MLB Player News

Rodriguez exhibited a more aggressive approach in Saturday's game against the Mets, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports. He allowed one run on three hits and one walk while striking out three over four innings.

Rodriguez was called out by manager Alex Cora after his previous start when he lasted just two innings. The manger felt Rodriguez was nibbling too much and needed to attack hitters. "That's something I know I need to do," Rodriguez said. "If somebody says something I know I need to do, you can see it in the past, the last years, that's trouble I have, getting deep in the games. So that's something I came to this spring training to work on, no matter who says it." Getting four innings at this stage of the spring is about right for any starting pitcher, so from that perspective, Saturday's outing was successful.

Whitley allowed one run on two hits and one walk while striking out six in Friday's game against the Cardinals.

Whitley got to face serious major-league talent and gave up a first-pitch home run to Matt Carpenter before settling in. He fanned Paul Goldschmidt twice and Paul DeJong. "There were definitely some positives I could take from it, along with some negative," he told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. "I seem to dwelling on those a little bit more than I should be, but I was pretty happy with last night. I was able to execute two-strike pitches pretty well and get a decent amount of strikeouts. That was pretty big, something I hadn't been doing a lot the last two outings. That's a positive I could take away." He's performed well overall this spring, but Whitley is not expected to be part of Houston's staff to start 2019.

Perez threw four scoreless innings with three strikeouts in his third spring outing Saturday. He reached 97 mph with his fastball and averaged around 95 mph for the second straight start, MLB.com reports. "Before, I just used my arms," Perez said. "Now, I'm using all my body, and you guys can see the results."

Perez averaged just 92.7 mph with his fastball last season and threw just four pitches faster than 96.5 mph. He has a 2.00 ERA and seven strikeouts with one walk in nine innings so far this spring. While it's a small sample size, his improvement in velocity and the tweaks the Twins have made to his delivery show promise. He's the leading candidate for the fifth starter role, but may begin the season in the bullpen with the Twins likely to go with a four-man rotation in early April with several off days.

Bundy allowed six runs on six hits and one walk across 1.2 innings during Saturday's spring game against the Rays.

Bundy did not record a strikeout but still managed to exit the game with a lead as the Orioles erupted for eight runs in the top of the second inning. The 26-year-old has yet to find his footing this spring with 10 runs and 15 hits given up through 6.2 innings (three starts).

Cobb will throw a simulated game instead of making his scheduled start Tuesday against the Yankees after his wife had a baby Friday, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

The brief absence shouldn't have a significant impact on Cobb's preparation for the upcoming season. He should debut on time this year after missing the first two weeks of last season due to signing on March 20.

The Indians announced Saturday that McKenzie has been shut down from throwing due to an upper-back strain.

It's unclear how McKenzie suffered the injury, but he'll nonetheless step away from throwing at minor-league camp. The 21-year-old -- one of the Indians' top prospects -- should be considered out indefinitely until the organization is able to offer an official recovery timetable.

Bieber allowed one hit while striking out four over four scoreless innings against the Rockies on Saturday.

The right-hander has picked up where he left off last season, posting a 9:0 K:BB through nine Cactus League innings so far. Bieber turned in a 5.13 K/BB in 114.2 innings at the big-league level last season. Some out there are concerned that Bieber gets too much of the plate, but the talent is easy to see when he's on the mound and there will likely be no real workload restrictions in his sophomore campaign.

Cole will make his first start of the regular season March 29 versus the Rays, ESPN.com reports.

Cole will follow Opening Day starter Justin Verlander in the rotation, with the two hurlers again giving the Astros one of baseball's best pairs of staff headliners. The move to Houston helped Cole reach his full potential in 2018, as his 2.88 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 12.4 K/9 all represented the best or second-best marks of his career.

Heaney was pulled after recording just two outs Friday against the White Sox, but he said afterward that his elbow felt fine, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Manager Brad Ausmus decided not to let Heaney complete the inning, as he had grown concerned about the lefty's pitch count (25). Heaney said he was "never really quite comfortable" during the outing, but he threw an additional 20 pitches in the bullpen after leaving the game, and it sounds like he will continue on his normal pitching schedule moving forward. Heaney was pushed back earlier in the month due to left elbow inflammation.

Kikuchi will start the second game of the Mariners' season on March 21 against the Athletics in Japan, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

Kikuchi lines up to pitch second in the team's rotation behind Marco Gonzales. It remains unclear if he'll remain in that spot in the order all season, as he may require extra days of rest as he transitions from a Japanese pitching schedule -- where starters pitch once a week -- to an American one, where starters generally throw every five days.