MLB Player News

Houck threw two scoreless innings in Monday's Grapefruit League start against the Phillies.

Houck induced three groundouts, two infield pop flies and one line-drive out over two perfect innings. The performance was a good first step toward securing the final spot in the rotation. "We played good defense behind him," Boston manager Alex Cora told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe following the game. "That's what it's going to take with him. He can pound that sinker down to righties and we have to make plays." Houck is healthier than he was last spring, when he came off back surgery. He's in the mix for the last rotation spot along with Garrett Whitlock, and to a lesser extent, Josh Winckowski. In reality, Boston may need more than five starters early in a schedule that has them playing 23 of 25 days in five cities. The Red Sox are not expected to deploy a six-man rotation, but an extra starter could be needed during April depending on how hard the rotation works. Both Houck and Whitlock will be built up to five-plus innings, so they'll be available in any role.

Winn allowed one run on two hits and a walk while striking out one over 1.2 innings in Monday's Cactus League start against the White Sox.

Winn ran into early trouble in the form of a walk, a single and a wild pitch, giving up a run while struggling to control the count. He was pulled with two outs in his second frame after bumping up against a 40-pitch limit. A first-round pick in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, Winn's career stalled at Triple-A Round Rock the last two seasons to the extent the organization moved him to the bullpen. However, strong stint as a starter in the Puerto Rican Winter League put him back on a path to a rotation spot.

Gray threw two innings in an intrasquad game Tuesday, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reports. He allowed one run on two hits and a walk while striking out three.

Gray is set to occupy a spot on the rotation while the Rangers cope with injuries to Jacob deGrom (elbow), Tyler Mahle (elbow) and Max Scherzer (back). The 32-year-old Gray sparkled in the first half of 2023 but became inconsistent and eventually landed on the injured list with forearm tightness. His plan during the offseason was to adjust his pitch mix in 2024. Normally a heavy fastball-slider hurler, Gray plans to add more changeups and curveballs to the mix. "Hopefully we go from using them two or three times [per game] again to closer to 10," he said. "So just trying to show the slider and fastball less... It'll make the fastball and slider a little bit better." Gray threw well out of the bullpen during the Rangers' postseason run, but he should get a long run in the rotation until the injured starters return. Scherzer is due back in June while deGrom and Mahle are projected to make their 2023 debuts in the second half of the season.

Wentz tossed two scoreless innings in Monday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros. He allowed a hit and two walks, while striking out five.

It's of course a small sample, but this was an encouraging outing for Wentz. The southpaw mostly served as a starter for the Tigers last year and struggled mightily, posting a 6.90 ERA and 1.68 WHIP across 105.2 innings. The team announced before spring training that Wentz will be focusing on a relief role in camp, with some hope that his stuff will play up out of the bullpen. It remains to be seen if Wentz can remain effective in this role, though it seems like Detroit will give him an opportunity to establish himself as a left-handed relief option heading into the regular season.

Flaherty logged a scoreless inning without allowing a hit or a walk in Monday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros. He struck out two.

Flaherty, who joined the Tigers in December on a one-year, $14 million deal, looked good despite not lasting very long. The righty only tossed 10 pitches, with nine of them going for strikes. Flaherty figures to stretch out some in his next start as he ramps up for the regular season. He should have a rotation spot securely locked up, likely slotting in somewhere behind Tarik Skubal and fellow Detroit newcomer Kenta Maeda. Flaherty will be hoping to improve upon an uneven 2023 during which he posted a 4.99 ERA across 144.1 innings for the Cardinals and Orioles.

Verlander (shoulder) will ramp up the intensity of his throwing during a bullpen session Tuesday, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Verlander has thrown a few low-intensity bullpen sessions consisting of fastballs and has thus far come out of them well during spring training. The veteran right-hander is being ramped up slowly this spring after his right shoulder didn't bounce back well during his offseason throwing program. Verlander and the Astros aren't ruling him out from being ready for the start of the season, but the window is tight.

Stripling, who was due to start Monday's Cactus League game against the Diamondbacks, will see his turn pushed back at least "a couple of days" due to a minor cut on his right index finger, MLB.com reports.

Manager Mark Kotsay didn't imply the issue was too serious, and the fact Stripling is expected to make his delayed debut later in the week seems to bear that out. Mitch Spence, a Rule 5 pick this winter, will slide into Stripling's starting spot for Monday's game.

Heaney allowed one hit and one walk while striking out five over two scoreless innings in Sunday's spring start against the Giants.

Heaney's Cactus League debut got off to a rocky start, as the left-hander walked the first batter on four pitches and then hit a batter. He settled in after that, striking out two before inducing a groundout to avoid any damage. Heaney is expected to slot in third in the Rangers' rotation.

Giolito walked one and struck out one over two no-hit, scoreless innings in Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Twins.

Giolito made his spring debut and broke out a new grip on a slider he's been working on since the start of camp, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. The right-hander, who threw 27 pitches (16 strikes) in Sunday's outing, said he still plans to use the changeup as a go-to off-speed offering. An up-and-coming starter with the White Sox between 2019 and 2021, Giolito had a difficult 2023, when he pitched for three teams and allowed 41 home runs.

Faedo allowed two runs on four hits across two innings in Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Rays. He struck out three.

The strikeouts were nice, but Faedo was also too hittable, with the key blow being a home run by Yu Chang. Faedo appeared in 15 games for the Tigers in 2023, with 12 starts, but he's likely been pushed out of a rotation spot due to the offseason additions of Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty, and several other pitchers have gotten healthy. Faedo will instead look to snag a bullpen role coming out of spring training. The righty won't be on the fantasy radar as a middle reliever.