MLB Player News

Bello has been named the Red Sox' Opening Day starter.

He was the pick over Nick Pivetta, who will start the second game of the season. It's been an eventful month for Bello, who agreed to a six-year, $55 million contract extension earlier this month and who now garners the first Opening Day start of his career. The 24-year-old will take on the Mariners in Seattle on March 28.

Eflin will start for the Rays on Opening Day, March 28 at home against the Blue Jays, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

This had been widely assumed after Eflin turned in a career year in 2023, leading the team in innings pitched, wins and strikeouts. We now have confirmation that Eflin will start Opening Day, which lines him up for two starts on the season-opening homestand. The results this spring don't look good, but the right-hander has already built up to four innings and should be able to stretch out a bit more before he takes the hill in a game that counts.

Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said Monday that Cecconi will pitch "bulk innings" in the minors but stopped short of saying he would be a starter, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports.

The Diamondbacks plan to have Cecconi, who was optioned to minor-league camp Monday, be as versatile as possible at Triple-A Reno. Whether that be as a piggyback starter or straight multi-inning reliever, the organization views him as someone that can help the parent club if needed. There were concerns last season about Cecconi going through an order a third time, which suggests his best fit going forward will be in a bulk-inning role.

The Diamondbacks on Monday named Gallen the starter for Opening Day, Damon Allred of Arizona Sports reports.

Gallen was widely speculated to take the ball for Opening Day on March 28 at home against the Rockies, and now it's official. It will be the second straight Opening Day nod for the right-hander, who's coming off an All-Star season in 2023, when he posted a 3.47 ERA over 34 starts. Gallen, who logged 4.1 scoreless innings and 58 pitches in his previous outing Sunday, will make one more spring start before the regular season.

Kelly allowed four hits and one walk while striking out seven over 3.1 innings in Monday's spring start against Oakland.

Kelly, on track to pitch the second game of the regular season, was pleased with the shape of his pitches in talking to Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. "Everything was sharp, fastball is coming out of the hand well, really liking the progress of the slider, I saw some really good swings and misses and some good location on it today," Kelly said. A byproduct of his seven punchouts, however, was an elevated pitch count; Kelly needed 65 pitches to secure those 10 outs. The right-hander will have one more Cactus League start to get the pitches up to the point where he can throw five or six innings in his first start of the regular season.

Perez has allowed one earned run across 12 innings with a 13:4 K:BB in Grapefruit League action.

There are a couple of vacancies at the back of the Pirates' rotation, but Perez will be locked in as a starter to begin the regular season. He built up to five innings in an outing against the Phillies on Monday, racking up eight strikeouts against two walks without allowing a run. Despite the strong form, there should be some skepticism about Perez's performance, as he's posted an ERA above 4.40 in six of his last seven campaigns.

Bielak is likely to make the big-league roster out of spring training due to a combination of injuries to the Astros' pitching staff and the fact that he is out of minor-league options, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Bielak hasn't pitched well this spring, allowing six earned runs across 7.1 innings while maintaining just a 5:4 K:BB. However, with both Justin Verlander (shoulder) and Jose Urquidy (forearm) destined for the injured list to begin the campaign, the Astros are in need of pitching depth. As things currently stand, Bielak is expected to serve in a relief role, with Ronel Blanco serving as the fifth starter.

Snell agreed to a two-year, $62 million contract with San Francisco on Monday, which includes an opt-out after the 2024 season, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.

Snell finally has a landing spot after several teams balked at his asking price over the offseason and into spring training. He'll benefit from one of the more pitcher-friendly home ballparks in Oracle Park and join 2023 National League Cy Young finalist Logan Webb at the top of the Giants' rotation to form one of the deadliest one-two punches in all of baseball. It remains to be seen how soon Snell will be able to ramp up for the 2024 season with only 10 days remaining before Opening Day, but he just tossed four simulated innings Friday and could make an appearance in a game situation later this week, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Smyly could start the regular season in the rotation with Jameson Taillon (back) set to miss some time into April, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

Taillon could return as soon as April 8 in San Diego, but the Cubs will have to fill his rotation spot until then. Justin Steele is set to start Opening Day on March 28, and Chicago gets an off day after that. However, the Cubs then have games on five straight days, so a full rotation will likely be needed. Beyond Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Shota Imanaga should be locked into starting spots, and Jordan Wicks is making a strong case in camp. That could leave Smyly, Javier Assad and Hayden Wesneski to compete for the No. 5 spot, at least until Taillon returns.

Hendricks appears to be lined up to start Chicago's second game of the regular season, behind Opening Day starter Justin Steele, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

The southpaw Steele has emerged as the team's definitive ace, but the rotation gets a little more jumbled after that. Hendricks makes sense in the No. 2 spot, particularly as a veteran righty with Shota Imanaga, Jordan Wicks and possibly Drew Smyly joining Steele as left-handed starting options. Hendricks won't wow with strikeouts, though he's a steady pitcher who recorded a solid 3.74 ERA across 24 starts last season, giving him some fantasy appeal in the right matchups.