MLB Player News

Baker has gone 7-for-32 with four RBI, 11 strikeouts and three walks over 16 Grapefruit League games.

Baker struck out a 31.3 percent rate over 99 plate appearances toward the tail end of 2023. The 27-year-old has a strong power profile after slugging 33 home runs over 84 contests with Triple-A Memphis, but there's no clear path to a starting job in the majors with Paul Goldschmidt locked in at first base and Nolan Gorman likely to be the designated hitter. In terms of a competition for a bench role, Alec Burleson's strong spring and his ability to be an option in the outfield put him comfortably ahead of Baker or any number of other options to back up at first base.

Black allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out three without walking a batter over 3.1 innings Wednesday versus the Reds.

Black has now allowed eight runs over 10.1 innings across four Cactus League outings (three starts). Things have not gone well for the Giants' rotation from a health standpoint this spring, which has seen Black gain momentum to potentially begin the year as a major-league starter despite his spring struggles. Keaton Winn (elbow) and Alex Cobb (hip) are still working their way back, leaving Black to compete with Spencer Howard and Daulton Jefferies for two spots in the rotation.

Atlanta plans to platoon Kelenic in left field with new signing Adam Duvall, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said at the start of camp that the plan was to play Kelenic every day in left field. However, with Kelenic going 3-for-34 so far this spring and Duvall being available on an inexpensive one-year contract, the club has reconsidered those plans. Kelenic could still provide fantasy value in a long-side platoon, but it's difficult to have a ton of confidence that it will happen.

Duvall signed a one-year, $3 million contract with Atlanta on Thursday.

Duvall seems like more of a luxury than a necessity for Atlanta, but the club has decided to bring the 35-year-old back for what will be his third stint in the organization. The addition of Duvall will allow Atlanta to limit Jarred Kelenic's exposure against left-handed pitching, and the veteran Duvall will also provide some insurance as Ronald Acuna comes back from a knee issue. Duvall slashed .247/.303/.531 with 21 home runs over 92 games for the Red Sox last season.

McNeil (bicep) is expected to make his Grapefruit League debut either in one of the Mets' split-squad games Sunday or in Tuesday's game versus the Cardinals, Anthony Rieber of Newsday reports.

Per Tim Britton of The Athletic, McNeil is slated to play defense only Thursday in a minor-league contest on the backfields of camp, then he'll advance to facing high-velocity pitching in a batting-practice session Friday. McNeil will take off Saturday, but if his left bicep is feeling fine after his workouts Thursday and Friday, he could get the green light to play Sunday versus the Nationals or Marlins. Despite his delayed start to spring training, McNeil is still expected to be ready to handle an everyday role at second base by the time Opening Day arrives.

Solometo is recovering from a case of the flu and won't be available to pitch Thursday in the Pirates' Spring Breakout game against the Orioles, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Solometo will miss out on the opportunity to test himself against a group of the Orioles' elite hitting prospects after coming down with the illness earlier this week. The 21-year-old lefty was able to complete a side session Wednesday, so he shouldn't be too far away from returning to game action in minor-league spring training contests. Solometo is likely to open the 2024 campaign at Double-A Altoona, where he finished the 2023 season and with whom he posted a 4.35 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 50:14 K:BB across 51.2 innings.

Irvin allowed only one hit and zero walks over five scoreless innings in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Marlins. He struck out five.

Facing a Miami lineup that features most of its likely Opening Day starters, Irvin delivered a dominant 52 pitches (43 strikes) as he built up ahead of Opening Day. The 27-year-old right-hander has a somewhat stunning 16:2 K:BB through 12.2 spring innings, but considering he managed only an 18.7 percent strikeout rate against a 10.2 walk rate over 121 innings for the Nationals last season, he'll need to keep producing good numbers when the games start to count before he'll draw significant interest from fantasy GMs.

Vientos went 1-for-3 with a walk, a solo home run and a second run scored in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros.

The 24-year-old took Dylan Coleman deep in the eighth inning, giving Vientos his third long ball of the spring in 12 games. His .206 batting average (7-for-34) is less impressive though, and his 2:8 BB:K indicates that he still needs to work on the contact issues that led to a .211/.253/.367 slash line over 233 big-league plate appearances in 2023. The Mets are hoping Vientos can step into a larger role this season and give them consistent production from the DH spot while providing a platoon partner at third base for Brett Baty, but he still has a lot to prove.

Marte went 0-for-2 in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros.

Getting the start in right field and batting fifth, Marte flied out to center field in the second inning before popping out to second base in the fourth. The Mets were hoping the 35-year-old outfielder would return to form after a healthy offseason, but so far this spring Marte is batting a worrying .091 (2-for-22) with zero extra-base hits or steals and a 1:3 BB:K. He's still locked into the starting role in right field and has time yet in camp to turn things around, but after he posted a career-worst .248 batting average and .625 OPS in 2023, expectations for Marte have never been lower.

Severino allowed one run on two hits over four innings in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros. He struck out three without walking a batter.

The 30-year-old right-hander is trying to get his career back on track with the Mets after eight seasons with the Yankees, and so far in camp the results have been excellent. The run Severino gave up Wednesday was his first of the spring, and through nine Grapefruit League innings he's posted an 8:0 K:BB while showing good velocity. The Mets are counting on him to plug a hole in their rotation, but since throwing 191.1 innings in 2018, the biggest workload Severino has managed in the majors is 102 innings during 2022 due to a variety of injuries.