Strider struck out five and gave up two hits and one walk over four innings in Wednesday's Grapefruit League start against the Rays.

Making his third start of the spring, Strider built up to 61 pitches (43 strikes) and delivered his best performance to date. He induced nine swinging strikes -- including five with his slider -- and retired eight of 12 batters via either strikeout or groundout, with another out coming on a pickoff. Perhaps more importantly, the velocity gains Strider noticed in his previous start last Thursday carried over into Wednesday's outing. He peaked at 96.5 miles per hour with his four-seam fastball and averaged 94.8 mph overall, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

Priester is scheduled to meet with a specialist in Dallas on Thursday to receive further consultation on his lingering right wrist injury, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

Though Priester hasn't been shut down from throwing during spring training, he's yet to make his Cactus League debut while he's struggled to get over the hump in his recovery from wrist soreness, an injury that previously hampered him late in the 2025 season. Priester is hopeful that the upcoming meeting with the specialist will provide more insight on how best to treat the injury, but with the start of the regular season just two weeks away, the right-hander seems to be trending toward at least an abbreviated stint on the injured list to begin the campaign.

The Mariners optioned Castano to Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday.

Castano has yielded five runs with a 3:3 K:BB over five innings in five Cactus League outings. The 27-year-old will likely begin the season in the rotation at Triple-A Tacoma, but if he gets another shot with the big club, it could be as a reliever.

The Athletics optioned Estes to Triple-A Las Vegas on Wednesday.

After overcoming a herniated disc in his lower back, Estes threw 2.2 scoreless innings in Tuesday's Cactus League game against the White Sox in his spring training debut. He now finds himself cut from big-league camp a day later. Estes is ticketed for the Triple-A Las Vegas rotation at the start of the season.

The Cardinals reassigned Zimmermann to minor-league camp Tuesday.

Zimmermann signed with the Cardinals on a minor-league deal in January after spending the 2025 season in the Brewers organization. The southpaw gave up six runs (five earned) in six innings in a late-season spot start with Milwaukee but otherwise spent the entire campaign at Triple-A Nashville, where he produced a 4.11 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 109:30 K:BB in 138 innings. After falling short in his bid for a spot on the Cardinals' Opening Day roster, Zimmermann is expected to serve as a swingman at Triple-A Memphis to begin the season.

Miller (oblique) will throw a normal bullpen session Wednesday, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com reports.

Miller has previously thrown off the mound at less than full effort, but he'll throw his first standard bullpen session since he came down with inflammation in his left oblique in late February. The Mariners haven't revealed a target date for Miller's return to game action, but it will be close as to whether he can ramp back up in time for Opening Day.

Dobbins (knee) will pitch in another minor-league game later this week, Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Returning from last July's right ACL surgery, Dobbins threw four innings and around 65 pitches in a previous appearance on the back fields. He was pleased with how that outing went, saying "a lot of the movement profiles have increased" after "some of the tweaks we've been making." Dobbins will be permitted to field his position in the game later this week, but he will not be allowed to cover first base, as the Cardinals are still being protective of his surgically repaired knee. The 26-year-old is set to open the 2026 season either on the injured list or at Triple-A Memphis, but he's a candidate to see starts for St. Louis later this summer.

The Nationals announced Wednesday that Cavalli will start the team's March 26 season opener versus the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Injuries forced Cavalli to wait nearly three years in between major-league appearances, but he showed promise in his 10 starts with the Nationals in 2025 with a 4.25 ERA and 40:15 K:BB over 48.2 innings. The 27-year-old sported better velocity last season than he showed prior to Tommy John surgery and has some breakout potential in 2026.

Astros manager Joe Espada said Wednesday that Javier will be away from the club for the next few days while tending to a personal matter, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

Citing privacy, Espada didn't provide any further information regarding Javier's upcoming absence, but the skipper noted that the right-hander will continue to throw while he remains away. Javier tossed 1.2 innings and 52 pitches in his Grapefruit League debut Monday, so as long as he's able to return to the team in time to make another start before spring training ends, he should be able to handle something close to a normal workload when his first turn in the rotation comes up during the regular season.

Matz allowed one hit and one walk in four shutout innings during Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Twins. He struck out three.

Matz is now up to six scoreless frames covering two Grapefruit League outings. The 34-year-old left-hander is looking to open his first season with Tampa Bay as part of the starting rotation, which could occasionally give him streaming appeal in deep fantasy leagues for home starts at pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field based on matchups. Last regular season, Matz posted a quality 3.05 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 59:11 K:BB over 76.2 innings between St. Louis and Boston.