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Rays Sign Andrew Stevenson To Minor League Contract

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Outfielder Andrew Stevenson has signed a minor league contract with the Rays, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. This marks his return to affiliated ball after spending time in both NPB and the Mexican League.

Stevenson, 31 in June, made his MLB debut with the Nationals in 2017. He played in 248 regular season games with the club from 2017-21, though his most notable Nationals moment was perhaps his lone playoff appearance. He scored the tying run in the bottom of the eighth inning of the 2019 Wild Card Game against the Brewers, helping the Nationals to their eventual World Series title. Despite playing for Washington in each season from 2017-21, Stevenson spent the entire 2022 season at Triple-A and elected free agency at the end of the year. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins that offseason, and while he spent most of 2023 at Triple-A St. Paul, he also appeared in 25 games for the MLB club. All told, Stevenson hit .243 with a .668 OPS, an 80 wRC+, and 0.5 FanGraphs WAR in his MLB tenure from 2017-23. He offered much of his value on the bases and with his glove; he split his time between all three outfield positions.

Stevenson played the 2024 season with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan, though he spent the majority of his time with their minor league team in the Japan Eastern League. He produced impressive offense numbers in the JPEL (.327 batting average, .850 OPS), but his NPB numbers were poor (.161 batting average, .368 OPS). His contract with the Fighters included a club option for 2025, but he was released before the end of the 2024 campaign. He then began the 2025 season with the Piratas de Campeche of the Mexican League but was released on Friday, presumably to allow him to sign with Tampa Bay.

While Stevenson is no doubt facing an uphill climb back to the major leagues, it’s not hard to see why the Rays were seeking outfield depth. Josh Lowe, Jonny DeLuca, Richie Palacios, and Jake Mangum are all on the IL. The only healthy outfielders on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster are Christopher Morel, Chandler Simpson, Kameron Misner, the recently acquired Travis Jankowski, and Coco Montes, who has limited professional experience in the outfield. If Stevenson plays well at Triple-A Durham and depth continues to be a problem for the MLB club, perhaps he could make his way back to the majors after a year away.

Eddie Rosario Elects Free Agency

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Eddie Rosario elected free agency on Friday, according to his transaction log on MLB.com (h/t Eric Stephen of True Blue LA). The Dodgers designated the veteran outfielder for assignment last weekend when they activated Shohei Ohtani from the paternity list. After Rosario cleared waivers, the Dodgers sent him outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, but he exercised his right to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency.

The lefty-batting Rosario made it into two games during his brief stint with the Dodgers while Ohtani was away, starting at DH against a pair of tough right-handed pitchers: Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Both times, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter after two plate appearances when a left-handed reliever entered the game. He went 1-for-4, knocking a single against Eovaldi. While he ultimately didn’t make much of an impact in either game, Rosario put the ball in play in each of his four trips to the plate. All four batted balls registered as hard-hit, and three had an expected batting average above .500, per Statcast.

Rosario has played in 11 big league seasons for the Twins, Guardians, Braves, Nationals, and Dodgers. As recently as 2023, Rosario was a perfectly capable major leaguer, putting up a .755 OPS and a 100 wRC+ in 142 games for Atlanta. However, that season was sandwiched between two abysmal performances; Rosario ranked among the bottom five players in FanGraphs WAR in both 2022 and ’24. His 2024 season was so rough that he lost jobs in three separate organizations (Nationals, Braves, and Mets).

Rosario is still just 33 and not so far removed from a 1.3 fWAR season in 2023. The best team in baseball saw enough to like in his bat to bring him into the organization and let him take his hacks against a pair of high-end starting pitchers. He also put up impressive numbers in 14 games for Oklahoma City, batting .339 with a 137 wRC+. That’s a tiny sample size (and his .419 BABIP was hardly sustainable), but eight of his 20 hits went for extra bases, and his 8:16 strikeout-to-walk ratio was solid. That should be enough for Rosario to land another minor league deal, provided he’s willing to be flexible about where he ends up.

Rockies Acquire Alan Trejo, Plan To Select His Contract Sunday

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The Rockies have acquired utility infielder Alan Trejo in a trade with the Rangers. Texas receives cash considerations in return. According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, the Rockies plan to add Trejo to their active roster ahead of Sunday’s series finale with the Reds. They will need to free up space for him on both the 26 and 40-man rosters.

This trade reunites Trejo with the team that drafted him in 2017. He made his MLB debut for the Rockies in 2021 and played in 174 games for Colorado between 2021-24. In that time, he slashed .228/.276/.334, good for just a 54 wRC+ given the harsh park adjustments for the hitter-friendly Coors Field. While Trejo never offered much with the bat, he was a versatile defender, capable of playing second base, third base, and shortstop.

After he was designated for assignment last summer, Trejo became a free agent for the first time in his career and inked a minor league pact with the Dodgers. He spent the final three months of the 2024 season with Triple-A Oklahoma City. He then elected free agency again in November and latched on with the Rangers over the offseason. While he earned an invitation to big league camp, he failed to make Texas’s Opening Day roster.

Trejo got off to a rough start in 2025 for the Round Rock Express, the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate. Through 19 games, he hit just .211 with a .599 OPS and a 45 wRC+. Nonetheless, the Rockies clearly missed his versatile glove on their bench, so they’re bringing him back into the fold. With Ezequiel Tovar, Thairo Estrada, and Tyler Freeman on the injured list, the Rockies were short enough on infielders before Aaron Schunk hit the 10-day IL with a groin strain earlier today. Trejo will provide some much-needed depth. Presumably, he will take third-string catcher Braxton Fulford’s spot on the active roster. The Rockies called Fulford back up on Saturday when Schunk was placed on the IL, just a day after Fulford was optioned to Triple-A.

A.J. Minter Exits With Triceps Soreness, IL Stint Likely

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Mets reliever A.J. Minter left tonight’s game against the Nationals partway through the eighth inning. After the game, manager Carlos Mendoza revealed that the left-hander exited due to soreness in his triceps. Mendoza told reporters (including Will Sammon of The Athletic) that Minter will go for imaging and that a stint on the injured list is likely.

Losing Minter for any amount of time would be a major loss for the Mets. When the southpaw signed a two-year, $22MM deal with the club this winter, some might have been surprised by the size of the contract he was able to secure. It tied him with Blake Treinen and Carlos Estévez for the third-largest contract of the offseason for a free agent reliever, and unlike Treinen’s and Estévez’s contracts, Minter’s came with an opt-out after year one. MLBTR was higher on Minter than almost any other source (we ranked him no. 34 on our Top 50 Free Agents list), and still, we only predicted he would ink a two-year, $16MM deal. Even Minter himself implied that he wasn’t exactly expecting the number he received, telling Anthony DiComo of MLB.com that he was originally planning to wait to sign until top free agent reliever Tanner Scott had set the market, but that the Mets made him an offer that was simply too good to refuse.

It’s not that Minter isn’t a talented reliever. From 2020-24, he pitched to a 2.85 ERA and 3.04 SIERA in 243 innings of work, striking out more than 30% of the batters he faced. However, he spent about half of the 2024 season on the injured list, including the final seven weeks of the season. It was a hip injury, not an arm injury, but even so, season-ending injuries are often bad news for impending free agents, especially pitchers on the wrong side of 30.

Yet, over the first four weeks of the 2025 campaign, Minter rewarded the Mets for their faith in him. His once-surprising contract quickly started to look like a bargain, and the chances of him opting out at the end of the season were growing every day. Through his first 12 games, Minter was sitting on a 1.69 ERA and a 2.69 SIERA. His strikeout and whiff rates were as impressive as ever, and his 48% groundball rate was his highest since 2020. He was a key cog in Mendoza’s bullpen, leading the team in eighth-inning appearances to help set things up for Edwin Díaz in the ninth. On Saturday, however, Minter only made it through nine pitches in the eighth, exiting in the middle of an inning for just the second time all year. It’s currently unclear how much time he’ll miss if he does indeed require an IL stint; presumably, the Mets will know more after he undergoes testing.

The Mets’ bullpen has played a critical role in their red-hot start to the season. The team is 19-8, although the offense has been surprisingly mediocre. Their starting pitching has been phenomenal (MLB-leading 2.28 ERA), but one reason their starters have been able to thrive is that they haven’t had to pitch deep into outings; Mets starters rank 18th in innings per game. That’s partly because Mendoza knows that when he pulls a great starter, he has a great crop of relievers to pick up where the starter left off. New York’s relief corps ranks third in MLB with a 2.46 ERA and second with a 3.28 Win Probability Added (per FanGraphs). Losing Minter would weaken a group that has been a huge strength early in the year. It would sting particularly badly against teams with tough left-handed batters in their lineups. Before he hurt his triceps, Minter was one of just two healthy left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster. The other, Danny Young, lacks Minter’s upside and his track record of big league success.

Latest On Ha-Seong Kim’s Recovery From Shoulder Surgery

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When the Rays signed Ha-Seong Kim to a two-year, $29MM contract in February, they knew he wouldn’t be ready to play by Opening Day. The question was how much time he would miss. Kim underwent shoulder surgery in October. At the time, the infielder suggested he could potentially return to the field by mid-to-late April or early May. His agent, Scott Boras, made similar comments. On the other end of the spectrum, Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller told reporters that Kim’s return could fall anywhere between May and July. It now seems as if the POBO from Kim’s former team was correct to be less optimistic. According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, the timeline for Kim’s return to full-time shortstop duties has been “pushed back” to the “mid-June/mid-July range.”

This isn’t necessarily a sign that Kim has suffered a setback. On the contrary, Topkin reports that Kim is doing quite well in his recovery; in some ways, he is apparently “ahead of schedule.” Yet, the Rays are exercising the utmost caution after what manager Kevin Cash described as a “major surgery.” Both Cash and POBO Erik Neander brought up the rigors of playing shortstop as a reason not to rush Kim’s rehab. Notably, Neander did not seem particularly open, at least not yet, to the possibility of Kim returning sooner to play a less physically demanding position. Kim has played 127 games at second base in his MLB career, including 106 appearances at the keystone in 2023, the year he won his Gold Glove. However, Neander told Topkin that the team is not ready to consider Kim playing any position other than shortstop – although he didn’t shut down the idea entirely. Perhaps playing second would indeed help Kim get back on the field, but Neander’s position isn’t unreasonable. Kim’s strong defense at a premium position (i.e. shortstop) was surely something that drew the Rays to him in the first place. What’s more, Tampa Bay already has Brandon Lowe to play second base. As things stand, the only clear opening for Kim on this team is at shortstop.

Kim’s player option for 2026 could be another factor influencing the team’s decision to play it safe with his recovery. His $16MM option would represent a $3MM raise from his current $13MM salary. It would also be the highest single-season base salary the Rays have ever paid a player. It might sound cynical, but one has to wonder if the close-fisted Rays were counting on Kim opting out of his contract after year one. As the name suggests, player options are always player-friendly, which means, in theory, that teams never hope a player will exercise his player option when they include one in a contract. In this case, however, Neander might feel a particular pressure to ensure that Kim plays well enough in 2025 that he doesn’t opt in to what would be a record salary. If Kim returns too quickly and struggles to perform (or suffers another injury), the chances of him exercising his player option would grow. Conversely, if he comes back at full strength and thrives in the second half, that might encourage him to give free agency another go.

In Kim’s absence, Taylor Walls was Tampa Bay’s primary shortstop to start the season. However, Walls has struggled even more than usual at the plate (.415 OPS, 31 wRC+), leading to the red-hot José Caballero seeing more time at shortstop in recent days. There is little doubt the Rays would be better off with Kim in the starting lineup – Caballero’s hot hitting isn’t sustainable, and he’s better suited for a part-time, utility role – but Caballero and Walls give the Rays options while Kim is out. Carson Williams, the consensus top prospect in the organization, is another shortstop to keep in mind. That said, he’s not yet 22, and he’s currently struggling offensively at Triple-A. While he could debut later this year, no call-up is imminent. For now, expect the Rays to stick with Caballero and Walls unless Williams forces the issue.

Athletics Place J.T. Ginn On 15-Day IL With Elbow Inflammation

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The Athletics have placed right-hander J.T. Ginn on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his pitching elbow. In a corresponding move, left-hander Jacob Lopez was recalled from Triple-A. The team announced the moves ahead of today’s game against the White Sox at Sutter Health Park.

Drafted by the Mets in 2020, Ginn came over to the A’s in 2022 as part of the return for Chris Bassitt. After working his way through the minor league system, he made his debut in August 2024. The righty looked capable in his eight appearances (six starts), posting a 4.24 ERA and 4.01 SIERA over 34 innings. While he didn’t miss many bats, his sinker-heavy approach helped him induce groundballs.

Ginn failed to make the A’s rotation out of camp this year; he pitched to a 7.62 ERA across 13 innings this spring. However, he quickly earned a promotion by producing a 1.64 ERA in his first two Triple-A outings, striking out 19 batters in 11 innings of work. When Joey Estes was optioned earlier this month, Ginn took over in the rotation. Through his first two turns, he looked sharp, pitching to a 3.60 ERA and a 2.60 SIERA. He was throwing his sinker with increased velocity and movement, and the results were good. He struck out more than 30% of the batters he faced, and nearly two-thirds of balls hit into play against him were on the ground. Unfortunately, things unraveled quickly in his third outing, when the Rangers tagged him for three home runs in 3 2/3 innings of work. Now, two days later, it seems we’re finding out why. The A’s will hope Ginn hasn’t suffered any structural damage and that some time off is enough to get his arm back into pitching shape. That said, it’s always concerning to hear that a young pitcher is dealing with elbow inflammation, especially when said pitcher recently showed off an increase in velocity. All the more concerning, Ginn previously suffered a UCL injury; he underwent Tommy John surgery before he was drafted in 2020.

Lopez, 27, joined the A’s over the offseason as the secondary piece in the trade that brought Jeffrey Springs to Sacramento. The southpaw began his professional career with the Giants in 2018 before they traded him to the Rays a year later. He made his big league debut with Tampa Bay in 2023 and pitched a total of 22 2/3 innings over eight games (two starts) with the Rays between 2023 and ’24. While he started the 2025 season at Triple-A, this is already his second call-up to the majors; he threw 4 1/3 innings for the A’s earlier in April, striking out five, walking three, and giving up two unearned runs. He has primarily worked as a long reliever at the MLB level, but Lopez has continued to start in the minors and could be an option to replace Ginn in the A’s rotation.

Orioles Sign Chadwick Tromp To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles have signed catcher Chadwick Tromp to a minor league contract, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. Tromp elected free agency last week after he was designated for assignment by the Braves. He will report to Triple-A Norfolk. The Norfolk Tides confirmed the signing in their game notes today (h/t to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com).

Tromp, 30, began his professional career in the Reds organization in 2013 and made his big league debut with the Giants in 2020. The Braves claimed him off of waivers from the Giants in September 2021, and he made appearances for Atlanta each year from 2022-25. All told, Tromp has appeared in 61 MLB games, slashing .224/.235/.385 over 162 plate appearances. While his overall offense is substandard, he provides a bit of pop (15 career extra-base hits, .160 ISO) and plays solid defense behind the dish. He is more than qualified for Baltimore’s third-string catching role.

Barring an injury, Tromp isn’t likely to get the call-up to Camden Yards. The Orioles are well-equipped at the catcher position, with two-time All-Star Adley Rutschman as their starter and veteran slugger Gary Sánchez as their backup. However, Tromp offers a more experienced third option in the organization than David Bañuelos. Having Tromp around will also reduce any pressure the Orioles might feel to promote top catching prospect Samuel Basallo in the event of an early-season injury to Rutschman or Sánchez. Basallo, who is currently on the minor league IL himself with a hamstring injury, is an incredibly promising player. He is also just 20 years old and has only played 28 games at Triple-A. He could be ready to debut toward the end of the season, but the Orioles are unlikely to rush his development.

Twins, Tyler Beede Agree To Minor League Deal

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Right-handed pitcher Tyler Beede has reportedly agreed to a minor league contract with the Twins, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. He will suit up for Minnesota’s Triple-A affiliate, the St. Paul Saints.

Beede, 32 in May, was once a highly promising pitching prospect. He was selected in the first round of the draft twice, first in 2011 by the Blue Jays (with whom he did not sign) and again in 2014 by the Giants. The righty impressed as he worked his way up San Francisco’s system, with Baseball America ranking him as one of the top three prospects in the organization each year from 2015-18. Yet, Beede started to show signs of weakness following his promotion to Triple-A in 2017, and he continued to struggle upon reaching the majors. After giving up seven runs over 7 2/3 big league innings in 2018, he pitched to a 5.08 ERA and 4.71 SIERA in his first extended run of MLB action the subsequent year. Tommy John surgery kept him out of commission in 2020, and he made just one MLB appearance in 2021 before converting to a swingman role for the 2022 campaign. Over 61 1/3 innings for the Giants and the Pirates (he was DFA’d and claimed off of waivers mid-season), he put up a 5.14 ERA and 4.94 SIERA.

After being DFA’d once again that September, Beede elected free agency in the fall and took his talents to Japan in 2023. In his lone season with NPB’s Yomiuri Giants, he made 30 appearances (six starts) and pitched to a 3.99 ERA. His 16.4% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate were mediocre, even by the different standards of NPB, and he did not look meaningfully better over 25 1/3 innings with the Giants’ minor league club in the Eastern League. Nevertheless, he pitched well enough overseas to catch the eye of the Guardians, who signed him to a minor league deal over the 2023-24 offseason and ultimately gave him a spot on their Opening Day roster. He made 13 appearances for Cleveland before he was DFA’d at the beginning of May, producing an unfortunate 8.36 ERA through 14 innings of lower-leverage work. With that said, he did manage to collect a win and two holds, and his 26.5% strikeout rate was above average, as was his 29.7% whiff rate. All that to say, he wasn’t entirely ineffective.

Beede spent the remainder of the 2024 season with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. Between and around two stints on the injured list, he pitched to a ghastly 11.28 ERA in 12 games (five starts). He walked 16 batters and gave up five home runs in just 22 1/3 innings of work. His second injury, an elbow strain, ultimately ended his season in August. Despite all of those reasons for concern, Beede drew interest from the Astros and Royals over the offseason and has now landed an opportunity with the Twins.

Given his uneven track record and rough numbers at both the MLB and Triple-A levels last season, Beede is facing an uphill battle back to the majors. Then again, the Twins don’t have much relief depth on their 40-man roster beyond the pitchers already in the big league bullpen. Beede could be a candidate to eat some low-leverage innings in the case of an injury to another Minnesota reliever, though he will have to compete with other depth arms on minor league contracts, such as Darren McCaughan, Richard Lovelady, and Anthony Misiewicz.

Poll: Should The Braves Extend Spencer Schwellenbach?

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He has only made two starts this season, but it’s impossible not to be impressed. Spencer Schwellenbach has thrown 14 innings without giving up a run. Indeed, he hasn’t thrown so much as a single pitch with a runner in scoring position. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 14 to one. His groundball rate is 60%. He has allowed 30 batted balls and not one of them has been barreled. According to Baseball Savant, the righty has thrown six distinct pitches at least 10% of the time, and five of them have a positive run value. All told, his +9 pitching run value is the best in the sport. Two starts make for a tiny sample size, but like I said, it’s impossible not to be impressed by what Schwellenbach has done.

Of course, the 24-year-old is used to being impressive. Before the 2025 season began, he was mowing down opponents in the Grapefruit League, striking out 28 batters in 21 innings while pitching to a 3.00 ERA. Before that, he was a breakout stud in his rookie season, putting up a 3.35 ERA, 3.42 SIERA, and 2.6 FanGraphs WAR over 21 starts. Before that, he was a consensus top-five prospect in Atlanta’s system. Across 24 minor league starts at Single-A, High-A, and Double-A from 2023-24, he threw 110 innings with a 2.21 ERA and 3.01 FIP. He skipped Triple-A to make his big league debut last May and never looked back.

With less than one season of service time under his belt, Schwellenbach already finds himself a key member of the Braves’ rotation. Spencer Strider is still working his way back from elbow surgery. Reynaldo López will miss most of the season. Chris Sale remains the ace of the staff, but he’s 36 years old, injury-prone, and has looked unusually mortal to start the year. It remains unclear how much Atlanta will be able to count on top prospects AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep, former All-Star Bryce Elder, and 2024 breakout arm Grant Holmes. Having Schwellenbach to rely on every fifth game will be critical as the Braves look to make up ground in the NL East following a 2-8 start to the season.

As Schwellenbach continues to impress – and as Atlanta continues to be reminded of the importance of reliable, top-end starting pitching – perhaps it’s time for president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos to start thinking about extending the right-hander. It might seem early to be talking about an extension for Schwellenbach. Then again, the Braves extended Strider shortly after his rookie season in 2022. At that time, he had 20 big league starts and 134 innings under his belt. Schwellenbach doesn’t have quite as much MLB service time as Strider did when he signed his extension, but he has now thrown more innings (137 2/3). Meanwhile, Michael Harris II was just 71 games into his big league career when he signed an extension with Atlanta in August 2022. As a position player, Harris is not quite as strong of a comp for Schwellenbach. Regardless, the key point is that this front office doesn’t have any qualms about extending players with limited big league service time. In fact, that’s part of the appeal for the Braves, who also extended Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies quite early on in their careers. The point of these extensions is to offer talented young players immediate financial security in exchange for additional years of team control down the line. If Schwellenbach keeps pitching this way, his asking price is only going to climb, and the chances that he would be willing to give up any of his future free agent years will diminish.

With that said, the Braves have awarded far fewer long-term extensions to pitchers than to position players. For instance, they notably did not extend two-time All-Star Max Fried, who left for the Yankees in free agency this past offseason. Dating back to the 2006 season, the Braves have only given out three guaranteed multi-year extensions to starting pitchers: Strider’s six-year, $75MM deal in 2022; Julio Teheran’s six-year, $32.4MM deal in 2014; and Tim Hudson’s three-year, $28MM deal in 2009. What’s more, the Strider extension has not exactly gone according to plan thus far. While he won 20 games and earned Cy Young votes in 2023, he has made just two starts since the beginning of the 2024 season after damaging his UCL. It’s also worth noting that the Braves have seen many young pitchers get off to promising starts only to fizzle out soon after, whether due to injury or underperformance. That includes arms like Ian Anderson, Michael Soroka, Kyle Wright, and Elder. Perhaps all that will make them a bit more cautious when it comes to Schwellenbach.

As for what a Schwellenbach extension might look like, we can turn to several recent comps. Since Strider inked his deal in October 2022, four more starters with fewer than two years of service time have signed multi-year extensions. Schwellenbach can almost surely ask for more than Cristopher Sánchez’s four-year, $22.5MM guarantee, though he is unlikely to command as much as Strider. The other three extensions – for Hunter Greene, Brayan Bello, and Brandon Pfaadt – were all for somewhere between $45MM and $55MM in guaranteed money over five or six years (with at least one club option). Schwellenbach has arguably had more big league success than any of those pitchers did when they signed their extensions. However, he doesn’t have as much experience as Pfaadt or Bello, nor did he ever have the prospect pedigree of Greene. Still, the preseason ZiPS, Steamer, and PECOTA projections envisioned Schwellenbach to be roughly as valuable, if not more so, than all three of those arms. With that in mind, a six-year deal (that would buy out Schwellenbach’s first free agent season) with an AAV around $9MM and at least one club option would be a logical starting point for negotiations.

Do MLBTR readers think the Braves should offer Schwellenbach an extension? Perhaps you think Atlanta needs to act fast and extend him now before his star shoots any higher. Or perhaps you think the Braves would be smarter to wait until the young right-hander has proven himself over a larger sample of starts. Have your say in the poll below:

Should the Braves start trying to extend Spencer Schwellenbach?
Yes 80.07% (3,374 votes)
No 19.93% (840 votes)
Total Votes: 4,214

 

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

The Opener: Langford, López, Orioles Rotation

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Here are three things we’ll be paying attention to around baseball today:

1. Rangers await MRI results for Wyatt Langford:

Sophomore slugger Wyatt Langford exited last night’s game with tightness in his right side, the team revealed to reporters (including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). According to Landry, Langford is optimistic the injury isn’t too serious, and he noted that it is not as painful as the left oblique strain he dealt with in spring training. Still, the 23-year-old will go for an MRI today, and the Rangers will know more about the severity of the issue after that. Langford is off to a strong start this season, with four home runs and an .894 OPS through his first 12 games. Losing his bat would be a tough blow to a Texas team that is already dealing with several injuries on the pitching front.

2. Pablo López exits with hamstring tightness:

Twins ace Pablo López left his start on Tuesday with what the team later told reporters (including Dan Hayes of The Athletic) was right hamstring tightness. Hayes reports that the right-hander will go for an MRI today. López’s description of the injury doesn’t exactly sound promising – his word of choice was “weird” – but he said he hopes to avoid the IL and make his next start as scheduled. However, he also mentioned that he has never experienced discomfort like this before. Thankfully for the Twins, they have some starting depth at Triple-A, should they need to call upon it. Former top prospect Zebby Matthews is pitching well and seems like the natural first choice for a call-up. Even so, there is no doubt that losing López for any amount of time would be a punch to the gut. Through 16 2/3 innings this season, he has pitched to a 1.62 ERA and 3.34 SIERA.

3. How will the Orioles replace Zach Eflin?

On Tuesday, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde confirmed that the team would briefly shut down Zach Eflin and place him on the 15-day IL. The right-hander is nursing a low-grade lat strain. Presumably, Baltimore will announce Eflin’s IL stint, and a corresponding active roster move, at some point before this afternoon’s rubber match with the Diamondbacks.

When it comes to replacing Eflin in the starting rotation, the O’s have a little more time to make their decision. As MLB.com’s Jake Rill explains, the Orioles can take advantage of two upcoming off days to put off choosing a fifth starter until April 19. At that time, however, they will have to make a difficult decision. Baltimore currently has an entire rotation’s worth of arms on the IL. Grayson Rodriguez, Trevor Rogers, Albert Suárez, and Chayce McDermott all suffered injuries before the season, while Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are recovering from elbow surgeries last June. The only other healthy starters on Baltimore’s 40-man roster are late-offseason signing Kyle Gibson, who has not stretched out enough to pitch in the majors; Cody Poteet, who has been pitching out of the bullpen in the minors this season; and Brandon Young, who has no major league experience. Thus, Young seems to be the most likely choice for the start on April 19. He has thrown 11 1/3 scoreless innings over his first two Triple-A starts this season, striking out 11.

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