MLB Player News

McHugh (arm) threw a 28-pitch batting-practice session Tuesday, Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle reports.

McHugh, who was facing live hitters for the first time, said he used all four of his pitches, but didn't command well. That's to be expected at this stage. The next step for McHugh is to throw three innings in a minor league game this weekend, when he'll get to experience the up-and-downs of throwing an inning then resting. There's little time left in spring training, so any setbacks could jeopardize his availability for the start of the regular season.

De Leon was added to Puerto Rico's active roster for the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

De Leon pitched three innings for the Rays on Monday, so he likely won't be available to pitch for Puerto Rico in the very near future. The 24-year-old will replace pitcher Jenrry Mejia, who was removed from the team's roster.

Pomeranz (elbow) made his spring debut Tuesday, allowing two hits and two runs against the Blue Jays, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports. He threw 35 pitches, 22 for strikes, and didn't walk or strikeout a batter.

Most notable during the outing was Toronto making plenty of hard contact against Pomeranz, whose fastball was at 87-90 mph for the last few batters he faced. Of course, those kinds of measurements don't really matter during a pitcher's first Grapefruit League start, which is an exercise in building arm strength. After his late start to game action, Pomeranz could get another four starts and be ready to pitch Boston's fifth game of the season, Apr. 8 in Detroit.

Strahm allowed one hit and struck out two batters over 1.1 scoreless innings against the Rockies on Monday.

Through four Cactus League appearances, Strahm has four times as many strikeouts (8) as hits allowed (2). He has not issued a single free pass in 7.1 scoreless frames. It would appear Strahm is being prepared for a multi-inning role out of the bullpen, with Nathan Karns, Travis Wood and Chris Young competing for the final rotation spot. However, Strahm is the most talented of the bunch and it's possible he could force his way into a starting role relatively early on in the season -- similar to the path Danny Duffy took last year.

Bellatti signed a minor league contract with the Orioles and was sent to Twin Lakes Park, Roch Kubatko of MASN reports.

The 25-year-old pitched briefly in the majors in 2015, accumulating a 2.31 ERA across 23.1 innings with the Rays before being optioned back down to Triple-A. However, Bellatti failed to make the Opening Day roster and struggled mightily in the minors in 2016, recording a 6.91 ERA in 14.1 innings of work. He'll serve as organizational depth for the Orioles, who are hoping he can find his form again in their minor league system.

McHugh (arm) had his batting-practice session moved to Tuesday, Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle reports.

McHugh had been scheduled to throw BP on Monday. If his arm responds well to Tuesday's session, McHugh could pitch in a game Friday, whether that be a major league or minor league game. The imprecise phrase "dead arm" was used to describe the injury that forced a delay in McHugh's throwing schedule, but the root cause involves the rotator cuff in his shoulder -- in particular, it wasn't getting enough blood flow to strengthen ligaments. As such, he's been performing exercises designed to encourage blood flow to the area.

Graveman (1-1) surrendered three earned runs on four hits and a walk over 3.2 innings in Monday's 3-1 Cactus League loss to the Reds. He also recorded a strikeout.

Graveman's role in the Oakland rotation takes on additional importance in the wake of ace Sonny Gray's lat injury, and he could well take the latter's place as the Opening Day starter. He'd looked up to the task through his first pair of spring starts and an exhibition appearance against Team Italy, but Monday's outing proved to be a different story. Graveman was scored on for the first time this spring courtesy of Brandon Dixon, who hit a second-inning sacrifice fly and then launched a two-run homer to left in the fourth on Graveman's next-to-last pitch of the afternoon. Despite the hiccups Monday, Graveman did manage to make a sizable leap in pitch count and also made an immediate assessment on the source of his troubles. "I didn't locate as well as the game went on ... and one bad pitch there at the end, otherwise you leave feeling pretty good about it," Graveman said.

Johnson was optioned to the Red Sox's minor-league camp Tuesday, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports.

Though David Price's (elbow) injury likely creates an opening in the rotation to begin the season, it's expected that Eduardo Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz, who were competing for the fifth starter's role, will simply both be included in the rotation now. That left Johnson on the outside looking in, and the 26-year-old's underwhelming spring training performance made it an easy decision for the Red Sox to send him back to minor-league camp. He's expected to open the campaign with Triple-A Pawtucket, with whom he compiled a 4.09 ERA (4.73 FIP) in 77 innings a season ago.

Boxberger (back) will throw a bullpen session Wednesday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

After his bullpen session Monday went well, Boxberger will toss another as he aims to progress to his first appearance of the spring. The Rays don't have a firm target date for his Grapefruit League debut, but the right-handed reliever indicated that he will "definitely" be ready for Opening Day.

DeLeon surrendered three earned runs on two hits and a walk over three innings in Monday's 9-4 Grapefruit League loss to the Twins. He struck out two.

DeLeon was notably better overall than in his spring debut last Thursday, when he wasn't able to log a full inning. However, there were still plenty of command issues for the right-hander, as he threw 26 pitches in the second inning and 54 in total through his three frames. DeLeon did consistently hit 90-93 mph with his fastball, and if not for Niko Goodrum's three-run home run in the second, his final line would naturally have looked a lot better. "I'm happy because I felt better than my previous starts," De Leon said. "Still working on the command, but I think it's a step forward today. Just have to keep working on it and it will be good."