MLB Player News

Frelick added 25 pounds of muscle over the offseason, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

Frelick clubbed only two home runs over 524 regular-season plate appearances last season and his 83.4 mph average exit velocity was the lowest in baseball. The 24-year-old stole 18 bases in 2024 and his elite glove should keep him in the lineup, but his appeal in fantasy leagues will remain limited unless he can add some thump, which he hopes the strength he added will help him accomplish.

Stallings will receive the bulk of the starts at catcher for the Rockies this season, Patrick Lyons of JustBaseball.com reports.

Stallings put together the best offensive season of his career in 2024 in his first season in Colorado, slashing .263/.357/.453 with nine homers over 82 games. He then re-signed with the Rockies over the offseason and will enter 2025 atop the catching depth chart, with Drew Romo, Hunter Goodman and Austin Nola competing for the backup job.

Wood was held out of outfield drills Tuesday due to left quad tendinitis, Andrew Golden of The Washington Postreports.

Wood took batting practice Tuesday and also ran the bases a bit, so this doesn't look to be anything to be overly concerned about. It's possible the Nationals will hold Wood out of their first few Grapefruit League games or limit him to designated-hitter duty just to be safe. Wood is slated to be the Nationals' everyday left fielder in 2025.

Nicolas (side) faced off against Andrew McCutchen during a live batting practice session Tuesday, Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Nicolas appears to have entered spring training with a clean bill of health after he finished last season on the injured list due to a left side injury. Before being shut down, Nicolas had turned in a 3.95 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and 55:31 K:BB while collecting two wins and seven holds over 54.2 innings out of the Pittsburgh bullpen. He'll likely be ticketed for a middle-relief role to begin the 2025 campaign.

Glasnow (elbow) is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session Tuesday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

Glasnow finished his first season in Los Angeles on the injured list due to a right elbow sprain, but he didn't require offseason surgery and said in November that he had fully healed from the injury. The Dodgers' decision to let him face hitters in the second week of spring training supports the notion that Glasnow is back to full health, putting him on track to be available when Los Angeles opens its regular season March 18 versus the Cubs in Tokyo. Despite concluding the 2024 campaign on the shelf, the oft-injured Glasnow was still able to establish career highs in starts (22) and innings (134) while going 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 168:35 K:BB. In an effort to help preserve Glasnow and the team's other starting pitchers throughout the long season, the Dodgers are once again expected to utilize a six-man rotation in 2025. The arrangement will suppress Glasnow's counting statistics relative to other starting pitchers coming off the board around his range in fantasy drafts, but the 6-foot-8 right-hander should remain one of the top performing starters on a per-inning basis.

Fitzgerald will be held out of workouts for a few days due to a lower-back injury, Justice delos Santos of The San Jose Mercury News reports.

The Giants appear confident that it won't be a lingering problem for Fitzgerald, but at this stage of spring training there's little reason to push him. Fitzgerald slashed .280/.334/.497 with 15 home runs and 17 stolen bases over just 96 games for San Francisco last season and is slated to serve as its everyday second baseman in 2025.

Ross is building up a starter during spring training, but he's expected to open the season in the bullpen if all five members of the Philadelphia rotation are healthy heading into Opening Day, Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports.

The right-hander seems to be the next man up for a starting spot if any of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, Jesus Luzardo or Cristopher Sanchez aren't available to make their first turn through the rotation to begin the season. Ideally though, manager Rob Thomson said Monday that Ross will serve primarily as a multi-inning or one-inning leverage option out of the bullpen. While with Milwaukee during the 2024 regular season, Ross struggled over his 10 starts (4.98 ERA, .321 wOBA, 39:18 K:BB in 47 innings), but he was effective across 15 relief appearances (1.67 ERA, .258 wOBA, 27:11 K:BB in 27 innings).

Manager Rob Thomson said last week that he's considering moving Kyle Schwarber down to third or fourth in the Phillies' everyday lineup this season, potentially clearing the way for Turner to serve as the club's primary leadoff hitter, Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports.

In 2024, Schwarber started 149 of the Phillies' 162 games out of the leadoff spot, with Bryson Stott (10 starts) and Whit Merrifield (three) setting the table in the other 13 contests. Merrifield wasn't re-signed in free agency, and Stott doesn't appear to be an ideal candidate to slot in atop the lineup when the Phillies are at full strength since it would create an imbalance atop the batting order with three lefties (Stott, Schwarber and Bryce Harper) in the first four spots. With Thomson having acknowledged after the past season, during Winter Meetings and last week that he feels Schwarber's power production would be better served in the No. 3 or 4 spot behind Harper, Turner represents the most logical candidate to fill the void atop the lineup. Turner batted exclusively out of the two-hole in 2024, but he made 15 starts out of the leadoff spot during the 2023 campaign and saw plenty of usage atop the order during his stints with the Nationals and Dodgers earlier in his career. A move to the leadoff spot could open up increased running opportunities for Turner, whose 19 steals in 2024 were his fewest in a season since the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

Made arrived at the Brewers complex in Arizona in mid-January, Jesus Cano of Baseball America reports.

Made, who was ranked as a top-25 prospect by several outlets before stepping foot in the United States for the first time in January, said through a translator that he felt comfortable and that it's been an amazing experience getting to know his teammates. There has never been a prospect this highly regarded after only playing in the Dominican Summer League, but it's because Made's advanced data is special, as is his athleticism and long-term physical projection. Nobody should be surprised if he's the No. 1 prospect in baseball a year from now, but it's also worth noting that he doesn't turn 18 until May, so it's hard to say how everything will translate with the big jump in competition after he presumably gets assigned to Single-A.

The Dodgers invited Hope to big-league spring training, Eric Stephen of SB Nation reports.

Hope was recently picked by MLB executives as the 2025 breakout prospect of the year in a poll by MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo, so it's not just dynasty managers who are excited about Hope on the heels of a breakout Arizona Fall League showing in 2024. He has a rare combination of strength and athleticism packed into a 5-foot-10 frame and showed an advanced command of the strike zone at Single-A as a 19-year-old, where he got on base at a .419 clip. Hope seems poised to climb multiple levels of the minors this year and may even be assigned to Double-A, bypassing High-A altogether, but a 2025 MLB debut seems highly unlikely given how much talent is ahead of him in the organization.