MLB Player News

Jax threw a scoreless eighth inning with a walk in Thursday's win over against Kansas City to earn his first hold of the season.

It was notable that Jax was used in the eighth inning ahead of Jhoan Duran in the ninth, while Pablo Lopez worked the seventh. Jax had a breakout season in 2022 after moving to the bullpen and became a key setup man for the Twins. He improved both his strikeout (26.9 percent) and walk (6.9 percent) rates with a 78:20 K:BB over 72.1 innings. It looks like he could be the main set-up man and rack up holds again, and possibly be in the mix for saves if manager Rocco Baldelli sticks to his previous matchup-based bullpen usage.

Graveman (1-0) allowed one hit in a scoreless eighth inning to earn the win Thursday against the Astros.

Graveman was a candidate to serve as the White Sox's closer to begin the season, but he instead entered the game with the score knotted at 1-1 in the eighth frame. Reynaldo Lopez ultimately pitched the ninth inning to earn the save after Chicago grabbed the lead. It's unclear whether Lopez is locked into the closer role or if Graveman will also see some save opportunities in the absence of Liam Hendriks (illness).

Arizona placed Melancon (shoulder) on the 15-day injured list Thursday.

The veteran reliever was given a platelet-rich plasma injection in mid-March in hopes of speeding along his recovery. However, Melancon's absence could end up being measured in months, not weeks.

Garcia (1-0) gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in the eighth inning of Thursday's 10-9 victory over the Cardinals, getting charged with a blown save but picking up the win.

Few pitchers on either side fared well in the wild Opening Day contest, but it's noteworthy that Erik Swanson entered the game in fifth inning with the score tied 5-5 while Garcia got the nod in the eighth after the Jays had taken a brief 8-7 lead. If he remains the team's primary setup man in front of closer Jordan Romano, Garcia could top last year's career-high 22 holds, but he'll need to pitch better than he did Thursday to keep the spot.

Raley struck out two in a perfect eighth inning during an Opening Day win over the Marlins to record his first hold of the season.

The Mets' bullpen survived its first test without Edwin Diaz (knee) and passed with flying colors, as Raley, Drew Smith and David Robertson combined to strike out six batters over three scoreless innings in relief of Max Scherzer. Raley was already ticketed for a high-leverage role in his first season with the team as the top lefty in the New York 'pen. He could find his way into a few more save chances in Diaz's absence, although Robertson will likely see the bulk of the ninth-inning work out of the gate.

Smith gave up a hit and struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning to record his first hold of the season in Thursday's win over the Marlins.

It was a strong start to the season for the right-hander, who fired 10 of 16 pitches for strikes in relief of Max Scherzer. Smith isn't expected to be one of the arms called upon for closing duties to help replace Edwin Diaz (knee), but he should be able to blow past last year's career-high 14 holds with increased high-leverage usage.

Munoz picked up the save in Thursday's 3-0 win over the Guardians. He allowed two hits and no walks or strikeouts in a scoreless frame.

Paul Sewald handled a scoreless top of the eighth inning with the game tied 0-0 and the 6-7-8 hitters in the Guardians' order due up. After the Mariners scored three times in the bottom of the frame they turned things over to Munoz, who pitched around a single and a double. It was a rare outing without a strikeout for the right-hander -- he had just 14 of those last season among 64 appearances -- but his velocity was fine as he maxed out at 100.6 mph. Seattle figures to give both Munoz and Sewald save opportunities, but if one of them stakes a claim to the full-time closer job, it'll probably be Munoz.

Minter walked one and struck out one in a scoreless ninth inning Thursday's during a 7-2 win over the Nationals.

Atlanta was only up 4-2 heading into the top of the ninth but tacked on three more runs in its half of the frame, erasing the save situation for Minter. It's still reassuring that he was the clear choice to close out of the game for manager Brian Snitker, but with Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) hoping to return in mid-April, there may be only a handful of save opportunities for Minter before he gets bumped back to a setup role.

Luetge (1-0) picked up the win Opening Day against the Nationals, allowing one run on two hits over one inning of relief.

The southpaw replaced Max Fried (hamstring) in the fourth inning with Atlanta ahead 4-1, and the Nats never came close to tying the score. Luetge is expected to begin the season in middle relief -- even with Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) on the shelf, A.J. Minter and potentially Dylan Lee are still ahead of Luetge on the depth chart from the left side. Atlanta's offense is potent enough that Luetge could vulture some wins, something the 36-year-old did eight times over the last two seasons with the Yankees.

Thompson gave up one hit and struck out three over two scoreless innings of relief in an Opening Day loss to Atlanta.

The 25-year-old righty entered the game in the sixth inning with the Nationals down 4-2 and fanned Austin Riley and Michael Harris to keep things close for the home squad. Thompson's role is fairly undefined to begin the season -- starter Patrick Corbin couldn't complete four innings Thursday, taxing the Washington bullpen right out of the gate -- but if he keeps getting the job done, he could work his way into a high-leverage role.