is quietly having a solid spring. The southpaw has a 3.86 ERA with six strikeouts in his seven innings of Cactus League action. However, Wood's ability to pitch out of either the rotation or the bullpen may end up hurting his chances of joining the Dodgers' rotation to start the year. If Wood does make the rotation out of camp, he would be an intriguing fantasy asset due to his strong strikeout rate (8.15 career K/9) and pitcher-friendly home venue.