MLB Player News

Rodney earned a save while striking out one and walking one Thursday against the Mariners.

Consistently among the most shaky closers in the league, Rodney has once again secured a closer's' role in 2018 and earned his first save of the season Thursday. His propensity for blow ups -- he had seven outings in which he allowed multiple runs last season -- makes him hard to trust as a primary closer. However, the Twins appear to be content using Addison Reed as their high-leverage setup man, leaving save chances to Rodney.

Mengden took the loss and allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out two over 5.1 innings Thursday against the Rangers.

Mengden was a tough-luck loser Thursday as he seemingly out pitched his counterpart Martin Perez, but was tagged with the loss regardless. All of the damage against him came in the second inning, with the catalyst being when he was struck on his surgically repaired right foot on a liner off the bat of Rougned Odor. The following batter-- Ryan Rua-- dropped down a bunt, which Mengden fielded but then threw away. After the damage was done, he responded by retiring 12 consecutive batters before being lifted in the sixth inning after allowing a hit and a walk. He remains limited in value due to a lack of strikeouts, but Mengden has shown the ability to get outs in his first two starts of the season.

Jimenez (1-0) picked up his first MLB win Thursday against the White Sox after tossing a perfect inning of relief.

Jimenez has yet to allow a run through his first four appearances (3.1 innings) this season. This is an encouraging sign for a player who posted a 12.32 ERA in his rookie season last year. The Tigers will likely continue turning to Jimenez in high-leverage situations, and he's a potential option to close at some point this season.

Rodriguez has a stress reaction in his back and will open the year on the disabled list at Low-A Burlington, MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo reports.

Considered by some to be the Angels' top pitching prospect in the minor leagues, Rodriguez will miss a good chunk of the first half of the season with this injury. He has legitimate mid-rotation upside, with a plus fastball, a changeup that projects as a second plus pitch, and two quality breaking balls. The 19-year-old righty didn't post a pretty ERA (5.84) in 24.2 innings at Low-A last year, but his 3.17 FIP was more indicative of how well he pitched.

Stephan will open the year at High-A Tampa, MLB.com's Jim Callis reports.

He didn't pitch above the New York-Penn League last year after the Yankees selected him with the 92nd overall pick, so this speaks to how advanced the organization thinks the 6-foot-4 righty is. He is 22, so it's not like he's young for the level, but the jump in competition will still be illuminating. His mid-90s fastball and quality slider make the big-league bullpen a legitimate fallback option, but the Yankees are expected to continue developing him as a starter in hopes that his changeup ticks up in the coming years.

Kelly was outrighted to Double-A Bowie on Thursday, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

Kelly will remain in the Orioles' organization after being designated for assignment by the team earlier in the week. The 25-year-old split time with Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso in 2017, compiling a combined 4.19 ERA across 126.2 innings. He'll serve as organizational pitching depth for the Orioles.

Abreu (appendix) will open the season on the disabled list at High-A Tampa, MLB.com's Jim Callis reports.

He had an appendectomy in February, and the recovery time on that surgery typically isn't more than several weeks, so it's a bit of a surprise that he won't be ready to go for the start of the season. Abreu only logged 53.1 innings last season, plus a stint in the Arizona Fall League, so the Yankees may simply be holding him out because he wasn't going to be able to log a full season this year anyway. Once healthy, Abreu should have no problem mowing down High-A hitters (he has 46 innings under his belt at that level) and forcing a promotion to Double-A.

Hall will open the year at Low-A Delmarva, MLB.com's Mike Rosenbaum reports.

The No. 21 overall pick in the 2017 draft, Hall logged 10.1 innings in the Gulf Coast League last year. The best part of this news is that we know Hall is healthy, otherwise he would have been held back in extended spring training. His fastball and curveball could each be 70-grade offerings in time, but command concerns and the lack of a quality third pitch could result in Hall ending up in the bullpen.

Leclerc was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock on Thursday.

Leclerc was likely to be unavailable Thursday after pitching a pair of scoreless innings during Wednesday's loss to the A's, so the Rangers opted to shuttle him back to the minors in order to open up a roster spot for Thursday's starter, Martin Perez, who was activated from the disabled list in a corresponding move. Leclerc should be back with the big club when a fresh bullpen arm is needed.

Andriese allowed two earned runs on three hits over 2.2 innings in Wednesday's 7-2 loss to the Yankees.

Andriese was touched up for the first time this season, following a two-inning scoreless outing against the Red Sox on Friday in his 2018 debut. The occasional starter and long reliever projects for plenty of multi-inning stints in the coming season, especially with manager Kevin Cash planning to utilize "bullpen days" to take the place of a regular starter from time to time.