MLB Player News

Matsui (back) resumed playing catch Friday, Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The left-hander was shut down from throwing the past few days due to back inflammation, but he's back to playing catch Friday. Matsui will likely need to stretch out his throwing distance before returning to mound work, so he should be at least a week or two away from being ready for game action.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Friday that Miley has a 50-50 chance of being ready for the start of the season, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Murphy declined to go into specifics about what Miley is dealing with, adding only that the team should have a better idea on his status in about 10 days. The 37-year-old has dealt with elbow and shoulder injuries each of the last two seasons, but it's not clear whether his current issue is related to his pitching arm. Miley was limited to 23 starts in 2023 but finished the season healthy. Losing the veteran left-hander would be a blow to a Brewers rotation that's already lacking depth.

Corbin gave up three hits over three scoreless innings while striking out four in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals.

Facing most of the Cards' Opening Day lineup, Corbin breezed through 41 pitches (32 strikes) and looked much sharper than he had in his first outing of the spring. The veteran southpaw also mixed in a new cutter, per Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports, throwing seven of them and getting swings and misses on three -- including strike three to Nolan Arenado in the first inning. Corbin's been primarily a fastball-slider pitcher throughout his career, so adding a reliable third pitch could boost a strikeout rate that sagged to 15.7 percent in 2023 -- the second-worst mark in MLB among pitchers who threw at least 150 innings, ahead of only Kyle Freeland's 13.9 percent. Even if the cutter does prove to be an effective weapon for Corbin, however, there's still little fantasy appeal in a pitcher who's posted a combined 5.75 ERA and 1.54 WHIP over the last three seasons.

Rainey topped out at 92 mph with his fastball while working a scoreless inning of relief during Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.

The 31-year-old right-hander made only one appearance last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2022, but he's healthy coming into camp and looking to regain a high-leverage role in the Nationals' bullpen. Rainey averaged 97.0 mph with his fastball in 2022 prior to going under the knife, but he said after Thursday's game he wasn't concerned about the radar gun readings. "You go back and look at my springs the past four or five years, that's probably harder than I'm usually throwing [at this point]," Rainey said. "I've started springs before at 88-89 mph. The velocity is not an issue... Hopefully from here on, it's a normal spring training, every two or three days on the mound. Being able to work on things while I'm pitching. That way come mid-late March, we're in midseason form and ready to go." Even if he returns to form, Rainey figures to open the season behind both Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey in the pecking order for saves.

Finnegan threw three sweepers at 84-85 mph among his 15 pitches during Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.

The 32-year-old right-hander has gotten solid results in his big-league career with a fastball that averaged 97.3 mph in 2023 along with a a splitter and occasional slider that both sit about 90 mph, but Finnegan worked this offseason to add something slower to his arsenal to give batters a different look. The early results Wednesday with the sweeper were encouraging, as one of them generated an awkward swing on strike three from Ceddanne Rafaela. Finnegan threw his fastball 70 percent of the time last year and that likely isn't going to change, but the sweeper could help boost a strikeout rate that sunk to a career-low 21.9 percent. After recording a career-high 28 saves in 2023, Finnegan will be in the closing mix this season for the Nationals along with Hunter Harvey and potentially Tanner Rainey.

Quintana gave up two runs on two hits and three walks over 1.2 innings in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros. He struck out one.

It was an inauspicious start to the spring for Quintana, who was facing most of Houston's Opening Day lineup, and the damage could have been worse had he not coaxed a double-play grounder out of Yordan Alvarez after walking Jose Altuve to lead off the game. The veteran southpaw made only 13 starts in 2023 during his first season with the Mets due to a rib issue that required surgery, but his 3.57 ERA and 1.31 WHIP over 75.2 innings were respectable. With Kodai Senga (shoulder) set to miss a month or more to begin the 2024 campaign, New York needs Quintana to stay on the mound this time around.

Nootbaar changed his swing over the offseason in hopes of hitting more pulled flyballs, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.

Nootbaar worked with Nolan Arenado and Arenado's brother, former minor-leaguer Jonah, extensively over the winter. He's holding his hands lower, allowing for a more vertical swing path and more freedom to stay within the ball. Woo writes that Nootbaar's biggest priority is backspin, along with higher exit velocities and barrel rates as well as lower groundball rates. While Nootbaar's plate discipline remained excellent in 2023, his quality of contact, flyball rate and pull rate all regressed. The goal is to maintain the former while improving all of the latter aspects.

Anderson went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Yankeees.

Getting the start at shortstop and batting second behind Luis Arraez and ahead of Jazz Chisholm, Anderson didn't make an impact with his bat but looked healthy on defense, going deep in the hole to field a grounder in the second inning before firing the ball across the diamond to get the out at first base. The 30-year-old is coming off the worst season of his MLB career, but a knee injury that bothered him most of the year might have been the primary culprit for his decline. If Anderson is fully healthy in 2024, he could prove to be a draft-day steal for fantasy GMs, and a bargain for Miami on his one-year, $5 million contract.

Chisholm went 1-for-3 with a double and a stolen base in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Yankees.

The 26-year-old's shift to center field last year didn't solve his injury woes, but Chisholm still has tantalizing fantasy upside should he ever stay in one piece. In 157 games over the last two seasons combined, he's slashed .251/.312/.487 with 33 homers and 34 steals. Thursday's pilfer was his first of the spring in three games, and it's a good sign that he's fully recovered from offseason surgery to correct a turf toe issue.

Weathers allowed a hit and a walk over 2.2 scoreless innings during Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Yankees. He struck out five.

The 24-year-old southpaw is on the fringes of the battle for a spot in the Opening Day rotation, but Weathers would probably need some attrition ahead of him in the pecking order to have a legitimate chance no matter how well he pitches this spring. A long-relief role seems more likely after he stumbled to a 6.55 ERA, 1.68 WHIP and 43:29 K:BB through 57.2 innings last year split between the Padres and Marlins.