Mining the News (5/30/25)

American League

Astros

• Jake Meyers spent the offseason reworking his swing.

Meyers didn’t get here by accident. He went to work in the offseason to retool his swing, which included the addition of a leg kick and a small tweak in his mechanics. Working with hitting coach Troy Snitker and his father, Paul Meyers, who played five seasons in the Minor Leagues in the Giants’ organization, he returned to the basics.

“It’s just more natural,” Meyers said of his batting stance in an interview earlier this week with MLB.com’s Brian Murphy. “That’s kind of how I hit growing up. And I think it’s more comfortable for me, and it’s one less thing to think about and try to analyze, and just let me go out there and compete.”

A closer look at the numbers reveals Meyers is striking out less and walking more. He’s hitting the ball harder and is chasing pitches out of the zone less. He’s also no longer just a fastball hitter, either. He’s squaring up breaking pitches.

Good results will happen (.646 OPS to .760 OPS) when your Contact% (74% to 81%) and Avg Exit Velocity (88.2 mph to 88.7 mph) both increase.

Blue Jays

• José Berríos’s fastball velocity is free-falling.

Mariners

• The plan is to have George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Bryce Miller on a six-day rotation for a few weeks.

Kirby will operate on a six-day routine for at least the next week or two, and Gilbert and Miller will join him on that schedule when they return.
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“We try to keep guys on a six-day routine,” Mariners director of pitching strategy Trent Blank said. “We try to give them something consistent, because we are moving other things. So the one thing I would keep consistent is the amount of rest they have in between, and we’re building the other things around it, but just create sole stability for them.”
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“If you take 32 or 33 starts in a season, you’re not really on a five-man rotation,” Dipoto said. “There might be five times where you’re starting on the fifth day. More often you’re starting on the sixth day. So if you bake in a six-man rotation, then everybody’s getting two days of rest.”

• Logan Gilbert should return to the rotation on June 10th.

Gilbert is expected to pitch at least a second rehab outing, too, and remain on a six-day routine for the foreseeable future. That’d put his soonest possible return as June 10 at Arizona, if all goes well.

“How much volume he needs to build in the Minor Leagues will be determined based on how he feels and how it goes,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said in a wide-ranging organizational injury update before Seattle’s series opener vs. the Nationals on Tuesday.

• Bryce Miller pitches with a bone spur in his elbow.

Miller, who also threw a sim game in Houston, joined Gilbert on Monday and said that he “felt good” after his bullpen session. Hollander said that Miller will be activated at some point on this homestand, which runs through June 5.

He also elaborated on the root cause of Miller’s injury, sharing that the right-hander is dealing with a spur in the back of his pitching elbow.

Rangers

• Nathan Eovaldi pitched through tricep fatigue for a few games.

With the Rangers’ offense continuing its season-long struggles, a starting pitching injury is the last thing they need. So there was understandable panic when Nathan Eovaldi reported right triceps fatigue on Tuesday night in the middle of his start against the Blue Jays.
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The club announced that Eovaldi was removed as a precaution and is not expected to miss time due to the issue, but he will continue to be evaluated in the coming days. Eovaldi’s velocity was down less than a tick, but nothing to be overly worried about.
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“It’s been going on for the last few games or so, but we’ve been able to manage it,” Eovaldi said. “Today just felt a lot tighter. … [Pitching coach Mike Maddux] does a great job of paying attention to what we’re doing, what we got going on, and just being honest with everybody. Ultimately, he kind of made that decision for me. It’s a good thing for us. We got a lot of season left, and we want to make sure that we stay healthy.”

Eovaldi said his concern level isn’t super high at the moment, but he’s aware of how many pitches and innings he’s thrown at this point of the season. Getting a few extra days should help him get back on track and on the mound again soon.

Red Sox

• The team plans on running more.

But as the Red Sox lineup deals with the loss of Alex Bregman, the club’s second significant injury of the month, Cora stressed that Boston needed to put an increased focus on moving runners over to steer itself out of its current funk.

“Putting pressure [on] running the bases is going to help us,” Cora said before Monday’s series opener with the Brewers. “First and second, move guys over, contact plays, do all that stuff. … It’s a different brand of baseball. It’s a different roster. We are who we are right now.”

Twins

• Matt Wallner will be joining the team on Friday.

After he played nine innings in right field Tuesday at Triple-A St. Paul, Wallner was scheduled to play nine innings as the Saints’ designated hitter Wednesday and nine more in right field Thursday. If he completes the run without a setback, Wallner, who has been out since April 16 with a left hamstring strain, could join the Twins when they open a three-game series in Seattle on Friday.

White Sox

• Adrian Houser found a way to add 1.5 mph of fastball velocity.

There is a reason for Houser’s success. During the offseason, he went to Edmond, Okla., and worked at a place called Pitching WRX, a data driven company that helps pitchers improve their skills on the mound.

“They identified some things and they were able to get my arm strength stronger.” Houser said. “So with a combination of being good with the mechanics and better arm strength, it’s starting to play up.”

National League

Braves

• Alex Verdugo (vs RHP) and Eli White (vs LHP) form a left-field platoon.

But White bats right-handed and Verdugo bats left-handed, and that’s why the Braves aren’t focusing on the small-sample stats and decided to go with a straight platoon in left field, at least for the time being. White had performed ably as the most recent fill-in right fielder before Acuña returned from the injured list Friday.

Snitker said he would start White in left field against lefty pitchers. Verdugo will be in left field against righties, as he was for all three games against the Padres.

“Honestly, I’m not going to rule out anything,” Snitker said. “But my plan when we got Ronald (back) was, it’s gonna obviously push Eli off of right field. And I think I felt like we’d have kind of a good right-left option in left” with Verdugo and White.

Diamondbacks

• Eduardo Rodriguez will stay in the rotation when he returns from the IL.

Manager Torey Lovullo said pregame that the idea of using the struggling Rodriguez (7.05 ERA) — an accomplished veteran in Year 2 of an $80 million contract and the lone lefty in the rotation — as a reliever has not come up behind closed doors.

Rodriguez threw three innings and 55 pitches in a simulated game over the weekend and will toss a bullpen on Tuesday. He is expected to need one more rehab outing, so Nelson is in line to make his next start on Sunday against the Washington Nationals.

Dodgers

• Shohei Ohtani was sitting at 95 mph the last time he faced batters …

Ohtani’s fastball sat around 95 mph and touched 97 mph, pitching coach Mark Prior said. That was harder than Ohtani said he wanted to throw but an example of the adrenaline from being back on the mound. Ohtani used his entire pitch mix, incorporating a pair of sweepers to go with an array of fastballs, sinkers, cutters and splitters.

… which is about 2 mph more than he wants to be throwing.

“I am aware that I do throw a little harder when there is a hitter in the box,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I try to keep it 93-94, but I know I was touching ‘6 and ‘7s, which I wanted to not do. But it’s a good sign that I could hit that.”

Over his career, Ohtani has averaged 96.4 mph on his fastball.

Giants

• Jerar Encarnacion is slotted into the first base job when he returns from the IL.

With Wilmer Flores supplying steady production out of the DH spot, Encarnacion could see more time at first base when he returns to the Majors, especially since the Giants have gotten an MLB-low .186 batting average and .322 slugging percentage out of the position this year.

The paltry numbers are largely the result of a prolonged slump from LaMonte Wade Jr., who is hitting only .161/.270/.263 with one home run over 47 games in 2025. Casey Schmitt got the start at first base over Wade against right-hander Jack Flaherty on Tuesday, which Melvin hoped would give Wade a bit of a mental reset amid his tough start to the year.

Pirates

• Braxton Ashcraft will be a multi-inning reliever.

It’s an exciting day for an exciting pitcher, the No. 7 prospect in the Pirates’ system according to MLB Pipeline. Ashcraft has struck out 56 over 48 1/3 innings in his 10 Triple-A starts this year, but for now, the 25-year-old right-hander will be pitching out of the bullpen.

“He was pitching well down in Indy, obviously one of our big prospects,” manager Don Kelly said. “Love what he brings to the team. Does not mean he’s not going to be a starter down the road, but just right now, felt like it was a good opportunity to bring him up, use him in a bulk role and help us win some games.”