MLB Player News

Verlander (shoulder) will throw another bullpen session Sunday, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

Verlander was not cleared to face hitters after Tuesday's bullpen session as hoped, but perhaps that will happen after Sunday's mound work. The veteran right-hander has been coming along slowly but surely in camp after some offseason shoulder issues, but he's running out of time to get ramped up by Opening Day.

Valdez will experiment with calling some of his own pitches during spring training, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

Valdez will wear a PitchCom device that will allow him to send signals to the catcher beginning with his Grapefruit League debut Friday. Assuming the experiment goes well, he's expected to continue the practice into the regular season, though it's unclear if any other Astros starter will follow suit. Valdez appears to be making the shift as a result of the departure of Martin Maldonado, who caught every inning that he threw in 2023 and all but three frames in the last two seasons.

Flores, who averaged 92.9 mph on his fastball last season, touched 99 mph in Grapefruit League play Thursday, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports.

Flores got a swinging strikeout on the pitch, and a sustained increase in velocity would be good news for the young righty. He was selected to the 40-man roster in November, and while he'll likely start the year with Triple-A Toledo, Flores could be a bullpen option at some point in 2024 if he's able to pitch well in the minors.

Shuster allowed three earned runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three across two innings in Thursday's Cactus League game against the Mariners.

Shuster worked through the first inning with ease, striking out two batters without allowing a baserunner. Trouble came in the second frame, however, as he allowed six consecutive batters to reach base. After the outing, Shuster noted that he was happy with his increased velocity but also acknowledged that he struggled to place his slider. He's in the running for a role in the rotation to begin the 2024 season.

Olson allowed two runs on four hits across two innings in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox. He struck out three.

Olson allowed two runs for the second straight time in Grapefruit League play, though he cut back on the walks after allowing three free passes across 1.2 innings Saturday. He also showed better swing-and-miss stuff after not recording any strikeouts in his last start. The righty is in the mix to start for a rebuilding Detroit team in 2024, and if Olson can keep the walks in check, he may be able to take a step forward in his second MLB season.

Cantillo allowed a run on a hit and a walk over two innings in Wednesday's Cactus League start versus the Diamondbacks.

Cantillo pitched a clean first inning, but a walk, two wild pitches and a double led to Arizona's first run in the second. It's encouraging to see Cantillo work as a starter this spring, but with just over half a season of experience at the Triple-A level (4.64 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 111:55 K:BB), it's fairly likely the 24-year-old will need more time with Columbus this season. Logan Allen (shoulder) has yet to make his spring debut, but the Guardians have veteran Carlos Carrasco in camp as an NRI, so Cantillo doesn't have a clear path to the No. 5 spot in the rotation.

Rodriguez is working on implementing a two-seam fastball for 2024, Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun reports.

Rodriguez leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball in 2023, and while he had a hearty 97.4-mph average on it, opponents also hit .342 and slugged .535 off the pitch. Rodriguez's goal for the two-seamer is to make it more of a running fastball relying on horizontal movement rather than vertical break, since he is not interested in having a sinker. The right-hander is also expecting to use his cutter less -- he threw it just 5.8 percent of the time last season with poor results. Rodriguez is looking to improve upon the 4.35 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 129:42 K:BB he posted over 122 innings last season, especially since he finished 2023 strong with a 2.58 ERA over his last 13 starts.

Castillo, who fired a couple of 96-mph fastballs during his Cactus League debut Monday against the Reds, is encouraged he has that level of velocity early in camp, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com reports. "It's telling me that I'm healthy," Castillo said. "We're going to continue to be in the same routine, and hopefully that velocity will keep going up."

Castillo notably opened spring training a year ago throwing his four-seamer in the high 80s, so the increase is certainly noteworthy. The veteran right-hander, who fell just one win short of tying his career high of 15 victories last season, will once again helm the Mariners' rotation and limited Cincinnati to a walk over two hitless innings in his spring debut. Castillo plans to continue relying heavily on his fastball in 2024, considering hitters mustered just a .165 average and .384 slugging percentage against it while swinging and missing 33 percent of the time in 2023.

Sears is incorporating a sinker into his repertoire this spring and enjoyed success with it in his first Cactus League start Tuesday, Steve Stockmar of MLB.com reports. "I've been feeling pretty confident with it. It's a new pitch for me," Sears said. "I've never thrown a sinker. I'm just trying to get educated on it from the other guys that throw it and the catchers and results from the hitters on my team whenever I face them live."

Sears was the picture of stability in an otherwise makeshift Athletics starting rotation last season, logging a team-high 32 starts and posting a 4.54 ERA and 1.26 WHIP that somewhat belied an ugly 5-14 record. The 28-year-old southpaw, who had 70 innings of big-league experience coming into the 2023 season, will be counted on as the No. 2 starter to open the new campaign, and he got his official regular-season prep off to an impressive start against the Guardians on Tuesday with two perfect innings during which he threw only 19 pitches (13 strikes). Sears rolled out the sinker for the first time in live action as well, recording a strikeout and a flyout on two of the three occasions he deployed it.

Singer plans to utilize a four-seam fastball and sweeper more often this season, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.

Singer began implementing the pitches a little late last season after some initial hesitation. This season, though, he's committed to using them as integral parts of his repertoire, adding them to his sinker, gyro slider and changeup. All three swinging strikeouts he induced during his Cactus League debut Wednesday versus the Mariners came on the sweeper. Singer has predominantly been a two-pitch pitcher in his career (the sinker and slider) and has struggled to miss bats with consistency. Perhaps the four-seamer and sweeper will allow him to pile up more strikeouts.