MLB Player News

Williams reported to the Nationals' camp Sunday following the birth of his daughter, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.

The veteran right-hander wasn't with the team for the start of spring training since his wife was due to give birth, but he's now joined the Nationals after spending some time with his family. Williams threw to high schoolers at home in San Diego, so he was still able to get some work in before reporting to camp and shouldn't be significantly behind the other pitchers.

Whitlock allowed one run on one hit while striking out two over two innings in Saturday's spring start against Baltimore.

Whitlock allowed some loud contact during his opening frame, including an Adley Rutschman home run on a 3-1 changeup. Red Sox manager Alex Cora was largely pleased with the outing. "He fell into some deep counts," Cora told Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe. "Conditions were conducive to fly balls going out of the ballpark. But overall it was a good outing. The quality of pitches was good. So now we move on to the next one." Whitlock is in the mix for a spot in the rotation, but the right-hander said he's not as consumed with being a starter as he was the past two seasons, which have featured injuries and inconsistency. "I kind of took a page from Adam Warren (a former teammate), where he told me, once you adapt that mind-set of being a Swiss Army knife, where you can be thrown into anything and excel, it frees everything else up," Whitlock said. He's in the mix for one of two spots in the rotation along with Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Josh Winckowski.

Eovaldi allowed one hit and one walk over two innings in Saturday's spring start against the Royals.

Eovaldi worked around a leadoff single and two-out walk in the first inning, as the right-hander went unscathed during his Cactus League debut. His fastball sat at 96 mph and touched 97 mph, per Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News.

Spiers allowed three hits and struck out four over two scoreless innings in Saturday's spring start against the Guardians.

Spiers, who served dual roles as a starter and reliever in 2023, opened the Cactus League schedule for the Reds as a starter. The performance was an encouraging outing for Spiers, as two of his four punchouts came against players that rarely strike out -- Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez. It would be a surprise if the right-hander wins a rotation spot, but a strong spring could keep Spiers on a starter's trajectory and put hm atop the list of depth starters.

Megill gave up a run on two hits and struck out three over two innings in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals.

After a shaky first inning that saw him plunk Brendan Donovan to lead off the game before uncorking a wild pitch, Megill breezed through a 1-2-3 second frame. The right-hander came into camp looking to win the Mets' No. 5 starter role, but Kodai Senga's shoulder strain has opened up a second spot in the Opening Day rotation. Megill endured a rough 2023, but he worked on adding a splitter to his arsenal in the offseason and could offer more strikeout upside than the likes of Joey Lucchesi and Jose Butto, his main competition in the rotation battle.

Roby was scratched from his scheduled spring start Monday due to back tightness, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.

Any spring injuries are concerning, but it doesn't appear to be a serious issue since Roby is still in consideration to start later in the week. The 22-year-old righty is one of the organization's top prospects and could make his big-league debut sometime in 2024 with a strong showing in the minors.

Nelson allowed two hits and struck out five over two scoreless innings in Saturday's spring start against the Rockies.

Nelson's 33-pitch performance was the talk of the post-game discussion. The right-hander threw mostly fastballs and sliders and induced eight swing-and-misses. "The velocity looked like it was spiking," manager Torey Lovullo told Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. "He started mixing in a really quality secondary pitch with that slider, I know that was something I've been emphasizing. I know he's been working hard on it and he got a ton of swing-and-miss." It was an impressive showing for Nelson, who logged a 15.5 strikeout percentage (sixth percentile per Statcast) and 6.0 K/9 in 2023. It was also a timely response after Tommy Henry's impressive Cactus League debut Friday. Nelson and Henry are seen as the main competitors for the final spot in the rotation.

Senga (shoulder) received a platelet-rich-plasma injection Sunday and will be shut down from throwing for the next three weeks, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

The 31-year-old was diagnosed with a moderate posterior capsule strain in his right shoulder Thursday, and he's now received the necessary treatment. Senga will require a significant buildup period following the multi-week shutdown and seems likely to be sidelined for at least the first month of the regular season.

Strider struck out four batters over two scoreless innings in his first Grapefruit League action of the spring Saturday against the Rays.

The right-hander allowed one hit and and one walk, and per David O'Brien of The Athletic, he was already hitting 98-99 mph with his fastball even though it isn't even March yet. Strider also incorporated the curveball he's been working on, throwing three of them and liking the results. "I think every time [the curve] was effective," Strider said after the start. "And it's a pitch that, similarly to the changeup, is an effective pitch any time I throw it, regardless of what the outcome is. Because my strengths are my fastball and my slider. So everything I'm doing is trying to help those pitches. And so that's how today was very educational, starting to see the sequencing and the feedback from hitters in a competitive environment." Strider threw his fastball and slider almost 93 percent of the time in 2023, and while that likely isn't going to change significantly this season, having another pitch he trusts in his repertoire could allow the 25-year-old ace to become the first pitcher to record 300 strikeouts in a season since Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander both reached that mark in 2019.

Manager Joe Espada said Sunday that Whitley (finger) has reduced inflammation but won't throw for the next week, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

The right-hander was scratched from his bullpen session Saturday due to the right middle finger injury, and he'll be shut down for a week as a result. Whitley will need to ramp things back up after the shutdown period, so he likely won't be game-ready until at least mid-March.