Yankees Place Trent Grisham On 10-Day IL
The Yankees have placed outfielder Trent Grisham on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain, the team announced. Fellow outfielder Jasson Domínguez, whom the Yankees reinstated from the 10-day IL, will take Grisham’s roster spot.
Grisham suffered the injury sliding into second base in a loss to the Blue Jays on Friday, forcing him to leave early. The Yankees brought in Max Schuemann to play right field and shifted Spencer Jones to center to replace Grisham. They are now down two starting outfielders, having lost superstar right fielder Aaron Judge to a stress fracture in his rib earlier this month. Judge will not be back until at least August, while the length of Grisham’s absence will depend on the severity of his strain.
More to come…
Garrett Crochet Unlikely To Return Before All-Star Break
Garrett Crochet spoke to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other reporters Friday about his health status, though the left-hander still didn’t have any clear timeline about when he might return to the Red Sox rotation. “I think it would take a huge leap to say I’d be back before” the All-Star break, Crochet said, as “I think that would be really rushing it” given that his rehab process will now have to be essentially restarted in the aftermath of a lat strain.
Crochet tossed six shutout innings on April 25 and was then (retroactively) placed on the 15-day injured list the next day due to left shoulder inflammation. After about a month on the sidelines, Crochet had progressed to facing live batters before the lat strain resulted in a throwing shutdown that has now lasted over two weeks.
The lat strain is now no longer a real issue, and Crochet said he is “getting close to throwing.” Understandably, the southpaw is frustrated “that I’ve been out this long” due to a confluence of two relatively minor injuries that overlapped at just about the most inconvenient time.
The best-case scenario would have Crochet ready to go when the second half begins on July 17, as the Red Sox face the Rays in a doubleheader. It remains to be seen if that twin bill may have much impact on the AL East race, as 12.5 games currently separate the division-leading Rays from the Sox at the bottom of the division standings. Boston is looking like a trade deadline seller as things stand now, and not having Crochet for several more weeks will make it even harder for the Red Sox to climb back into contention.
Between Crochet’s injury absence and Brayan Bello pitching so poorly that was optioned to Triple-A last week, the emergency of Connelly Early and Payton Tolle have been a godsend to the Sox rotation. With Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray also pitching well, the rotation hasn’t been much of an issue, at least not in comparison to the offensive woes that have been Boston’s biggest Achilles heel.
Braves Place Spencer Strider On 15-Day Injured List
The Braves announced that right-hander Spencer Strider has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. Right-hander Anthony Molina was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding 26-man roster move.
The placement comes a day after Strider was removed during the fourth inning of Friday’s 7-5 loss to the Mets. Strider was charged with seven runs over his three innings (plus one batter) of work, and he was visited on the mound by a team trainer after walking MJ Melendez to begin the fourth inning.
During the game, the Braves said Strider’s departure was due to soreness in both his right elbow and shoulder. Manager Walt Weiss told MLB.com’s Matthew Ritchie and other reporters post-game that Strider would undergo an MRI, and the fact that Strider has been immediately placed on the IL likely isn’t a good sign.
After an All-Star season in 2023, Strider’s emergence as a homegrown ace of the Braves rotation has been dimmed by multiple injuries. An internal brace surgery sidelined him for almost all of the 2024 season and the first few weeks of the 2025 campaign, and then Strider quickly picked up a hamstring strain that led to another month on the shelf. This season, Strider strained his oblique during Spring Training and didn’t make his 2026 debut until May 3.
Strider has a 5.31 ERA over eight starts and 39 innings in 2026. While his 4.09 SIERA is considerably better than his ERA and Friday’s outing can probably be chalked up to injury, Strider hasn’t really looked like his old self. Strider’s strikeout rate is an impressive 27.9% but he is walking a lot of batters (12.1BB%) and has allowed nine home runs over his small sample size of work. The elite fastball velocity that Strider showed pre-UCL surgery hasn’t returned, as his four-seamer is averaging a modest 95.1mph this year.
Strider’s inconsistency has been one of the few down notes during an otherwise superb year for the Braves, who lead the majors with a 45-24 record. Some early-season injuries thinned Atlanta’s rotation depth and that may be a question again now that Strider is again on the IL, yet the Braves are now in better position to fill a hole in the starting five. JR Ritchie threw five shutout innings in relief of Strider last night and might simply be bumped up to rotation duty, or Reynaldo Lopez could again be stretched out to be a starting pitcher.
Hurston Waldrep was also activated from the 60-day IL yesterday and optioned to Triple-A, as Waldrep continues to build up arm strength after undergoing a February surgery to remove loose bodies from his throwing elbow. Spencer Schwellenbach underwent a similar surgery at the same time but isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break. AJ Smith-Shawver should be back around the same time assuming no setbacks in the righty’s recovery from a June 2025 Tommy John surgery.
Brewers Place Coleman Crow On 15-Day IL Due To Flexor Strain
The Brewers placed right-hander Coleman Crow on the 15-day injured list on Friday (retroactive to June 10) due to right forearm flexor strain. Right-hander Craig Yoho was called up from Triple-A Nashville in the corresponding move.
The severity of the strain isn’t yet known, and the lighter variety of such flexor injuries would see Crow return to action in under a month. Beyond that best-case scenario, it isn’t out of the question that Crow’s 2026 season could be in jeopardy, especially given his past history of arm troubles. A Tommy John surgery cost Crow almost all of the 2023-24 seasons, and he was limited to 50 minor league innings in 2025 due to hip problems and another flexor strain.
It seemed like Crow had put his injury woes behind him when the righty made his MLB debut earlier this season. Crow has been called up to the majors three times in his rookie year — twice to make spot starts, and his last three appearances have consisted of two starts and a two-inning relief outing. This appearance out of the pen last Tuesday marked Crow’s last game before his flexor strain surfaced.
Crow has a 5.30 ERA and a tiny 11.8% strikeout rate to show for his 18 2/3 innings in the big leagues. On the plus side, his walk rate is a solid 7.1%, and his ERA was somewhat inflated by a particularly rough outing (six ER over 2 1/3 innings) against the Giants on June 4. While Crow’s time in the majors is a small sample size, the lack of punchouts is unusual considering the righty’s much more respectable 25.39K% over 299 1/3 career minor league frames in the Angels and Brewers farm systems.
Milwaukee has soared to a 42-25 record despite a number of pitching injuries, and Crow’s absence removes another rotation candidate from the mix. Brandon Woodruff (shoulder inflammation) has started a minor league rehab assignment and is expected to be back sometime in June, while Logan Henderson (back strain) is still a few weeks away. Quinn Priester‘s status remains up in the air, as the right-hander again had his rehab assignment put on hold as Priester continues to struggle in his recover from thoracic outlet syndrome.
Jacob Misiorowski‘s brilliance has helped carry the shorthanded Brewers rotation, and Kyle Harrison has also looked great in his first season in Milwaukee. Brandon Sproat has at least contributed 60 innings but with a 5.70 ERA, and Robert Gasser has a 6.38 ERA over 18 1/3 frames as a starter this season. Shane Drohan is slated to make his fourth start of the season today, and the rookie southpaw has looked pretty good in delivering a 3.11 ERA, 24% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate in his first 37 2/3 innings in the big leagues (with 10 bullpen appearances along with his three starts).
The situation should improve itself once Woodruff and Henderson are back, and it could be that Crow’s flexor strain isn’t too serious. The Brewers have a knack for finding and developing rotation help from within, but if depth is still an issue in a month’s time, Milwaukee could consider adding a veteran innings-eater at the trade deadline.
The Opener: Misiorowski, Alvarez, Skubal
The Marlins are baseball’s hottest team, as a six-game winning streak has brought Miami back to a .500 (35-35) record. Friday’s 8-3 win over the Pirates saw Sandy Alcantara allow five runs and a walk over eight innings of three-run ball, while striking out seven. Alcantara’s impressive start included his 1000th career strikeout, with 992 of those punchouts coming in a Marlins uniform. Ricky Nolasco is Miami’s all-time strikeout leader with 1001, so Alcantara figures to set a new franchise record perhaps as early as his next start.
1. Miz’s masterpiece
Jacob Misiorowski‘s dream season continued with one of the best pitching performances in recent memory, as the Brewers ace faced the minimum 27 batters in a 6-0 shutout of the Phillies on Friday. Kyle Schwarber‘s fourth-inning single made him the only Philadelphia batter to reach base, and Misiorowski quickly extinguished the threat by inducing Bryce Harper to hit into a double play. Misiorowski recorded 15 strikeouts and needed only 94 pitches to finish his complete-game gem, and an absurd 58 of those pitches reached or topped the 100mph threshold. Misiorowski has a 1.34 ERA over 14 starts and 87 innings this season, and he has been charged with just one earned run over his last 54 1/3 IP.
2. Yordan goes yard twice
If Misiorowski’s pitching numbers look like something out of a video game, Yordan Alvarez is posting his share of unreal statistics on the offensive side. The Houston slugger is hitting .321/.433/.659 with over 305 plate appearances, and his 24 home runs are tied with Schwarber for the Major League lead. Alvarez’s 23rd and 24th homers came in the first inning of Friday’s 10-8 Astros win over the Royals, as Alvarez also became the first batter in Astros history to record six RBI in one inning.
3. Skubal returns
For the first time since April 29, Tarik Skubal will take the mound for the Tigers. The reigning two-time AL Cy Young Award winner is set to be activated from the 15-day injured list for today’s key AL Central game against the Guardians, capping off what seems to be a remarkable recovery. Skubal was expected to miss at least a couple of months after he underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his throwing elbow, but the use of the new “NanoNeedle” scope during the procedure appears to have shaved several weeks off of Skubal’s recovery time. While the Tigers are still just 29-41, Detroit has a 7-3 record in June, and the returns of both Skubal and Casey Mize from the IL create some hope that the Tigers can continue to dig themselves out of their early-season hole. And, if not, Skubal suddenly becomes the biggest trade chip in baseball heading into the deadline.
Chase Dollander Expected To Undergo UCL Surgery
The Rockies provided a brutal injury update on Friday night. Manager Warren Schaeffer tells Kevin Henry of The Denver Gazette that Chase Dollander is expected to require surgery to repair UCL damage in his elbow. The Rox haven’t finalized those plans yet, as Schaeffer indicated the righty has one more pre-operation appointment in the coming days.
Dollander has been out since the middle of May with an elbow sprain. They transferred him to the 60-day IL this afternoon when they promoted Sean Sullivan. Schaeffer indicated that while the team was initially optimistic that Dollander could avoid surgery, the injury hasn’t healed as they hoped.
It’s about as bad a development as the Rockies could have. Dollander is arguably the most player in the organization. The ninth overall pick in the 2023 draft, he has the highest ceiling of any pitcher on the club. Dollander struggled with Coors Field as a rookie. He had seemingly figured things out in year two, working to a 3.89 ERA while striking out a quarter of opponents across 44 innings.
The Rockies used Dollander behind an opener early in the season. They had moved him into a more traditional rotation role shortly before the injury. Dollander had a couple clunkers — most notably a six-run outing against Atlanta on May 2 — but was clearly Colorado’s best starting pitcher. His four-seam fastball and sinker were both in the 98-99 mph range as he got swinging strikes on 12% of his offerings.
It was too small a sample to know if Dollander had truly arrived as a top-of-the-rotation arm. He’s the only Colorado pitcher who has anything close to that kind of ceiling. Assuming he undergoes surgery, he’ll be done for the rest of this season and a good portion of next year. An internal brace procedure usually comes with a 12-14 month return timeline. If he requires a full Tommy John reconstruction, there’s a chance he’ll miss the entire ’27 season.
The Rockies are trending toward a fourth straight 100-loss season. They’re very unlikely to be competitive next year either. The development of young players like Dollander is the primary focus for the Colorado fanbase as they remain near the nadir of their rebuild.
Dollander is under club control for the next six seasons, barring changes to the service time structure in the next collective bargaining agreement. He’ll collect an MLB salary and service time while he’s on the injured list. Colorado will need to carry him on the 40-man roster over the offseason but can place him back on the 60-day IL when Spring Training begins next year.
The Rox have arguably the worst rotation in MLB for a second straight year. Kyle Freeland, Tomoyuki Sugano, Michael Lorenzen and Jose Quintana are all going to hit free agency. Ryan Feltner will be back if he’s tendered an arbitration contract. Tanner Gordon, McCade Brown, Gabriel Hughes and Sullivan are also among those on the 40-man roster. They all profile as back-end or organizational depth types. They’ll need to completely overhaul the rotation next winter while trying to acquire any kind of controllable pitching in their deadline approach.
Weston Wilson Elects Free Agency
The Orioles announced that utility player Weston Wilson elected free agency. Baltimore designated him for assignment last week when they selected catcher Sam Huff onto the MLB roster. Wilson cleared waivers and was outrighted for the second time in his career, which allowed him to test the market.
Wilson had spent the last two months on Baltimore’s MLB roster. He got some work at third base, mostly against left-handed pitching. Wilson tallied 46 plate appearances, hitting .231/.348/.333 with one home run. He worked six walks against 11 strikeouts. It was a decent enough showing for a bench player, but Baltimore needed to carry a third catcher with Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo nursing minor injuries.
The 31-year-old Wilson is out of options, so the O’s needed to send him through waivers. It stands to reason they’d like to bring him back on a minor league contract, though he’ll have the opportunity to explore other opportunities. Basallo and Rutschman have both returned to the lineup over the last two games, so the O’s theoretically could reverse the weekend transaction and sign Wilson to a big league deal.
Before this season, Wilson’s MLB experience came exclusively in Philadelphia. He played three years for the Phillies as an up-and-down platoon bat, hitting .242/.328/.428 across 245 trips to the plate. Wilson was mostly a corner outfielder with the Phils despite Baltimore using him most frequently on the dirt.
Giants To Use Caleb Kilian As Closer
The Giants have named Caleb Kilian their closer, manager Tony Vitello told reporters before tonight’s game against the Cubs (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). They had used a committee approach but is moving to stricter roles in what has become a problematic bullpen.
San Francisco inexplicably made almost no moves of consequence to improve the bullpen over the winter. They had one of the better relief groups in MLB for the first half of the 2025 season. They traded Camilo Doval and impending free agent Tyler Rogers at the deadline. That opened the ninth inning for Randy Rodríguez, then amidst a breakout All-Star season. He blew out in September and required Tommy John surgery, making the bullpen a clear area of need going into the offseason.
They nevertheless eschewed all but the reclamation portion of the bullpen market. They claimed Reiver Sanmartin off waivers and added injury rehabbers Jason Foley, Rowan Wick and Sam Hentges for a few million dollars. Kilian was among a handful of arms brought in on minor league deals.
The bullpen was surprisingly effective early on, carrying the second-lowest ERA in the big leagues through the end of April. Things have gone off the rails since then, as only the Reds and Rockies have a higher bullpen ERA than San Francisco’s 5.35 mark since the beginning of May.
Kilian has generally been among their most effective back-end arms. He only allowed one earned run in his first 14 appearances. Kilian struggled in May, punctuated by a five-run blowup at Coors Field to close the month, but has tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings over six appearances to start June.
The 29-year-old was a Giants draftee whom they traded to the Cubs in the Kris Bryant deal. Kilian was hit hard in limited MLB action between 2022-24 and spent most of last year on the minor league injured list. He has already easily established a career high with 29 2/3 MLB frames this season, posting a 3.34 ERA and 26% strikeout rate. Kilian’s average fastball has climbed to 96.7 mph after sitting 93-94 during his stint with the Cubs. He’s missing more bats as a result but issuing a lot of free passes as well.
Kilian has already picked up his first four saves this year. They’ve been scattered over the past month. It now seems they’ll try to zero in on him for the ninth inning while using other leverage arms like Keaton Winn and Erik Miller earlier in games. Ryan Walker, who logged three saves in April, was recalled this afternoon after spending five weeks in the minors. He’ll pitch more in the middle innings but said his goal is to work his way back to the ninth. Walker was lights out in 2024 but had an up-and-down ’25 season and allowed 12 runs in his first 15 1/3 innings this year.
Marlins, Zach Pop Agree To Minor League Deal
The Marlins are in agreement with reliever Zach Pop on a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’ll report to Triple-A Jacksonville.
Pop signed a big league deal with the Phillies over the winter. He broke camp and made seven appearances over the first couple weeks, allowing three runs through 7 1/3 innings. Pop sustained a right calf strain on April 13 and spent the next few weeks on the injured list. Philadelphia decided not to put him back on the MLB roster once he was healthy, and because he’s out of minor league options, they needed to designate him for assignment.
After clearing waivers, Pop elected free agency last week. He now returns to Miami, where he began his MLB career as a Rule 5 pick in 2021. Pop pitched parts of two seasons with the Fish, posting an earned run average just under 4.00 across 74 2/3 innings. They traded him to the Blue Jays at the 2022 deadline.
Pop has since spent time with the Mariners and Mets in addition to his brief run in Philly. He has a lifetime 4.83 ERA over 169 2/3 frames. Pop gets a lot of ground-balls but doesn’t miss many bats, as he leads with a 96.2 mph sinker.
Royals Place Seth Lugo On Concussion IL
The Royals placed starter Seth Lugo on the seven-day concussion injured list this evening. Righty Eli Morgan is up from Triple-A Omaha to provide an extra bullpen arm for the time being.
It was a scary scene on Wednesday when Lugo was struck in the face by a comebacker hit by Brandon Nimmo. The ball came off the bat at 106.6 mph and hit him on the right side of his forehead. Nimmo, a former teammate of Lugo’s with the Mets, was equally concerned as the players on the Kansas City side and raced out to the mound to check on the veteran righty as soon as time was called.
Lugo immediately had a welt on his forehead but thankfully avoided the worst. He was able to leave the game under his own power. Manager Matt Quatraro said this afternoon that Lugo felt worse on Friday than he had yesterday (link via Drew Davison of MLB.com). He’s still dealing with headaches and increased head pressure. The seven-day IL is available whether a player has been formally diagnosed with a concussion or has concussion-like symptoms.
The Royals are now down three-fifths of their preferred rotation. Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic have both been out for a month with elbow issues. Bubic made a rehab start on Tuesday but reported some shoulder discomfort after that appearance, Quatraro told the K.C. beat. He’ll go for further testing this weekend before the Royals determine next steps.
Michael Wacha started yesterday’s series finale against Texas. The Royals will run Luinder Avila, Noah Cameron and Stephen Kolek for their weekend set with the Astros. They’ll either need a bullpen game or a new fifth starter on Monday for the beginning of a series in Washington. No one in the MLB bullpen has been built up to a rotation workload.
Mitch Spence, who has an ERA pushing 7.00 in the minors, is their only healthy depth starter on the 40-man roster. He’s starting for Omaha tonight, so the Royals clearly aren’t viewing him as a candidate for Monday. Their non-roster starters in the minors (e.g. Aaron Sanchez, Ryan Ramsey, Ben Sears, Henry Williams) have all struggled as well.