1:09PM: Juan Soto left yesterday’s 10-3 Mets win over the Giants with what the team described as right calf tightness.  Manager Carlos Mendoza told the New York Post’s Mike Puma and other reporters postgame that Soto will undergo an MRI today to determine the extent of the injury.

Soto lasted just a half-inning into Friday’s game, as he picked up the injury while advancing from first to third on a Bo Bichette single in the first inning.  Soto was retired on a force play at the plate later in the frame, and Tyrone Taylor took over for Soto in left field for the bottom half of the first.

Over 34 plate appearances, Soto has hit .355/.412/.516 with one home run in the early stages of the 2026 campaign.  The superstar’s hot start has been a bright spot within an inconsistent Mets offense — beyond yesterday’s rout of the Giants and an 11-7 win over the Pirates on Opening Day, New York has scored only 14 runs over its other six games.

Needless to say, losing Soto for any amount of time would be a rough break for the Mets’ lineup.  Brett Baty would likely get the bulk of playing time in left field if Soto is sidelined, with Taylor providing some platoon cover apart from his usual fourth-outfielder duties.  Jorge Polanco has been limited mostly to DH duty due to his bothersome left Achilles, so Mark Vientos (who is also off to a hot start in limited playing time) would see more action at first base if Baty is needed more regularly in left field.

Soto’s durability is an underrated aspect of his standing as one of baseball’s best players.  Over the 2021-25 seasons, Soto played in 783 of a possible 810 games, and he hasn’t been on the injured list since 2021 (when he missed two weeks with a left shoulder strain).  The MRI results will determine whether or not this streak of good health will continue, though even if the tests are negative, the Mets could opt to give Soto a 10-day IL stint just as a precaution in order to let him fully heal up.

New York went into the season with a four-man rotation. Several off days allowed the club to skip the fifth starter spot during the first two weeks of the campaign. That left Gil on the outside looking in for a role on the Opening Day squad, and he was ultimately optioned to the minors. The 27-year-old righty made six appearances in MLB Spring Training. Tomorrow’s outing will be his first, and likely his only, with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The four-man approach went about as well as Boone could’ve hoped for to begin the year. The Yankees’ starting pitchers entered play on Saturday leading the league in ERA and ranking second in WHIP. The foursome of Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Ryan Weathers racked up five wins in seven tries. Weathers ran into some trouble against the Marlins tonight, but it’s still been a stellar start for the rotation.

After a handful of appearances in 2021 and 2022, Gil missed all of 2023 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He returned in 2024 and became an integral part of New York’s pitching staff. The righty notched a 3.50 ERA with a 26.8% strikeout rate across 29 starts. The performance was good enough to narrowly edge Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser for AL Rookie of the Year honors.

Gil went down with a lat strain shortly before the 2025 season. He was limited to 57 innings last year. Gil managed a 3.32 ERA, but his xFIP and SIERA were well above 5.00. His strikeout rate slipped to 16.8%, while his walk rate jumped to 13.5%, his worst mark since his 2021 debut.

The Yankees will need a roster move to add Gil to the 26-man roster. The demotion will almost certainly be a member of the nine-man bullpen. Jake Bird and Brent Headrick both have minor league options. So do Camilo Doval and Fernando Cruz, but they’re both key cogs of the late-inning group. Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest made the team in Gil’s spot. He’s yet to appear in a game this season. The lack of usage could suggest Winquest isn’t long for the club.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Frelick has started all eight of Milwaukee’s games so far. He walked and singled in the first game of today’s doubleheader against Kansas City. Even with the hit in the nightcap, he’s still hitting under .200 this year. Lockridge, Blake Perkins, and recent trade acquisition Luis Matos are candidates to pick up more reps if Frelick is forced to miss time.

The Brewers have dealt with a handful of key injuries early in the year. Outfielder Jackson Chourio began the campaign on the IL due to a fractured hand suffered in the World Baseball Classic. First baseman Andrew Vaughn went down with a hamate bone injury on Opening Day.

The pitching staff hasn’t been immune to the injury bug. Quinn Priester is working through a nerve issue in his shoulder. Craig Yoho is out with a strained calf. Rob Zastryzny was rehabbing a shoulder injury and suffered a setback. The veteran lefty reinjured himself and is headed back to Milwaukee for further testing, per Rosiak.

Zastryzny joined the organization on a minor league pact ahead of the 2024 season. He delivered a pristine 1.17 ERA in nine games with the club that year. Zastryzny bounced around last offseason, ultimately landing with the Yankees. He returned to the Brewers in a May 2025 trade. Zastryzny provided 22 innings of a 2.45 ERA last season.

Milwaukee doesn’t currently have a clear need for another lefty in the bullpen. Manager Pat Murphy has four at his disposal, with Jared Koenig and Angel Zerpa on hand for high-leverage spots and DL Hall and Aaron Ashby capable of covering multiple innings. The Brewers came into today’s action leading the league in bullpen xFIP and SIERA.

On a more positive note, prospect Cooper Pratt shared details about the decision to ink an eight-year, $50.75MM extension. The deal came as a surprise for multiple reasons, including Pratt’s inexperience and the fact that his agent, Scott Boras, isn’t known to pursue extensions. “They brought it up in spring training, and it just worked out to happen early into the season,” Pratt told reporters, including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But I feel like we made a good decision. I feel like, in my heart, I made a good decision.”

Pratt was the driving force behind the extension, and he convinced Boras by pointing out that the security of the contract would allow him to grow and develop with less pressure, relayed Hogg. “And when I heard that, we will end up with a better player on both sides, and a more advanced player and potentially a star-level player,” Boras said. “Which, then, will justify the contract concerns I have when you are essentially doing a contract like this that will have substantial economic benefits for the team and delay free agency.”

The Brewers took Pratt with a sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft. He posted a 123 wRC+ in his first full season of professional ball. The infielder spent last season at Double-A. Pratt slashed .238/.343/.348 in 120 games with Biloxi. He began the 2026 campaign at Triple-A. The news of the extension emerged a few games into Nashville’s season. “It’s not going to change anything on how I want to perform,” Pratt said. “I’m still going to want to go 5-for-5 every night. It’s just that thought in the back of your head disappears.”

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

Donovan has gotten off to a hot start in 2026, batting .370/.485/.667 across his first 33 plate appearances. Defensively, he has played all eight of his games at third base, though he’ll inevitably spend time around the diamond as the season goes on. The club recently signed infield prospect Colt Emerson to a record extension, and they will reportedly play him at third base when he gets called up. That said, the club immediately optioned him after signing the deal, so he can get more seasoning in the upper minors. A short-term Donovan absence wouldn’t change that plan, leaving Rivas as the likeliest candidate to fill in if needed.

A few other updates from around the division:

• Emerson’s extension happens to align with the end of shortstop J.P. Crawford‘s contract. The veteran is in the final year of the five-year, $51MM extension he inked in 2022. Crawford missed the first week of the season with a shoulder injury. Seattle did not opt to give Emerson the role while Crawford was sidelined, but he appears to be the heir apparent at the position. The incumbent is taking it in stride, though. “I congratulated him, wishing him nothing but the best,” Crawford told Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. “And he’s going to come up here and help us win ballgames. And that’s what we want at the end of the day, is to go win the World Series — and he will for sure help us do that. So I can’t wait to get him up here.” Crawford seemed to acknowledge his impending departure, calling 2026 the biggest year of his career.”I have the chance to make some money if I play well, and we’ll see what happens after that.”
• Angels reliever Ben Joyce is currently on the mend from May 2025 shoulder surgery, and Jack Janes of The Sporting Tribune reports that Joyce is throwing normal bullpen sessions without issue. However, it is unknown when he will start facing live hitters. Joyce is well known for his triple-digit fastball velocity, but his impact in the majors has been limited by injuries. The 2022 third-round draft pick has thrown 49 big-league innings from 2023-25 with a 3.12 ERA, a 21.0% strikeout rate, and an 11.4% walk rate. He had a 2.08 ERA and a massive 58.9% groundball rate in 2024, but he was less impressive in limited samples in the other two years. Joyce is expected back relatively early in the season, though he’ll need a rehab assignment after such a long layoff.
• Astros reliever Enyel De Los Santos is nearing a big-league return. The right-hander made consecutive Double-A appearances on Thursday and Friday. Manager Joe Espada called De Los Santos “close” to rejoining the Astros, relayed by Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. As Kawahara notes, getting De Los Santos back in the mix could create a difficult roster decision for Houston. Cody Bolton and Roddery Munoz are out of options. Bryan King, Ryan Weiss, Kai-Wei Teng, Steven Okert, and AJ Blubaugh are off to solid starts. Bryan Abreu obviously isn’t going anywhere. De Los Santos himself is out of options. The Astros also plan to go with a six-man rotation soon, which would trim down another reliever. That tweak could be Weiss moving into the rotation.

Photo courtesy of Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images

Postgame, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Katie Woo) that Betts would undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.  Regardless of the test results, Betts will miss at least the next couple of games to recover, and Roberts said they’ll have another player on hand in Washington for tomorrow’s game just in case Betts is placed on the injured list.

While more will be known once the MRI is completed, Roberts described Betts’ issue as “more moderate than significant.”  It therefore seems possible that Betts might be back in action after just a few days off.  The Dodgers don’t play on Thursday, so the team could potentially hold Betts out until Friday to fully evaluate his situation, though clubs can only backdate an IL placement by as many as three days.  An IL stint might be in the offing just to be cautious, as Los Angeles’ priority is obviously to keep the eight-time All-Star as healthy as possible for the full season and what the Dodgers expect to be another trip to the World Series.

Betts won his third ring with L.A. (and the fourth of his career) in 2025, though his offensive contributions were much more muted than normal.  Betts posted a career-low 104 wRC+ while hitting .258/.326/.406 with 20 homers over 663 plate appearances, though he made up for this relatively modest production with spectacular defense in his first full year as the Dodgers’ shortstop.

A flu-like virus in the early part of the season and then a minor toe fracture in May (that didn’t require an IL stint) may have contributed to Betts’ lack of hitting in 2025, though the limited offense has carried into the early part of the 2026 season.  Through today’s game with the Nats, Betts is hitting .179/.281/.429 with two home runs in 32 PA.

Even with Betts not heating up yet, the Dodgers are still 6-2 and look well on their way to another playoff appearance.  While Betts is out (for any length of time), Rojas and Alex Freeland will fill in at shortstop.  Hyeseong Kim is the likeliest candidate to be called up from Triple-A in the event of a Betts IL placement, as Kim would join Santiago Espinal as the utility infield options.

The recovery periods for such injured starters as Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios, and Shane Bieber will naturally factor into how Corbin is used in Toronto, as Schneider left open the possibility that the veteran could be used in more of a long relief role.  “We definitely view [Corbin] as a starter or a length option.  Until the dominoes start to fall back into place with Trey, José and Bieber, you look for length and how we can use it,” Schneider said.

If and when the Blue Jays get close to their full complement of starters healthy, Corbin is likely the odd man out of a rotation mix, so a bullpen role might eventually be in his future.  Using Corbin in the bullpen would also add some needed southpaw depth to Toronto’s relief corps, as left-handers Mason Fluharty and Brendon Little have both struggled badly in the early going in 2026.

More from around the AL East…

• Red Sox manager Alex Cora told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith and other reporters that Kutter Crawford is also slated to throw four simulated innings on Monday or Tuesday before beginning a minor league rehab assignment.  Crawford didn’t pitch in the majors or minors in 2025 due to both a lingering knee injury, and then wrist surgery.  Between Crawford and Patrick Sandoval (Tommy John surgery) both on the verge of rehab assignments, the Sox may soon have a good deal of rotation depth.  Boston already has five healthy starters in Garrett Crochet, Ranger Suarez, Sonny Gray, Brayan Bello, and Connelly Early, plus prospect Payton Tolle as another depth option.  As the cliche goes, however, a team can never have too much pitching, and Johan Oviedo is now a question mark as he battles an elbow strain.
• Ryan Pepiot threw a bullpen session on Friday, and Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times writes that the right-hander is expected back after the Rays’ April 6-12 homestand.  Pepiot wasn’t expected to miss too much time after he started the season on the 15-day IL with right hip inflammation, and he projects to be out for roughly a week beyond the minimum 15-day absence.  The 28-year-old Pepiot has been a solid part of Tampa’s rotation for two seasons, and the 2025 campaign saw him post a 3.86 ERA, a 24.6% strikeout rate, and a 9.0% walk rate over 167 2/3 innings.
• Also from Topkin, Edwin Uceta may be ready for a rehab assignment after tossing 22 pitches during an extended Spring Training game on Friday.  Like Pepiot, Uceta also started the season on the 15-day IL, as the reliever was bothered by a right shoulder impingement that kept him from any game action during the Rays‘ big league spring camp.

APRIL 3: Giants reliever José Buttó has a blood clot in his throwing arm, the team told reporters (via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). He’s undergoing a procedure this evening to remove it.

Buttó landed on the 15-day injured list yesterday. The team initially announced that only as arm fatigue. The clot provides a little more clarity, but there’s no return timeline. Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle relays that it appears Buttó had pitched through the issue for a while before the clot was diagnosed earlier today.

Blood clotting can be associated with thoracic outlet syndrome. That was the case for Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, for example. The Giants have not said anything about whether that’s a fear for Buttó. However, skipper Tony Vitello told Slusser there are a few possible procedures that the right-hander might undergo.

San Francisco acquired Buttó from the Mets as one of three players in the Tyler Rogers deal last summer. Blade Tidwell, another part of the Rogers return, was coincidentally recalled to take his place in the bullpen yesterday. Buttó turned in a 4.50 ERA across 20 innings down the stretch. He surrendered five runs on six hits and four walks over two innings to begin the 2026 season.

12:09PM: The Tigers announced that Justin Verlander has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 1) due to inflammation in his left hip.  Right-hander Keider Montero was called up from Triple-A Toledo to take Verlander’s spot on the 26-man roster.

The IL stint adds to a tough first week in Verlander’s return to Detroit.  The right-hander’s first start of the season saw Verlander last just 3 2/3 innings on Monday, and he gave up six hits and two homers to the Diamondbacks en route to being charged with five earned runs.  Verlander was slated to start against the Cardinals on Sunday, which would’ve marked his first home appearance in a Tigers uniform since August 2017.

While there isn’t yet any indication that the hip problem is particularly serious, it does add to the lengthy list of injuries that have piled up for Verlander in recent years, which isn’t surprising given how the righty is now in his age-43 season.  After missing almost all of the 2020-21 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, Verlander has been placed on the IL five times in the last four seasons.  He missed about five weeks in 2023 due to a teres major strain and a month of the 2025 season due to pectoral soreness, and the 2024 campaign saw Verlander limited to 90 1/3 innings because of shoulder inflammation and then a lingering neck injury.

Verlander has still logged 579 2/3 innings from 2022-25 — a very respectable total for any pitcher, let alone a hurler of Verlander’s age.  After winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2022, Verlander’s only truly rough year was his injury-plagued 2024 season, as he still posted a 3.85 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, and 7.9% walk rate over 152 innings for the Giants last year.

It was enough for Detroit to sign Verlander to a one-year, $13MM free agent contract in February, in a move that made sense for both nostalgic and practical reasons.  Reese Olson‘s shoulder surgery ended his 2026 season before it even began, opening the door for Verlander to slot into the back end of the Tigers’ rotation.

Montero will now fill that role for the time being, and the righty has been a serviceable swingman over his two MLB seasons, delivering a 4.57 ERA over 189 innings.  Montero has performed better as a starter (4.05 ERA in 144 1/3 IP) than as a reliever (6.25 ERA in 44 2/3 IP), and replicating that kind of rotation performance would be a great help for the Tigers in holding the fort until Verlander is back.

While the Tigers have a solid amount of rotation depth, that depth has already been tested between Olson’s surgery, Troy Melton‘s season-opening stint on the 60-day IL, Sawyer Gipson-Long is on the 15-day IL with an oblique strain, and now Verlander’s absence.  Melton and Jackson Jobe (who had a Tommy John surgery last June) are expected back before season’s end, and perhaps most importantly, the top four in Detroit’s rotation — Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Casey Mize, and Jack Flaherty — are all still healthy.

APRIL 3: The Red Sox announced a slate of roster moves Friday morning, including an ominous 15-day IL placement for right-hander Johan Oviedo, who’s been diagnosed with a right elbow strain. Right-hander Tyler Uberstine has been recalled from Triple-A Worcester and will be making his major league debut whenever he first gets into a game. Boston also placed righty Garrett Whitlock on the paternity list, where he can spend a maximum of three days. Right-hander Zack Kelly has been recalled in a corresponding move.

Oviedo, 28, came to Boston in the offseason trade that sent touted outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia to Pittsburgh. He was terrific through four spring starts (11 1/3 innings, two runs on eight hits and six walks with 14 strikeouts) before being tagged for six runs in his final spring tune-up. Oviedo’s official Red Sox debut was ugly, however; the Astros tagged him for four runs on six hits (including a pair of homers) and a walk in 3 2/3 innings of long relief.

More alarming than the bottom-line results was the pronounced decline in Oviedo’s velocity. He’s averaged better than 95 mph on his four-seamer in his big league career and sat 94.4 mph this spring as he built up for the season. His fastball averaged 93 mph flat in that outing against Houston. Oviedo’s velocity on all of his pitches was down across the board. Manager Alex Cora said after the game that the team was confident Oviedo was healthy (link via MassLive’s Christopher Smith).

“We had a conversation with him today and there’s a few things that the pitching department has noticed,” Cora said at the time, seemingly implying that the issue was mechanical rather than physical. Clearly, the team’s thinking has changed. Cora said this morning that Oviedo has undergone both x-rays and an MRI (via Ari Alexander of 7News). The MRI results are being compared to prior MRIs.

The Sox have yet to provide further updates on Oviedo. That the injury is termed a “strain” (indicating it pertains to a muscle or tendon) rather than a “sprain” (pertaining to a ligament) is perhaps a reason for some cautious optimism, though flexor tendon strains frequently require lengthy absences in their own right. Until the team provides further updates, all that’s known is that Oviedo will be shelved for at least the next 12 days. (IL stints can be backdated up to three days, so long as the player has not appeared in a game in that time; Oviedo last pitched on March 30.) It bears mentioning that Oviedo missed the entire 2024 season and much of the 2025 campaign due to Tommy John surgery performed in December of 2023.

Uberstine, 26, was added to the Red Sox’ 40-man roster this past November. He pitched 120 2/3 innings of 3.58 ERA ball between Double-A and Triple-A last season, striking out 26.9% of his opponents against an 8% walk rate. He’s worked in a variety of roles during his climb through the minors, pitching as a starter, as part of a piggyback tandem, in long relief and in short relief.

Back in February, the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey took a look at Uberstine’s remarkable journey to simply end up in pro ball. Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes did the same last August. Uberstine was barely used on his high school team, was turned away from both the club team and actual D-I team at USC as a sophomore, and wound up transferring to Northwestern simply hoping to land a spot on the fringe of the roster, as he’d missed being part of a team during his early time in college. Uberstine posted a 5.90 ERA in his final season at Northwestern and was the Red Sox’ 19th-round pick in 2021, signing for a $97K bonus. Fans of any club will want to check out those pieces from Healey and Pontes for a look at the determination that led to this morning’s promotion for Uberstine.

The 28-year-old Martin will be making his Major League debut whenever he is first used in a game.  The southpaw was a sixth-round pick for the Cubs in the 2021 draft, and he has pitched at the Triple-A level in each of the last four seasons.  Working almost exclusively as a reliever, Martin has a 3.88 ERA and an impressive 30.67% strikeout rate over 139 1/3 innings in Iowa, but with an inflated 15.57% walk rate.  Left-handed Triple-A batters contributed most of that damage, as Martin had significant reverse splits in both 2024 and 2025.

Baseball America ranked Martin 20th on its list of the top 30 Cubs prospects, while MLB Pipeline has the southpaw 28th on their top-30 ranking.  He relies almost entirely on a plus curveball that, as per Pipeline’s scouting report, “can be devastating at times and also lose some shape and miss the zone by wide margins at others.”  In general, Pipeline’s evaluation feels Martin “trades control for deception” in deploying an upright delivery to maximize the break on his pitches.

Chicago placed Martin on the 40-man roster last November in advance of the Rule 5 Draft, and the lefty will now take the next step into the big leagues for the first time.  Martin has often worked multiple innings out of the pen, giving the Cubs some extra length as they figure out how to manage Horton’s absence.  Swingman Colin Rea could be the top candidate for rotation work, Ben Brown is another candidate already on the active roster, or the Cubs might use both pitchers and other arms for a bullpen game or two until Rea is fully stretched out for a starting role.

San Francisco designated Fitzgerald for assignment earlier this week, and today’s deal officially ends a tenure that began when the Giants made Fitzgerald a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft.  He made his MLB debut in the form of 10 games in 2023, and seemingly had a breakout in 2024 when he hit .280/.334/.497 over 341 plate appearances.  Fitzgerald also hit 15 homers and stole 17 bases in 21 attempts, and he finished the season with a 132 wRC+ and 3.0 fWAR.

Perhaps the key statistic, however, was Fitzgerald’s .380 BABIP.  Reality may have sunk in last season, as Fitzgerald’s BABIP fell to a more standard .299, and his offensive production cratered.  Fitzgerald hit .217/.278/.327 over 243 PA in 2025, translating to a 72 wRC+.  The Giants used Fitzgerald as their regular starting second baseman in the early part of the season, but he was optioned to Triple-A in June, and played in only 15 MLB games after June 29 after being repeatedly called up and sent back down to the minors.

A left rib fracture sent Fitzgerald to the 10-day injured list for a little over two weeks at the start of May, which ended up being the demarcation line of his season.  Fitzgerald was hitting a respectable .284/.341/.432 in 90 PA before the IL trip, so he was never the same after his rib issue.

The Giants’ offseason signing of Luis Arraez to play second base assured that Fitzgerald would be a bench option at best in San Francisco this season.  The team started him at Triple-A to begin the season, and then decided to move on entirely via the DFA route.

The big majority of Fitzgerald’s MLB playing time has come at shortstop, but he has seen time at every position on the diamond except catcher.  This versatility makes him a useful depth option for a Blue Jays club that doesn’t really have a true backup infielder on their current 26-man roster.  Toronto has a set everyday infield of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ernie Clement, Andres Gimenez, and Kazuma Okamoto.  Davis Schneider and Addison Barger can respectively play second or third base when they’re not in the outfield, and Clement can be a backup shortstop if Schneider is at second base.

After the out-of-options Leo Jimenez was traded to the Marlins, Rafael Lantigua and prospect Josh Kasevich (both at Triple-A Buffalo) became Toronto’s top utility infield options, though neither player is on the 40-man roster.  Fitzgerald’s addition gives the Jays a player they can move back and forth between Triple-A and the bigs, as Fitzgerald has one more minor league option year remaining.

The Brew Crew designated Peralta for assignment earlier this week to open up a 40-man roster spot for the newly-acquired Luis Matos.  Peralta’s tenure with the Brewers will end after two Triple-A appearances and zero big league games, as Milwaukee just claimed Peralta off waivers from the Angels last October.

Appearing in each of the last three MLB seasons, Peralta’s resume in the Show consists of 30 appearances and 45 2/3 innings with the White Sox and Angels from 2023-25.  He has a 5.12 ERA, 17.3% strikeout rate, and 11.2% walk rate, and Peralta has averaged only 89.3mph on his fastball during his brief time in the majors.

Peralta drastically cut back on his fastball in 2025 and also cut back on his changeup usage, instead incorporating a sinker a third of the time and boosting his slider up to a 49% usage rate, without any real change in results.  While his ERA jumped from 4.80 in 2024 with the Sox to 7.59 with the Angels in 2025, Peralta’s underlying metrics didn’t change much, so his change in pitch repertoire didn’t have any impact on his performance either under the hood or in terms of bottom-line results.

Peralta routinely pitches multiple innings in relief, making him a useful depth option for the Rockies’ bullpen.  Brennan Bernardino is also the only left-hander in Colorado’s current relief mix, which could give Peralta some extra opportunity to stick with the team if and when he is eventually called up from Triple-A.

Brown started the season on Colorado’s 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation, and the move to the 60-day IL ensures that his 2026 debut won’t come until at least the last week of May.  2025 marked Brown’s first taste of the big leagues, as he posted a 7.36 ERA over 25 2/3 innings and seven starts for the Rockies.

Kirk exited last night’s game against the White Sox in the tenth inning after taking an Austin Hays foul tip off his thumb. Tyler Heineman took over behind the plate, and Kirk was promptly sent for X-rays. Although the results weren’t known until this morning, some kind of IL placement was expected for Kirk. In the end, the X-rays revealed the fracture as well as a dislocation, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Kirk will meet with a specialist on Monday to determine whether surgery is necessary. Based on similar injuries, the Jays can expect to lose Kirk for at least six to eight weeks if he undergoes surgery.

Any extended absence would be a blow to the Jays as they look to make another deep postseason run. The team is currently 4-3 and in second place in the AL East, although they’ve been outscored by their opponents 33-31. In addition, Kirk is arguably the team’s second-most valuable player behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. After below-average offensive seasons in 2023-24, he rebounded last year to post a 116 wRC+ along with career highs in home runs (15) and runs batted in (76). The 116 wRC+ was more in line with his 110 career wRC+ and makes him well above average for a catcher. Indeed, Kirk’s 4.7 fWAR was second only to AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh at that position.

As good as his offense is, Kirk is also an otherworldly defender. He was worth 9 Defensive Runs Saved in 2025, which tied for third among qualified catchers behind the Giants’ Patrick Bailey and the Red Sox’ Carlos Narváez. According to Statcast, he graded out in the 100th percentile in blocks above average (21) and in the 98th percentile for framing. While his caught stealing and pop time are closer to average, those are very minor points in what is otherwise an outstanding defensive profile. Altogether, Kirk was the second most-valuable defensive catcher in the majors last year, based on Statcast’s Fielding Run Value metric.

Further updates will come after Monday’s visit with the specialist. Obviously, the club will hope that surgery is not needed and that Kirk’s absence will be kept to a minimum. In the meantime, Toronto will rely on Heineman and Valenzuela behind the plate.

Heineman is purely a backup at this stage of his career, but the club may give him the lion’s share of starts in the short term. His offense last year was surprisingly strong, with Heineman posting a 120 wRC+ in 174 plate appearances. That was far off from his career norms and partly the product of good luck, as evidenced by his .342 batting average on balls in play. On the other hand, Heineman accrued 10 DRS behind the plate, and he ranked in the 80th percentile or better for blocks, caught stealing, and framing. Thus, even if his offense regresses, his defense should help him out as a temporary starting catcher.

As for Valenzuela, the 25-year-old was acquired in a trade with the Padres last July and is one of Toronto’s top 30 prospects according to MLB.com. The team added him to the 40-man roster in November. Manager John Schneider said yesterday that Valenzuela would be called up if Kirk needed to miss time. That has now come to pass, and Valenzuela will get his first taste of the big leagues.

Valenzuela participated in major-league Spring Training this year and performed admirably, batting .304/.370/.478 with a home run and three runs scored in 27 plate appearances. He first reached Triple-A in 2024 with the Padres and returned to that level following his trade to the Blue Jays. Valenzuela was slightly above average at Double-A, though his performance at Triple-A has not been quite as strong. That’s largely due to contact issues. In 105 PA with Toronto’s top affiliate last year, he struck out at a 30.5% clip and graded out 23% worse than average by wRC+. He has shown some improvement early in 2026, cutting his strikeout rate to 17.6%. Still, his offense hasn’t been his strong suit at the top level of the minors.

Rather, Valenzuela’s value comes from his work behind the plate. His MLB.com scouting report gives him well-above-average arm strength and control of the running game. He has a 33.8% caught-stealing rate since the start of 2024, including a 35.7% rate at Triple-A, and he is also noted for his ability to work with a pitching staff. His offense may keep him from being a big-league starting catcher, but his glovework gives him a decent ceiling as a backup. For now, Heineman’s stronger recent offense probably gives him the starting job. Valenzuela has three option years remaining and could easily return to Triple-A when Kirk eventually returns.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images

Paez had never pitched beyond the high-A level before he made his Major League debut for the Southsiders on March 26.  Unfortunately for Paez, his first taste of the Show didn’t go smoothly, as he was charged with three runs in two of his three outings.  The end result was an 18.00 ERA over three total innings of work, with two homers and two walks allowed without any strikeouts.

Rebuilding teams like the White Sox often view the R5 as a way of taking fliers on young talent, and Chicago’s addition of Shane Smith in the 2024 Rule 5 Draft is a prime example of how much selections can pay off in a big way.  The much more common result, of course, is that players taken from the lower minors like Paez often struggle after the big jump up to facing MLB talent.  Since Rule 5 picks must stay on their new team’s active roster for the entire season in order for their rights to be officially secured, the White Sox felt giving Paez more opportunities over the next six months wasn’t going to help his development.

Paez now returns to Boston’s organization, and is likely ticketed for high-A ball or Double-A.  The 22-year-old is still an interesting prospect to keep an eye on down the road, as Paez has shown outstanding command while posting a 3.22 ERA over 307 2/3 career minor league innings.

Jackson debuted with the Rangers in 2015 and has played in parts of 10 big-league seasons through 2025. He spent 2017-21 with the Braves but underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2022, causing him to miss that season. He returned with the Giants in 2023 and split the following year between San Francisco and a return trip to Atlanta. He became more of a journeyman in 2025, pitching 51 innings over 52 appearances with the Rangers, Tigers, and Mariners. He had a 4.06 ERA overall but finished strong with a 2.38 ERA in 11 1/3 innings for the Mariners. He also appeared three times for Seattle in the postseason, allowing one earned run in three innings.

The 34-year-old peaked with 18 saves and 1.3 fWAR for the Braves in 2019. He has not been especially dominant in the years since, but he has managed to stick around thanks to his talent for inducing groundballs. Since that 2019 season, Jackson has never posted a groundball rate below 50%. His 51.1% mark since the start of 2023 puts him in the top 20% of qualified relievers. That ability has helped him withstand a decline in velocity as well as a below-average walk rate as he pitches into his mid-30s. His strikeout rate also fell to 17.4% in 2025, although he has rebounded in that area before. Indeed, a look at his stats page shows a pattern of below-average strikeout seasons followed by a few above-average years.

Given his experience, it wouldn’t be a surprise for the Mets to select his contract at some point. With Devin Williams and Luke Weaver handling the late innings, the low and medium-leverage bullpen spots are covered by Huascar Brazobán, Tobias Myers, Richard Lovelady, and Sean Manaea. The latter has been a starter throughout his career and could regain that role in mid-April as the Mets shift to a six-man rotation. That would leave them with one less bullpen spot, so Jackson’s likeliest path to the roster is by replacing one of the other three relievers. Lovelady has been designated for assignment three times since September, including twice by the Mets. He could be the odd man out in a Jackson call-up, given his rough start to the year.

Photo courtesy of John Froschauer, Imagn Images