MLB Player News

Braves reliever Craig Kimbrel notched his 28th save Thursday against the Mets.

Kimbrel was called upon for the four out save. With two men on in the eighth inning, Fredi Gonzalez went to Kimbrel to get out of the jam. He struck out Kirk Nieuwenhuis to end the inning. Kimbrel then came out for the ninth. He pitched a perfect frame, but did not pick up any additional strikeouts. Kimbrel's ERA sits at 1.96 on the year. 

Cardinals pitcher Shelby Miller had a rough start Thursday against the Pirates.

Miller allowed four runs on five hits over five innings. He had issues with his command, walking four hitters. He struck out just one during the outing. After Russell Martin notched a run against Miller in the first, he seemed to settle in for a few innings. In the fifth, however, he ran into trouble. Miller walked two hitters early, and wouldn’t get out of the inning unscathed. With two outs, Andrew McCutchen singled in a run and Neil Walker doubled home two runs. Miller issued another walk before finally getting out of the inning. He threw 92 pitches during the start. 

The loss dropped Miller to 7-8 on the year. His next start is undetermined at this point due to the upcoming All-Star Game. 

Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson will start Saturday against the Cardinals.

Nelson was called up Thursday after the team placed Wei-Chung Wang on the disabled list. Nelson will take Marco Estrada's spot in the team's rotation. Estrada will shift to the bullpen. Nelson has a 1.46 ERA over 111 innings in Triple-A. 

Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson has been called up Thursday.

Nelson will take the roster spot of Wei-Chung Wang, who hit the disabled list. It's unclear whether Nelson will pitch out of the rotation or the bullpen. Nelson has been rumored to be a candidate to replace Marco Estrada in the team's rotation, but they haven't announced the move yet. Nelson has a 1.46 ERA over 111 innings in Triple-A. 

Word is Jimmy Nelson could enter the Brewers starting rotation as early as Saturday, replacing the beleaguered Marco Estrada. It's little more than speculation right now, but considering he's arguably the most anticipated pitching prospect yet to get an extended look in the majors this year, it might be reason enough to act.

Does that mean you should add him across the board? Maybe not. Look, he's no Taijuan Walker in terms of ability, but his exact upside is difficult to pinpoint with the kind of year he's had at Triple-A Nashville, going 10-2 with a 1.46 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings. And that's in the Pacific Coast League, which is widely considered to be one of the most hitter-friendly leagues in all the minors.

Coming into the year, Nelson was presumed to be little more than a mid-rotation type, but that's when he was plagued by control issues that have been nowhere to be found this year. He has issued just 2.6 walks per nine innings.

The raw stuff is good. He throws a mid-90s fastball with good sink, which all but assures he won't get burned by home runs in the big leagues, and he has enough of a secondary arsenal to miss bats with regularity. Plus, because of the time he spent in the majors last season, he's eligible at relief pitcher, which is huge in Head-to-Head points leagues.

So maybe he's not high-end enough to be must-add before he even arrives, but if he fills a need for you, why not take a flier?

Reds reliever J.J. Hoover picked up the loss Thursday against the Cubs. 

Hoover pitched two innings for the club. In his second inning of work, Hoover alternated between singles and strikeouts with his first four batters of the inning. With men on first and second with two outs, Hoover allowed a two-run triple to Luis Valbuena. The Reds couldn't mount a comeback in the bottom half of the inning, giving Hoover the loss. He drops to 1-6 on the year. 

Though no decision has been made, the Brewers are considering a switch for Saturday's start, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Marco Estrada is currently listed as the starting pitcher for the game against the Cardinals, but the report indicates a call up for prospect Jimmy Nelson is looming. Nelson has been tearing things up at Triple-A Nasville, while Estrada is the major-league leader in home runs allowed, with 27.

Manager Ron Roenicke was even asked if it was safe to assume Estrada will make his schedule start, and he replied, "I won't comment on that."

Roenicke was non-committal when asked whether the team is considering Nelson, but indicated that they would not necessarily have to wait until after the All-Star break to make any sort of change.

"Sometimes you wait until the all-star break to do things," he said. "But when the timing calls for something to be done, you try to do it. If it makes sense right then, why wait on something? That's what we talk about all the time. We talk about what goes on in here, how guys are feeling right now, and do we need a change?"

Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said pitchers Daniel Hudson and Matt Reynolds are in different stages of their recoveries from Tommy John surgery, per MLB.com. While both pitchers are throwing, neither is expected back until September.

"Well, basically Daniel is just starting to throw again," Gibson said. "He just went through a period where they shut him down again. He'll start throwing aggressively this time through the cycle.

"Reynolds just got off that cycle and he threw a bullpen yesterday. We're probably optimistically looking at September. Hopefully they can throw some in September, just enough to know they'll be good. We'll shut them down again after the season."

Marlins pitcher Brad Hand didn't factor into the decision Tuesday, giving up just an unearned run on eight hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings and striking out two in his team's 2-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

Hand saw the leadoff batter of the fifth inning reach base on an error, and that runner came home to score on a single before the Diamondbacks recorded a double play that would have otherwise ended the inning scoreless. Hand owns a 5.09 ERA and 27:19 K:BB ratio in 35 1/3 innings. He's scheduled to face the Mets Sunday.

Joe Kelly is set to return to the Cardinals starting rotation Friday, which isn't exactly an earth-shattering development in Fantasy, but he's useful for certain formats.

Specifically, owners in Head-to-Head points leagues may want to take advantage of his relief pitcher eligibility. A quality starting pitcher tends to outscore the average closer in that format, and Kelly has been a quality starter when he's gotten the chance to start over the last three seasons. He hasn't been an especially flashy one, but that doesn't matter so much in points leagues, where strikeouts are worth only half a point.

Kelly isn't a great source of WHIP either, but he keeps runs off the board and is usually a good bet for a quality start, which is worth three points in standard CBSSports.com leagues. And while the Cardinals haven't had great success offensively this year, I think their talent eventually wins out and they make the playoffs as a wild card. A late-season surge would probably be reflected in Kelly's win-loss record.

Again, he's not the most exciting pitcher, and if I wanted a starting pitcher who I could slot as a reliever, I'd turn to Kevin Gausman, Carlos Martinez or Rubby De La Rosa before resorting to him. But Kelly has his place in Fantasy.