MLB Player News

Flaherty impressed while throwing 50 pitches in a "B" game against the Astros on Friday, following a poor showing in his first Grapefruit League start, Zachary Silver of MLB.com reports. "Very favorable," manager Mike Shildt said. "Everything was a lot crisper. Fastball had some good life to it, getting it by guys. Slider on the plate more, breaking out of the hand better."

The right-hander hadn't pulled any punches when describing his performance in Sunday's Grapefruit League opener against the Nationals, labeling his performance that day as "horrible". Consequently, Flaherty's performance Friday amounted to a bit of a sigh of relief, even in the wake of what was just one poor outing. Shildt particularly praised Flaherty's ability to control counts much better than in his debut, when he'd retired just one of eight batters.

Lorenzen gave up three earned runs on three hits over 1.1 innings Friday against Arizona, throwing his fastball around 93 mph, Charlie Goldsmith of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Lorenzen was throwing around 97 mph last season, but is purposefully backing off a little on his fastball and throwing more breaking pitches in order to build up as a starter this season. He's battling with Tejay Antone and Jose De Leon to be the Reds' fifth starter.

Morton will no longer pitch in Saturday's spring game against the Rays after the game was canceled due to inclement weather, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Morton was slated to make his spring debut Saturday, but his start will be pushed back due to rain. It's not yet clear when the 37-year-old will make his first Grapefruit League appearance in 2021.

DeGrom has been named the Opening Day starter for the Mets, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.

Manager Luis Rojas' announcement Saturday came as little surprise, as deGrom is considered one of the top pitchers in the game heading into the 2021 season. The 32-year-old's Opening Day start in 2021 will mark the third consecutive year in which deGrom has started the first game of the season for the Mets. The right-hander posted a 2.38 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 104:18 K:BB over 68 innings across 12 starts in 2020.

Fried (not injury related) was cleared to return to camp Saturday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

Fried was away from the team for several days after a "potential exposure" to somebody infected with COVID-19. However, he tested negative several times and will now be able to rejoin the team for workouts. The southpaw will likely complete at least one side session prior to making his spring debut, but he's expected to be ready for Opening Day.

Rogers topped out at 96.2 mph with his fastball while getting three strikeouts with his slider over two scoreless innings in his first game action of the spring Friday, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports. "I felt really good," Rogers said during a Zoom call afterwards. "The main thing is all my pitches were working. Felt really good coming out of the hand. The slider had a nice bite to it. I could throw it out of the zone. The changeup had good depth to it. The fastball was riding well in the zone. Overall, felt really good for the first time out."

The southpaw is the front-runner for the Marlins' No. 5 starter job after posting a stellar 30.0 percent strikeout rate and palatable 10.0 walk rate over 28 innings in his big-league debut last year, although Rogers' 6.11 ERA and 1.61 WHIP left a lot of room for improvement. The organization's No. 6 fantasy prospect was a first-round pick in 2017, so there's no questioning his arm talent, and his ability to bring heat from the left side would be an asset in a rotation that is otherwise populated by righties.

Corbin will make his first appearance of the spring Saturday against the Marlins, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post reports.

The Nationals have brought along their veteran starting pitchers slowly to begin camp, but Corbin is now ready to go. The southpaw is coming off a disappointing 2020 campaign that saw his ERA, velocity and strikeout rates all regress, but he's still expected to open the season as the team's No. 3 starter.

Sanchez could make his spring debut next week, Craig Mish of SportsGrid.com reports.

Sanchez was delayed a few days with what was, according to manager Don Mattingly, a false positive test for COVID-19, but he is now back on schedule. Sanchez is expected to throw a live batting practice session in the coming days, and if all goes well he could appear in his first game of the spring a few days later.

Burnes tossed two scoreless innings and posted a 5:1 K:BB in Friday's exhibition game against the Rockies.

Burnes has punched out seven batters over three total innings this spring, and he hasn't even used his full arsenal yet, as per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he has not yet thrown a slider -- his second-most effective pitch in 2020. Burnes was one of the best pitchers in the league last sesaon, posting a 2.11 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 13.3 K/9 over 59.2 innings, and it's looking like he is ready to build upon that this year.

Musgrove tossed two perfect innings and struck out one batter during Friday's Cactus League contest versus San Francisco.

In his exhibition debut with his hometown team, Musgrove needed only 18 pitches to make quick work of six batters. The right-hander is slotted to fill a back-end spot in a Padres rotation that, on paper, looks to be among the best in the league heading into the season.