MLB Player News

Carrasco (elbow) threw a simulated game Thursday, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports.

Carrasco has yet to make his spring debut as he works through a spell of elbow soreness. He's been building up in his throwing progression, advancing from catch to bullpens to a simulated game, so Grapefruit League action should be on tap soon. Time is getting tight for him to be fully ramped up by Opening Day, but it remains possible that he breaks camp on the active roster.

Lucchesi made his first start of the spring Wednesday against the Marlins, getting stretched out to 42 pitches and tossing three scoreless innings with four strikeouts and two walks, Deesha Thosar of The New York Daily News reports.

The southpaw is making a strong push for a spot in the Mets' rotation after coming over from the Padres in the offseason, but the competition remains fierce. David Peterson, the presumed favorite for the No. 5 job, is coming off a solid rookie season but hasn't pitched as well this spring as Lucchesi (0.00 ERA, 7:3 K:BB in five innings) or even Jordan Yamamoto (1.08 ERA, 5:1 K:BB in 8.1 frames). If Carlos Carrasco (elbow) gets held back to begin the season, two of those hurlers could begin the year in the rotation, with the third likely to be sent to the team's alternate training site to stay stretched out rather than working in long relief out of the bullpen.

Strasburg (calf) will pitch four innings in a simulated game Friday, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post reports.

Strasburg checked out fine after a bullpen session Wednesday, but the Nationals will have him pitch in a simulated game so they can manage his workload more precisely. It's been a disrupted spring for the veteran, who's returning from last summer's hand surgery and suffered a calf strain Sunday. It's at least good news that the issues are unrelated and that his current injury isn't an arm problem. Time is getting tight for him to get up to full speed by Opening Day, but he seems to have a good chance to avoid missing time if his recovery proceeds without setbacks.

Corbin reached 70 pitches in Wednesday's Grapefruit League start against the Marlins, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.

The results weren't pretty (four runs and eight baserunners over 3.2 innings), but Corbin was facing Miami for the third time in 10 days, and familiarity may have been a factor in addition to all the usual spring caveats. The veteran southpaw is on pace to be fully stretched out for Opening Day as he looks to rebound from a rough 2020.

Gallen allowed three runs on six hits while striking out three over 4.1 innings in Wednesday's spring game against the Rangers.

Gallen pitched into the fifth inning for the first time this spring, which is the positive to take away from this outing. The right-hander explained his inconsistent command was due to rushing his delivery, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports. While he hasn't been named the Opening Day starter, Gallen's projected to take the ball April 1 on the road against San Diego.

Paddack had his first poor outing of spring training Wednesday night against the Cubs, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks over 1.2 innings, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports. "It brings back last year a little bit," Paddack said afterward. "There were some starts I had success and some starts I didn't make it out of the second inning."

This was Paddack's first bad outing of the spring, and the Cubs aren't exactly a walkover, though he did well against them early in March. This outing illustrates that Paddack does come with some risk, and that's reflected in his ADP of approximately 100th overall in NFBC drafts.

Buehler hurled four innings in a Cactus League contest versus the White Sox on Wednesday, allowing one unearned run on five hits and one walk while striking out five.

The only run Buehler allowed on the day came as the result of a wild pitch, and he improved his spring K:BB to 11:1 over 12.0 innings with the excellent effort. Clayton Kershaw has been named the Dodgers' Opening Day starter, and Trevor Bauer is coming off a Cy Young season, but it wouldn't be surprising if Buehler is the most effective Dodgers starter this season.

Gray (back) resumed playing catch Wednesday, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

The 31-year-old was shut down from throwing over the weekend due to back spasms, but he was only fully shut down for a few days, as expected. The delay is still expected to prevent Gray from being available for the start of the season, though he could join the rotation after missing only one or two turns. The right-hander's outlook will remain a bit murky until he begins ramping up his throwing progression.

Alcantara tossed five scoreless frames Wednesday in the Marlins' 3-2 loss to the Mets, scattering three hits while striking out nine and walking none.

Alcantara's control and command were both on point Wednesday, as he fired in 70 percent of his pitches for strikes and allowed one flyout against three groundouts. The Marlins have yet to announce an Opening Day starter, but Alcantara has established himself as the clear favorite to get the nod with how he's pitched so far this spring. Through four outings spanning 12.2 innings, Alcantara has allowed only four unearned runs to go with a 19:8 K:BB and a .163 batting average allowed.

The Padres reassigned Nix (elbow) to minor-league camp Wednesday.

Nix sustained an apparently serious right elbow injury last week that could require Tommy John surgery, so his demotion to minor-league camp was merely a formality. If he does in fact need the procedure, he'll be sidelined for all of the 2021 season and a good portion of the 2022 campaign as well.