MLB Player News

Espino has impressed this spring despite not pitching in any major-league games, ESPN's Jeff Passan reports.

Actually, Passan characterized scouts' take on Espino's recent start against Reds minor leaguers as a "religious experience." His fastball exceeded 100 mph, he showed off a hard slider and a 12-to-6 curveball, and apparently his changeup is coming along as well. Still just 21 years old, Espino hasn't yet pitched above High-A -- where he recorded an insane 16.2 K/9 across 10 starts last season -- but he's got some of the best stuff in the minor leagues. There's a chance we could see him in the majors at some point this year, but it's more likely that the Guardians will keep him in the minors to refine his offspeed offerings. Once the likes of Grayson Rodriguez and George Kirby graduate this year, Espino will quickly enter the conversation for the best pitching prospect in baseball.

Kikuchi will work an intrasquad game Wednesday at the Blue Jays' spring training complex before making his first start of the season Apr. 12 against the Yankees, Laura Armstrong of The Toronto Star reports.

The rest of the team will break camp and head north Tuesday, but Kikuchi will stay behind to get in a bit more work. The southpaw has an 11:4 K:BB through 8.1 innings this spring but has also served up four homers, leading to a bloated 6.48 ERA in Grapefruit League action as he heads into his first season with Toronto.

The White Sox announced Monday that Giolito will start Friday's season opener in Detroit.

Giolito became the easy choice for the Opening Day nod after the White Sox announced Sunday that Lance Lynn will be sidelined for at least the first month of the season while recovering from right knee surgery. The 27-year-old righty took somewhat of a step back statistically in 2021, but his 11 wins, 3.53 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 201 strikeouts over 178.1 innings made him far from a disappointment for those that invested in him hoping for a Cy Young-caliber season. The White Sox will be counting on him to anchor the rotation while Lynn is on the mend.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Monday that Crawford clinched a spot in the team's Opening Day bullpen, Christopher Smith of The Springfield Republican reports.

Crawford made one underwhelming spot start in his big-league debut last season when Boston was down multiple members of the rotation due to injury and COVID-19-related absences, but he otherwise split the 2021 campaign between Triple-A Worcester and Double-A Portland. Heading into spring training, he was considered a long shot for the Opening Day roster, but he ended up earning his spot in the bullpen after striking out eight and allowing one earned run and one walk over four innings during Grapefruit League play. Cora said he envisions the hard-throwing righty serving as a multi-inning option out of the bullpen, with most of Crawford's opportunities likely to be limited to lower-leverage spots early on.

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.