MLB Player News

Red Sox manager Alex Cora confirmed Monday that Whitlock will serve as a piggyback pitcher behind fifth starter Rich Hill to begin the season, Sean McAdam of BostonSportsJournal.com reports.

According to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, Cora has said the goal is to get more than 70 innings out of Whitlock for the second year in a row, and deploying the 25-year-old as a quasi-sixth starter rather than a traditional reliever should help accomplish that. The arrangement should also help ease the burden on the 42-year-old Hill, who is coming off a season with the Rays and Mets in which he covered 158.2 innings but otherwise hasn't been durable for the majority of his career. Since Whitlock has been steadily increasing his pitch count throughout the spring, he's expected to be available for an extended relief outing behind starter Nathan Eovaldi in Thursday's Opening Day game against the Yankees, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. With the benefit of a team off day Friday, Whitlock should then be ready to pitch on four days' rest when Hill's first turn in the rotation comes up April 12 in Detroit.

Manager Alex Cora announced Monday that Hill will begin the season in Boston's rotation as the fifth starter in a piggyback arrangement with Garrett Whitlock, Sean McAdam of BostonSportsJournal.com reports.

In pairing Hill and Whitlock together, the Red Sox will simultaneously ease the workload on a veteran starter who hasn't proven durable over his career while managing the innings for one of the top young arms in the organization. The 42-year-old Hill is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he posted a 3.86 ERA and 1.26 WHIP across 158.2 innings, the second-highest total of his career. Assuming Boston sticks with the tandem starter arrangement for a large portion of 2022, Hill will likely see his innings count take a significant hint. Additionally, pitching in front of Whitlock could hurt Hill's chances of factoring into a decision during his starts.

Kaprielian (shoulder) will begin the season at Triple-A Las Vegas but could rejoin the Athletics by the end of April, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.

Kaprielian has had no apparent setbacks in his throwing sessions, but he'll get eased into action against Triple-A competition before getting the call back to the majors. Once he's returned to health, the promising right-hander is likely to slot into the No. 2 spot in the rotation now that Sean Manaea has been traded to the Padres.

Rasmussen gave up one run over 3.1 innings with six strikeouts and no walks in Sunday's spring training win over Pittsburgh. He has added a new pitch, a sweeping slider, this spring. "It's pretty unique, the action on it, so we're hoping that really plays for him," Rays manager Kevin Cash told the Tampa Bay Times.

Rasmussen looks set for the regular season and is expected to make his first start April 10 against Baltimore. Rasmussen excelled when he moved into the starting rotation late last season with Tampa Bay, holding hitters to a .171 average as a starter (.239 as a reliever) and posting a 4.5 BB% starting (11.8% relieving).

Gray threw four scoreless innings in Sunday's spring training start with six strikeouts, no walks and no hits allowed.

It was Gray's first and only major-league spring start, though he had previously thrown in a minor-league game. He looks ready for the regular season and is expected to make his first start Saturday against Seattle.

Lynn has a slight tear in a tendon by his knee and will undergo surgery Tuesday, James Fegan of The Athletic reports. He's expected to be sidelined for approximately four weeks before resuming mound work.

Lynn exited Saturday's spring game against the Diamondbacks due to right knee discomfort. After being sent in for an MRI, Lynn was recommended to undergo surgery, putting him on track to miss significant time to begin the regular season. The White Sox are hopeful that the right-hander will be able to resume throwing by the end of April or in early May, but because he'll need additional time to build up for starting duty, he could end up being sidelined until late May or sometime in early June. Reynaldo Lopez and Vince Velasquez should be in the mix for the final spot in the White Sox rotation while Lynn is sidelined.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed Severino (arm) is "good" following a four-inning start in Saturday's 10-0 win over Atlanta, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

Severino was initially set to make his third start of the Grapefruit League slate Wednesday, but the Yankees instead had him throw a bullpen session after he dealt with arm soreness. Fortunately, Severino came out of the throwing session fine and returned to the mound Saturday with his best outing of the spring, as he limited Atlanta to no runs on one hit and no walks while striking out three in the 57-pitch appearance. The outing was Severino's final tuneup of the spring, with Boone indicating that the right-hander will take the hill for the Yankees' second game of the regular season next Saturday at home versus the Red Sox. Expect him to be capped at around 75 or 80 pitches in that start.

Manager Mark Kotsay said Sunday that Montas will start the Athletics' Opening Day game Friday in Philadelphia, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Though Kotsay said the Athletics planned all along to have Montas take the hill for the opener, it became more apparent that the right-hander would get the nod after Oakland dealt Sean Manaea to San Diego earlier Sunday. Montas could be the next domino to fall in the Athletics' ongoing fire sale, but for the time being, he'll operate as the club's clear No. 1 starter. He enjoyed an excellent 2021 campaign for Oakland, covering a career-high 187 frames and finishing with a 13-9 record to go with a 3.37 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 207:57 K:BB.

The Rangers informed Allard on Sunday that he'll be included on the Opening Day roster, independent baseball journalist Jeff Wilson reports.

Allard is expected to serve as a bulk-relief or multi-inning option for the Rangers after he was most commonly deployed as a traditional starter over parts of his first three big-league seasons in Texas. The southpaw has made two Cactus League appearances for the Rangers, working five innings in total and giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out six.

Rodriguez allowed two runs on three hits across five innings in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Orioles. He walked one and struck out eight.

Making his final tune-up start before his Opening Day nod Friday, Rodriguez looked sharp and brought his spring ERA down to 3.71. He also recorded 19 strikeouts across 17 Grapefruit League innings. The lefty should be a good source of strikeouts all season, and he may see improvements in ERA and WHIP working in a more pitcher-friendly home ballpark. With Boston last season, Rodriguez posted a 4.74 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, both of which were career worsts. However, he also won 13 games and struck out 185 batters across 157.2 innings.