Mining the News (9/10/26)

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• Like here with Boston, teams are adjusting their rotations daily, with some guys getting starts skipped or limited. Payoff-bound teams are bringing starters back early and letting them throw a few innings. All that to say, don’t count on pitchers “scheduled” five or more days into the future. Something will come up.

Tanner Houck and Johan Oviedo are two other injured Red Sox pitchers who might yet have roles to play in the 2026 campaign, as McCaffrey said the duo are expected to begin minor league rehab assignments before the end of next week. Houck underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2025, while Oviedo pitched in one game in March before a flexor strain sent him to the 60-day injured list.

American League

Orioles

• Tyler O’Neill is done for the season.

Outfielder Tyler O’Neill is unlikely to return this season. O’Neill’s right shoulder injury is “a pretty significant injury,” Albernaz said. “It’s not responding the way he hoped.”

Rangers

• Nathan Eovaldi will return in the bullpen and hope to stretch out to four to five innings before the season ends.

Despite what the numbers say this year, Eovaldi would be a serious upgrade to the Rangers pitching staff in whatever role that may be. And he has an idea about that.

“I feel my best usage would be out of the ‘pen,” Eovaldi said on Sunday. “Again, I don’t know how they want to manage it, but I possibly could squeeze in two starts at maybe four or five innings as opposed to pitching effectively and helping bridge to get to where we need to be.”

He might be worth an add for a single start in the final week.

Twins

• Connor Prielipp’s role is unknown at the moment.

As [Joe] Ryan steps back into the rotation, the Twins haven’t yet announced what they’re planning to do with rookie Connor Prielipp, whose innings they’re attempting to limit. Ryan’s workload will clearly be limited as he’s only now returning, which sets up the possibility for a piggyback with Prielipp.

Prielipp has thrown 122 2/3 combined innings this season between Triple A and the majors, 40 more than his professional high. With that much of an increase, the Twins don’t want to push Prielipp, who has undergone two Tommy John elbow surgeries.

Earlier, I recommended him as add, but now I’m unsure.

Yankees

• The team expects Aaron Judge’s Bat Speed to be off.

Judge also wasn’t able to perform over-the-head movements for a while as his rib recovered, which kept him out of the weight room. It’s unclear whether he’ll return with his usual power and tremendous bat speed.

“Even if it’s a tick off,” Judge said Aug. 27 regarding his bat speed, “I think it’s still better than nothing.”

A point in Judge’s favor? He didn’t play in any rehab games when he missed nearly two months with a toe injury in 2023, and he posted a .965 OPS over his final 57 games.

National League

Braves

• After coming off the IL, Tyler Mahle cleaned up his repertoire and became a better pitcher.

“He added some pitches in San Francisco, which I don’t think is a bad plan, but it didn’t work for him,” Braves pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “Once he came back from the hamstring injury, he went back to who he is: four-seam cutter and splitter.”

That checks out. Before being sidelined for almost a month with a left hamstring strain on May 29, Mahle was throwing his slider, which he relied on as a chase pitch, 9.7 percent of the time. Hitters weren’t chasing, with 53.3 percent of his sliders resulting in balls and generating only 13 whiffs on 129 pitches.

Since being activated June 24, Mahle eliminated his sinker while reducing his slider to just 3.3 percent. Instead, he’s homed in on his four-seam fastball. This season, batters are hitting .218 against the heater with a 27.7 strikeout percentage. While his fastball averages 92.7 mph, in the 23rd percentile, his command builds success.

Diamondbacks

• Corbin Burnes should be throwing five to six innings by season’s end.

Lovullo said that Burnes would probably be able to get to 60 pitches in his next start, a 3-5-inning range depending on his efficiency.

The D-backs talked about starting Burnes last Friday for three innings and 45 pitches but opted to build him up a bit more.

General manager Mike Hazen told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta last week that Burnes building up to five or six innings by the end of the season would be a realistic goal.

Dodgers

• Edgardo Henríquez has made several changes throughout the season.

Enter Henríquez, arguably the most underrated Dodgers pitcher this season, who brought his ERA down to 2.65 while closing out Sunday’s win. That came on the heels of a perfect seventh inning Friday in which he struck out two batters and threw his five hardest pitches of the season, all above 103.5 miles per hour. The hardest topped out at 104.5 miles per hour, tied for the third-hardest pitch thrown this year.

“Just a confident throw,” Roberts said that evening. “Last year you could see him being a little too fine with his fastball, the breaking ball I don’t think he had confidence throwing it to left-handed hitters which now … he’s getting more swing-and-miss as any of our right-handed pitchers against lefties. The strikeout is there obviously with the velocity. He’s earned his way onto the trust tree.”

Henríquez has made some mechanical changes throughout the course of the season, emphasizing his slider more and his curveball less.

“I think I started doing a better job of controlling my weight and mechanics, and just tried to move forward,” Henríquez said through team interpreter Juan Dorado. “Trying to center my pitching motion and go forward.”