MLB Player News

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.

Crochet allowed two hits and one walk while striking out seven over three scoreless innings in Wednesday's spring game against the Rays.

Crochet cruised through his third Grapefruit League start and finished it in style by striking out the side in his third and final inning. The left-hander has not allowed a run over 6.1 spring innings while striking out 14.

Garcia walked one and struck out one over a scoreless inning in Thursday's spring game against San Diego.

Texas manager Bruce Bochy earlier in camp referred to Garcia as one of the main arms in the mix for the closer role, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com, but the pitcher's spring debut was delayed until Thursday due to nerve irritation in his left forearm. His ratios from 2024 don't jump out, but Garcia's underlying metrics, including 98th percentile hard-hit and barrel rates and a 94th percentile chase rate, indicate he was much better than a 4.22 ERA might indicate. At this point, Garcia and Chris Martin are the leading candidates for save opportunities in the Rangers' rebuilt bullpen.

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.

Naylor went 2-for-3 with two home runs and four RBI in Thursday's spring game against the Diamondbacks.

Naylor accounted for all of Cleveland's scoring with a solo homer in the second inning and a three-run shot an inning later. All the positives for Naylor's bat in 2023 (67 games, .809 OPS) reversed in 2024 (123 games, .614 OPS), as he appeared to wilt under the mantle of being the team's primary backstop. The Guardians could use the 2023 version of Naylor after losing a couple of productive hitters during the offseason, including his brother Josh Naylor.

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.

Urias went 1-for-2 with one double, one walk and one run scored in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Pirates, and he's now 4-for-12 with a home run as well this spring.

Urias' results in spring training are worth noting due to the uncertainty surrounding star shortstop Gunnar Henderson's (side) status for Opening Day. The Orioles could need a replacement in their lineup for Henderson in the early going, and Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com notes that Urias is one of those options. Urias may be penciled in for a utility role off Baltimore's bench at the moment, but the 30-year-old infielder is a logical candidate to fill in for Henderson if needed, as Jorge Mateo (elbow) has already been ruled out for Opening Day.

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.

Ragans allowed one hit and struck out six over three scoreless innings in Thursday's Cactus League win over the Cubs. He did not issue a walk.

The lefty was able to exact a measure of revenge against a Cubs team that rocked him for seven runs over 2.1 innings back on March 1. Ragans noted after the game he was hitting his spots and keeping hitters off balance Thursday after execution was an issue his last time out, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports. Ragans, the presumptive Opening Day starter for Kansas City, also mentioned that his goal this year is to be unpredictable to lefties to combat his rather surprising reverse splits from a season ago.

Long, who was hit by a line drive in his left hand during Monday's spring game, threw a bullpen session Thursday despite some swelling, MLB.com reports.

Long had test results that showed he didn't suffer any broken bones after he reached to grab a liner and it deflected off his pitching hand. It's possible his next appearance this spring gets delayed, however, so he could fall behind for being ready for Opening Day.