MLB Player News

Singer (arm) threw a bullpen session Monday at the Royals' big-league camp, Alec Lewis of The Athletic reports.

Royals manager Mike Matheny hasn't mentioned that Singer will be subject to any restrictions early on during spring training, so the 25-year-old right-hander has seemingly made a full recovery from the right upper arm discomfort that cut his final start of the season short in late September. Though Singer noticed a downturn in both his ERA (4.91) and WHIP (1.55) in 2021 following an impressive 12-start debut in 2020, he was a victim of some bad luck (.350 BABIP, 67.8 percent strand rate). Singer still looks to be a promising rotation arm for the Royals, though as a pitcher who relies more on inducing groundballs (50.9 percent career rate) instead of strikeouts (22.6 career K%), his fantasy upside is somewhat capped.

Keller (lat) threw a bullpen session Monday at the Royals' big-league camp, Alec Lewis of The Athletic reports.

Since the lockout ended last week and players reported to camp, Royals manager Mike Matheny hasn't said that Keller will be subject to any restrictions at the start of the spring training. Keller's ability to complete a side session seemingly verifies that he's healthy again after a right lat strain kept him out for the final five weeks of the 2021 season. Before getting hurt, Keller had disappointed with a 5.39 ERA and 1.66 WHIP across 133.2 innings, but a big uptick in his strikeout rate from 2020 (from 16.3 percent to 19.6 percent) offers hope that he'll show improvement in his ratios during the upcoming season.

Estes was traded from Atlanta to Oakland along with Shea Langeliers, Cristian Pache and Ryan Cusick in exchange for Matt Olson on Monday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.

A 6-foot-2, 20-year-old righty, Estes broke out last season at Low-A, logging a 2.91 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 127 strikeouts in 99 innings. That strikeout total oversells things a little, but he is still a promising starting pitching prospect with a competitive streak on the mound.

The Mariners plan to limit Dunn's (shoulder) activity during the early stages of spring training, but he hasn't been ruled out from making the Opening Day roster, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com reports.

After he was diagnosed with a strained right shoulder in mid-June, Dunn ultimately wasn't able to make it back from the injured list, though he advanced to facing hitters in simulated games in September before experiencing a setback. Seattle isn't shutting Dunn down to begin spring -- he was seen playing catch Sunday, according to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times -- but he may still be several days away from facing hitters. Even if the shoulder presents no further problems for him this spring, Dunn's slow buildup program may work against him in his bid for a rotation spot.

General manager Rick Hahn said Monday that Kopech is behind the White Sox's other starting candidates to begin big-league spring training after an illness earlier in the winter slowed down the right-hander's buildup program, Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago reports.

Because Kopech missed the entirety of the 2019 and 2020 seasons and tossed only 69.1 regular-season innings in 2021 while working primarily out of the bullpen, the White Sox were already planning to take a cautious approach with his workload heading into 2022. The time Kopech missed during the offseason while battling the illness looks as though it'll prompt even more caution, but Hahn indicated that the White Sox are still expecting the 25-year-old to be ready to go for Opening Day. If he is in fact able to nail down the No. 5 spot in Chicago's rotation, Kopech will almost certainly be on strict pitch counts in his initial outings, and perhaps even serve as more of a tandem starter with another pitcher. While that would be less than ideal for his chances of factoring into decisions, Kopech should remain a strong source of strikeouts and ratios on whatever innings he provides.

McCullers (forearm) won't be ready for Opening Day after suffering setbacks while rehabbing over the offseason, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

McCullers exited his ALDS start against the White Sox with what was called forearm discomfort at the time. He didn't pitch again in the postseason, though the Astros said he wasn't dealing with any structural damage. It now appears as though the injury is worse than the team original let on. When exactly he's likely to return is unclear, with manager Dusty Baker only noting that he was optimistic the righty would be able to pitch this season.

Arihara is a non-roster invitee to Texas' major-league training camp, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reports. He will compete for a spot in the bullpen.

Arihara was part of the Rangers' Opening Day roster and a member of the team's starting rotation in 2021, but he fell short of expectations. A stint on the 60-day injured list (finger) impacted his ability to adjust to MLB, and the right-hander posted a 6.64 ERA over 10 starts before he was designated for assignment in September. Arihara cleared waivers and is back in the organization with an opportunity to contribute as a reliever.

Stripling will be treated as a starting pitcher this spring, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

The Blue Jays' starting rotation gained an additional back-end starter when the team signed Yusei Kikuchi on Saturday, which could leave Stripling as an odd man out once the regular season begins. However, the right-hander will be stretched out as a starter during spring training. Regardless of whether Stripling has a spot in the starting rotation to begin the 2022 campaign, he should be available as one of the team's top options for spot starts.

Maeda (elbow) said Sunday that he began a throwing program earlier this month and is currently playing catch off flat ground from 30 feet, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.

In the early stages of his rehab program from the modified Tommy John surgery he underwent Sept. 1, Maeda has thus far avoided any setbacks, but the right-hander acknowledged that he's unsure if he'll be able to pitch for the Twins at any point this season. Ultimately, whether Maeda toes the rubber in the big leagues in 2022 will be dictated by how he progresses in the months to come, and the Twins' place in the standings in the second half of the season should factor into the equation as well. Even if Maeda is able to advance through his rehab quickly and make a 12-month turnaround from the elbow procedure, he won't be worth stashing in any redraft leagues until several months down the road.

Whitley (elbow) posted a video Sunday on his personal Instagram account featuring him throwing off a mound.

As a player on the Astros' 40-man roster, Whitley wasn't able to work out at the organization's minor-league camp while the MLB lockout was in place, but now that labor peace has been reached, he'll have his rehab from March 2021 Tommy John surgery overseen by the Houston staff. Now that he's nearly a full year removed from the procedure, Whitley could advance to facing hitters by the end of camp in early April, though he won't be ready to go for the start of the minor-league season. Once the Astros are comfortable with Whitley pitching in games, he'll likely report to one of the organization's lower-level affiliates before settling into the Triple-A Round Rock rotation. Houston still appears intent on developing Whitley as a starter long term, though he could make his MLB debut as a reliever at some point in the second half of the 2022 season if he looks sharp in his initial minor-league appearances.