MLB Player News

Oviedo has added a sinker to his pitch mix, Justice delos Santos of MLB.com reports.

Oviedo added the variation at the suggestion of coaches, who noted the natural sink that he had on his four-seam fastball. He mixed the pitch in during his outing Wednesday against the Tigers, though he surrendered four earned runs on five hits across two innings. Nevertheless, Oviedo remains in the mix for a spot in the Pirates' rotation to begin the season.

Urias pitched 2.2 innings in a Cactus League contest against Cincinnati on Tuesday, allowing one run on two hits and no walks while striking out four batters.

The lone run against Urias came after he left the game -- he gave up a leadoff single to Luke Maile in the third inning, struck out the next two batters, then watched Maile come around to score after giving way to a reliever. It was a strong debut for Urias, who threw 41 pitches. He's expected to make one more exhibition start before leaving the Dodgers to join Team Mexico for the World Baseball Classic, per Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register.

Musgrove (toe) is expected to miss at least two regular-season starts, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Musgrove will be shut down from throwing for at least two weeks after fracturing his left big toe when he dropped a kettle ball on his foot while working out. When exactly he'll be ready to rejoin the Padres' rotation seems like an open-ended question, as he'll surely need additional X-rays to see how the bone is healing. The Padres had been leaning toward going with a six-man rotation at the start of the season, but those plans are now up in the air.

Lodolo threw two scoreless innings in his spring training debut against the Dodgers but struggled at times to adjust to the pitch clock, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports. "Biggest thing was the pitch clock," Lodolo said. "Once or twice it got me there. I think it was in the stretch in the first inning, I was like, 'I got four seconds, we've got to go.'"

Lodolo came into the outing wanting to work on his changeup, but at times his competitive juices took over and he didn't remember to work on that pitch until the second inning. You can expect to hear similar reports about other pitchers, especially at the beginning of spring training.

Ashcraft allowed two runs over two innings on three hits, a walk, a wild pitch and a hit batter in his spring training debut against the A's on Wednesday, striking out two. A primary focus for Ashcraft was working on his slider, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Ashcraft threw his slider just over 27% of the time during his rookie 2022 campaign and got better results than when using his cutter or sinker. "It's come a long way. I threw 10 out of 15 [sliders] over the plate for strikes. It's hard to complain," Ashcraft said. "We've still got a little bit to go with it. We're going to see what happens with it."

Rogers gave up two hits and struck out four over two scoreless innings in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox.

He fired 22 of 32 pitches for strikes and got all four of his K's on his changeup in a strong spring debut. Rogers regressed to a 5.47 ERA and 1.50 WHIP last season, losing over six points off his K% from 2021 (28.5 percent down to 22.2 percent), but the Marlins are counting on the 25-year-old southpaw to rebound and serve as a mid-rotation staple for them this year.

Anderson gave up four runs on three hits and three walks over 1.1 innings in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Twins. He struck out one and served up home runs to Edouard Julien and Willi Castro.

Julien is at least a top Minnesota prospect, but Castro is a Detroit castoff with a career .673 OPS competing in camp for a bench role. It's too early in the spring to worry much about box score lines, but Atlanta has options for the fifth starter role if Anderson can't turn things around before Opening Day. The 24-year-old is coming off a campaign in which he stumbled to a 5.00 ERA and 1.51 WHIP after a breakout 2021 season.

Liberatore pitched two perfect innings Tuesday versus the Nationals in a Grapefruit League game.

Liberatore is pushing for a rotation spot this season, but it could be an uphill battle. Steven Matz and Dakota Hudson are likely the favorites to be the fifth starter, which could mean Liberatore begins the year in the bullpen or at Triple-A Memphis. The southpaw struggled in his first taste of the majors last year, pitching to a 5.97 ERA, 1.73 WHIP and 28:18 K:BB across 34.2 innings, but there's little reason to worry about his long-term outlook entering his age-23 season.

Senga threw 30 pitches in a B-game against Mets hitters Tuesday and came away feeling good about his command, Abbey Mastracco of The New York Daily News reports.

The Japanese right-hander is on schedule to make his Grapefruit League debut Sunday after signing a five-year, $75 million contract with the Mets this offseason. Senga had some adjustments to make to an MLB-sized ball and steeper mounds on this side of the Pacific, but he doesn't think either will be an issue by Opening Day. "For the slider and the cutter, I've looked at the metrics, the numbers and the movement," Senga said Tuesday through a translator. "I've set goals for myself and through these live BPs I think I've been able to reach my goals, so I'm not worried about the mound." If he looks sharp this spring, Senga's ADP could rise rapidly.

Quintana struggled in his first spring start Tuesday, and the culprit may have been the pitch clock, Abbey Mastracco of The New York Daily News reports.

The veteran southpaw lasted only two-thirds of an innings against the Astros, giving up five runs on four hits and a walk, and he needed to get a little bullpen work in after leaving the game just to reach his assigned workload. Quintana didn't seem comfortable on the mound with the faster pace forced by MLB's new pitch clock, and given that he'll be pitching for Colombia in the WBC -- the clock won't be used during the tournament -- he may not have a lot of time to adjust to the new rules before Opening Day. After posting a career-best season in 2022 at the age of 33, Quintana appears to have an extra obstacle to overcome if he wants to avoid serious regression.