MLB Player News

Pirates starting pitcher Charlie Morton is set to throw 80 pitches in his next rehab start, and will need to top the 100-pitch plateau before he comes off the disabled list. That will likely come in the following start, based on the previous reports about when the team is expected to bring him off the disabled list. 

CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Danny Knobler reports Wednesday the Braves are considering the possibility of calling up minor-league pitcher Alex Wood to shore up their bullpen later in the year.

Wood, who opened eyes in 7 2/3 innings with the big league club during spring training, has been excellent at Double-A Mississippi so far. Wood has a 1.26 ERA in 10 starts, with 57 strikeouts and just 57 innings and 15 walks.

Wood, a lefty, could give the bullpen more balance, and a trip to the bullpen late in the season could help the team limit his innings at the age of 22.   

The Cardinals hope to have recently demoted pitcher Carlos Martinez available to rejoin the big-league club as a starter by the end of June, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The 21-year-old took his first step toward that goal with a start at Triple-A Memphis Tuesday.

Martinez threw three scoreless innings in the outing, striking out four batters, with two hits and a walk. He threw 43 pitches, 25 of them for strikes, and will continue to ramp up his workload moving forward. 

Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu turned in the most impressive start yet of his rookie campaign, surrendering just two hits in a complete-game shutout against the Angels Tuesday.

Ryu (6-2) struck out seven and threw 113 pitches in his longest outing of the season. He has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last four starts. His ERA has improved from 3.71 to 2.89 over that span.

Ryu is scheduled to make his next start Sunday at Colorado. He struck out a season-high 12 and allowed two runs in six innings of work on April 30 against the Rockies.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak told reporters Tuesday that the team will consider skipping Michael Wacha's turn in the rotation when possible.

If Wacha remains with the club, the team will monitor his innings and starts. They'd like to limit him to 150 innings this season. The right-hander has 52-plus innings in the minors. Mozeliak said Wacha would "probably receive approximately 22 starts. If you’re doing five innings per start, it would probably work in terms of not putting in danger. Having said that, if we get some of our pitchers back healthy and we can skip starts to protect him, then we’re going to be open (to that)."

Wacha, who was the 19th overall pick in last year's draft, is scheduled to make his big-league debut Thursday against the Royals.

Marlins manager Mike Redmond told The Miami Herald that pitcher Nate Eovaldi will start Thursday for Class A Jupiter. Eovaldi, who is eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list Thursday, will make one more rehab start after that, likely for Double-A Jacksonville.

I understand that in some leagues, the number of rosterable pitchers is greater than the number of available roster spots, but if in your league, you're still messing around with a middling Jeremy Guthrie or Jose Quintana type, you might want to go ahead and take a flier on pitching prospect Michael Wacha even though we don't know just how long he'll stick with the Cardinals.

The 19th overall pick in last year's draft isn't quite on the level of  a Kevin Gausman in terms of upside, but he's pretty close. And he's certainly a quick study. In his first full season of professional baseball, he has a 2.05 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over nine starts in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, and he was even more dominant in spring training, striking out 15 without allowing an earned run in 11 2/3 innings.

Given all the injuries to their pitching staff, the Cardinals have had plenty of opportunities to bring up Wacha before now, but now that they've finally broken the seal on him and kicked off the arbitration clock, I'd guess he's more likely to stick around than a low-upside Tyler Lyons, provided he meets his end of the bargain.

The Cardinals confirmed Tuesday what has been the topic of discussion for days: Top pitching prospect Michael Wacha will get the call to start Thursday's game against the Royals.

Wacha was pulled from his last start at Triple-A Memphis Sunday and will be well rested when he makes his major-league debut. Wacha was Baseball America's No. 76 prospect entering the season, and has allowed just 12 runs in 52 2/3 innings at Triple-A.

Wacha joins the major-league squad after just 73 2/3 minor-league innings, which he had more strikeouts (74) than hits allowed (43). 

Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton, who underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow last June, moved his minor-league rehab assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis Monday.

Morton endured a rough outing as he surrendered five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits and three walks while striking out three in five innings of work. He is expected to make two more rehab starts before making his season debut.

Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke endured another rough outing but escaped with a no-decision Monday night against the Angels.

Greinke, who was facing a former club for the second straight start, allowed a run-scoring double to Erick Aybar, a run-scoring triple to Mark Trumbo and a sacrifice fly to Albert Pujols in the fourth. He was charged with six runs -- four earned -- on 10 hits and one walk while striking out two in four innings pitched.

Greinke has allowed 12 runs -- 10 earned -- in his last three starts (13 1/3 innings) since returning from a broken left collarbone. He is scheduled to make his next start Saturday at Colorado. He is 0-1 with a 5.31 ERA in his last four starts against the Rockies.