MLB Player News

Alexander is slated to start Wednesday's game against the Yankees in Houston, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

When he was initially called up from Triple-A Sugar Land on July 24, Alexander looked to be a temporary placeholder in the rotation until the Astros returned multiple rehabbing starting pitchers from the injured list. Much to the delight of the Astros, Alexander has pitched well enough to maintain his spot in the rotation, even though Spencer Arrighetti, Cristian Javier and Luis Garcia have since made their way back from the shelf. Houston has opted to move the struggling Lance McCullers to the bullpen to keep Alexander in the fold as a starter, and the journeyman right-hander should continue making regular turns through the six-man rotation throughout September so long as his performance warrants the opportunity. Since his call-up from Sugar Land, Alexander has produced a 3.18 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 35:10 K:BB in 39.2 innings across seven starts.

The Cardinals are unlikely to promote Wetherholt from Triple-A Memphis this season, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Wetherholt has established himself as one of the best prospects in baseball, having slashed .312/.424/.523 with 16 home runs, 21 stolen bases and a 66:65 K:BB over 99 games between Double-A Springfield and Memphis. While the 22-year-old looks ready to be challenged in the majors, Goold notes that the driving factor in keeping Wetherholt at Memphis is that he does not need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason in order to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft, and the Cardinals want to reserve those spots for players that are Rule 5 eligible. Even without a cup of coffee in the big leagues in 2025, Wetherholt still stands a chance of cracking the Opening Day roster in 2026. Wetherholt has mostly played shortstop in the minors, but he's also seen time at second and third base, and with Masyn Winn holding down shortstop for the Cardinals, Wetherholt's future is likely either at the keystone or the hot corner.

Alvarez is hitting .347 with zero home runs, seven steals and more walks (seven) than strikeouts (four) in 16 games for Single-A Inland Empire.

The righty-hitting center fielder slashed .335/.427/.429 with two home runs, 24 steals, a 14 percent walk rate and an 18.6 percent strikeout rate in 55 games in the Arizona Complex League before getting promoted to the 66ers on Aug. 2. Alvarez, 18, is a premium athlete with a projectable 6-foot-3, 190-pound frame, so there's power potential, but he'll need to get the ball in the air more frequently (55.2 percent groundball rate this season).

Tong appears in line to make his next start Saturday against the Reds in Cincinnati, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports.

The Mets had initially confirmed that Tong would take the hill for the series opener Friday, but David Peterson will instead start that contest while the rookie right-hander gets pushed back a day. Tong will be starting on seven days' rest coming off a promising MLB debut versus the Marlins this past Friday, when he struck out six and allowed four runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks over five innings en route to picking up a win.

Mullins is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers.

Mullins had started in each of the Mets' last four games, but he went 0-for-14 with three walks to bring his slash line down to .188/.297/.294 since he was acquired from the Orioles on July 31. Though Mullins still appears to be the Mets' preferred option in center field, his grasp on the job could be slipping a bit in light of his ongoing skid at the plate.

Pages went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Tuesday's loss to PIttsburgh.

Pages tied the score with a 418-foot solo shot in the fourth inning. It was the outfielder's 24th home run of the season, second most on the Dodgers behind Shohei Ohtani (46). Pages has an eight-game hitting streak going, batting .333 (10-for-30) with three homers and seven RBI over that span.

Torrens is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers.

Torrens will get a break for Wednesday's matinee after he started behind the plate in the first two games of the series. Hayden Senger will handle catching duties for the Mets in the finale.

Stowers (oblique) is set to resume baseball activities Wednesday and is expected to report to Triple-A Jacksonville for a rehab assignment over the weekend, MLB.com reports.

Stowers has been on the 10-day injured list since Aug. 17 due to a Grade 1 left oblique strain, but the outfielder doesn't look as though he'll require an extended ramp-up period before rejoining the Marlins. Before getting hurt, the first-time All-Star had been enjoying a breakout season for Miami, slashing .288/.368/.544 with 25 home runs, five stolen bases, 73 RBI and 61 runs in 117 games.

Manager A.J. Hinch said Monday that Vierling (oblique) has begun a hitting progression but isn't yet ready to head out on a rehab assignment, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports. "He's taking indoor swings and still doing some defensive work. He's just not full-go yet," Hinch said. "Given the time of year and the nature of the injury, a setback would likely end his season, so we have to be very careful."

Detroit still remains hopeful that Vierling will be ready for activation from the 10-day injured list before the end of the season, but he'll likely need to head out on a rehab assignment within the next week or two for a return to the big-league roster to become realistic. Due to a shoulder injury suffered in spring training in addition to his left oblique strain, Vierling has played in just 31 games for Detroit this season, slashing .239/.310/.307 with one home run and two stolen bases across 100 plate appearances.

Sewald (shoulder) threw live batting practice Monday at the Tigers' facility in Florida, MLB.com reports.

Sewald will likely face hitters on one or two more occasions before the Tigers send him out on a minor-league rehab assignment. Acquired from the Guardians on July 31, Sewald has yet to make his Tigers debut while recovering from a moderate teres major strain that he sustained prior to the trade. He's eligible to return from the 60-day injured list Sept. 10 and could be activated shortly after that date.