MLB Player News

Gray threw three scoreless innings with four strikeouts and no walks or hits in Thursday's spring game against the Dominican Republic WBC team. Gray says he's ahead of last season with his conditioning, when his offseason ramp-up was disrupted by the lockout, Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reports. "I was continuously fighting my body," Gray said about his 2022 campaign. "You're just playing a constant catch-up game throughout the season."

Gray has give up no earned runs (three unearned) in 4.2 innings this spring with seven strikeouts and no walks. He looks in top form early in the spring, and Wednesday's outing was impressive against a stacked DR lineup. Gray averaged just 4.96 innings per start last season, with the Twins rarely allowing him to go deep into games, so improved conditioning may bode well for his chances of delivering longer outings and quality starts this year.

Kaprielian (shoulder) will make his Cactus League debut Sunday against San Diego, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.

After impressing during a sim game Tuesday without feeling any pain in his shoulder, Kaprielian's return to Cactus League action is another good sign that he will be ready for the start of the season. The 29-year-old righty finished last year with a 4.23 ERA and 1.34 WHIP through 134 innings across 26 starts.

Gausman gave up two hits and struck out two over 3.2 scoreless innings in Thursday's split-squad game against Atlanta.

The veteran righty was efficient, tossing 32 of 48 pitches for strikes against a lineup of bench players and minor leaguers. Gausman hasn't seemed to have much trouble adjusting his mechanics in response to MLB's new balk crackdown, tossing 5.1 scoreless innings over two spring starts with a 5:1 K:BB as he builds up ahead of Opening Day.

Marsh was optioned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Friday.

Marsh spent a brief amount of time in Triple-A toward the end of last season, but he will return to Double-A to begin the 2023 campaign. He logged a 7.32 ERA and 1.67 WHIP through 114.1 Double-A innings last year.

Olson was optioned to Triple-A Toledo by the Tigers on Friday.

Any slim chance Olson might have had to make the Opening Day roster was squashed by an abdominal injury he suffered early on in camp. The good news is he's healthy now, so he should be part of Toledo's rotation when their season begins.

German is expected to be part of the Yankees' Opening Day rotation following the injury to Carlos Rodon (forearm), Erik Boland of Newsdayreports.

German was almost surely ticketed for the rotation anyway once Frankie Montas (shoulder) went down, but the Rodon injury cinches it. German will likely be joined by Clarke Schmidt. German held a 3.61 ERA over 15 appearances -- 14 starts -- for the Yankees last season, although that came with just 58 strikeouts over 72.1 innings. He's more of a streaming option for standard-sized fantasy leagues.

Schmidt is likely to open the season in the Yankees' rotation following the injury to Carlos Rodon (forearm), Erik Boland of Newsday reports.

The Yanks had already lost Frankie Montas to shoulder surgery and now will be without Rodon for at least most of April due to a forearm strain. It means an elevated role for Schmidt and also cements Domingo German as a member of the rotation, if he hadn't already been. Deivi Garcia is also a candidate to potentially see some starts. Schmidt was excellent last season while being used almost exclusively as a reliever, holding a 3.12 ERA and 56:23 K:BB over 57.2 innings. He has plenty of starting experience in the minors, of course, and has been stretched out this spring. The Yankees might also seek pitching help from outside the organization as their depth is tested.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman announced Thursday that Rodon has been diagnosed with a left forearm strain and will open the season on the injured list, Brendan Kuty of The Athletic reports.

Rodon will be in no-throw mode for at least the next 7-10 days and is seemingly in danger of being sidelined through all of April. The strain is being called mild, per Cashman, but this qualifies as another tough blow to a Yankees rotation which already lost Frankie Montas to shoulder surgery in February. Rodon joined New York on a blockbuster six-year, $162 million contract back in December. Clarke Schmidt seems likely to take Rodon's spot in the season-opening starting mix.

Gray allowed one hit and struck out one over three scoreless innings in Wednesday's spring start against the Diamondbacks.

Gray made his second Cactus League start and first since being scratched last Friday due to the tightness in his back. The right-hander was pleased with the outing but noted areas of improvement. "I still feel really slow to the plate and working on that," Gray told Jesus Cano of MLB.com. "But some things were good. I thought the fastball was doing pretty well. I'm mixing up a changeup for now, but the sweeping slider, there's still some stuff to manipulate with it." With three weeks left before Opening Day, Gray should get at least three more starts to work on his form.

Rodon was asked by the Yankees to keep his fastball velocity at around 92 mph during his spring debut Sunday against Atlanta, Greg Joyce of the New York Post reports.

Rodon was shelled by Atlanta in his first game (albeit an exhibition contest) in a Yankees uniform, giving up five runs on six hits and one walk over two-plus innings. It's rarely wise to read deeply into spring-training results, and that's especially true in this instance, as Rodon was tasked with keeping the velocity on his fastball in check as part of his build-up toward the regular season. Per Joyce, the left-hander touched 95 mph one time in the first inning of Sunday's game before manager Aaron Boone asked him to pull back following the frame. Rodon averaged 95.5 mph on his four-seamer last season and 95.4 mph on the pitch in 2021, so it's reasonable to expect that he'll get to around that number again this season -- and pitch to better results than he did Sunday -- once he is fully built up.