MLB Player News

Giolito (elbow) is set to throw two innings against the Phillies next Tuesday, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

Giolito is ready for his Grapefruit League debut after throwing a two-inning live batting practice session at Fenway South on Thursday. He's fallen behind other rotation candidates while he completed his recovery from an internal brace procedure in March 2024, but Boston manager Alex Cora expects Giolito to be ready for the start of the regular season.

The Red Sox optioned Perales (elbow) to minor-league camp Friday, Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald reports.

Perales is still working his way back from last June's Tommy John surgery. The 21-year-old has begun a throwing program but is not expected to pitch in minor-league games until 2026.

Leiter allowed two hits, walked none and struck out three over three relief innings in Thursday's spring game against the Padres.

Leiter continued an impressive Cactus League, during which he's allowed just two runs over eight innings. More impressively is that he's walked just one while striking out eight. Walks have been the bane of his professional career thus far. The right-hander threw all five of his pitches Thursday, including a new sinker and reworked changeup, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com.

Bibee allowed two hits and one walk while striking out three over three scoreless innings in Thursday's spring start against Arizona.

Bibee sparkled in an efficient Cactus League debut, throwing 37 pitches (23 strikes). He made himself into the Guardians' ace in 2024 and looked nearly ready to handle that role again Thursday. A key to the right-hander's development was learning to control his emotions on the mound and not letting one adverse event affect him, Tim Stebbins of MLB.com reports. "I think [I'm] definitely a little more under control than last year's spring training," Bibee said. Evidence of that came in his final inning Thursday. After committing a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, Bibee turned his focus to the batter and got Geraldo Perdomo on a called third strike.

Kelly allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over 2.1 innings while striking out three in Thursday's split-squad start against the Mariners.

Kelly threw 48 pitches (30 strikes) in his second Cactus League outing. The right-hander allowed multiple baserunners in each of his first two innings and experienced a slight drop in velocity relative to his first spring outing, but his rotation spot isn't in jeopardy and Kelly's focus at this stage of the spring is on getting stretched out.

Pfaadt was unable to get out of the second inning in his second spring start Wednesday, Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports reports. He allowed three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out two over 1.1 innings.

Pfaadt elevated his pitch count to 46, even if the results weren't pretty. The right-hander's outing was the first in a line of starters battling for the Diamondbacks' final rotation spot -- Ryne Nelson will pitch Thursday, and Jordan Montgomery (finger) is scheduled for his spring debut Friday. If Pfaadt had a lock on a rotation spot, then Wednesday's performance could be chalked up to a pitcher just getting his work in, but instead his numbers will get measured against his competition.

Nelson allowed one run on three hits while striking out three over 2.1 innings in Thursday's spring start against the Guardians.

Nelson toed the rubber for a second Cactus League start and worked up to 51 pitches (30 strikes). The battle for the final rotation spot kicked into high gear this week. Nelson followed Brandon Pfaadt, who started Wednesday, and Jordan Montgomery (finger) will make his spring debut Friday in what is expected to be a multi-inning relief appearance.

Montgomery (finger) will follow starter Zac Gallen in Friday's spring game against the Angels, Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports reports.

Montgomery will be making his Cactus League debut but will be used as a reliever. Despite the bullpen role Friday, Montgomery is still in the mix for Arizona's final rotation spot, along with Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo believes the left-handed Montgomery will be ready for the start of the regular season despite his delayed start to spring games.

With Luis Gil (lat) set to miss extended time at the beginning of the campaign, Stroman is likely to be part of the Yankees' season-opening rotation, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

Gil isn't expected to be able to resume throwing for at least six weeks, which means that he isn't likely to be able to enter New York's rotation until sometime in June, at the earliest. As a result, Stroman, who has 252 career regular-season starts in 261 total outings to his name, is the logical choice to fill Gil's starting spot. Stroman posted a 4.31 ERA and 1.47 WHIP across 154.2 regular-season innings covering 30 appearances last year, and he may have to pitch well early on to keep his rotation role. Among the pitchers who could push Stroman is rookie Will Warren, who struggled in a six-outing cup of coffee in the majors last season but has looked great in spring training so far, allowing just one run while registering an 11:2 K:BB over eight frames.

Ryan threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and a walk in his spring training debut in Thursday's win over the Yankees. "Great introduction to the season for Joe. He looked good," manager Rocco Baldelli told the Minnesota Star Tribune. "He even threw a nice slider or two, that little sweepy pitch that he throws, and showed a little feel for it. He's out there facing a good lineup, and he goes right at them."

Ryan reached 93-94 mph with his fastball and faced most of the starters in the Yankees lineup. Ryan suffered a Grade 2 teres major strain during a start Aug. 9 and missed the rest of the regular season, but he had an MRI in November that showed a "complete resolution" of the shoulder strain and entering spring training health. It looks like he'll be full speed for Opening Day.