Astros’ Justin Verlander set to throw bullpen on path back from injury
SEATTLE — Houston righty Justin Verlander is expected to throw another bullpen session Saturday as the three-time Cy Young winner tries to work his way back from neck discomfort that landed him on the injured list a month ago. Houston manager Joe Espada said Verlander and Luis Garcia are expected...
Guardians sign No. 1 overall draft pick Travis Bazzana
CLEVELAND — Travis Bazzana, the top overall pick in the MLB amateur draft out of Oregon State, signed his first professional contract with the Cleveland Guardians on Friday. Bazzana formally inked the deal at Progressive Field, agreeing to an $8.95 million deal, a person familiar with the negotiations said. The...
Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray to have season-ending elbow surgery
WASHINGTON — Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray will have season-ending surgery for a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, the team announced Friday. It won’t be clear until Dr. Keith Meister operates on the elbow Wednesday in Texas whether Gray’s injury will require an internal brace...
New York Mets 1B Pete Alonso among MLB stars who could use big second half heading into free agency
PHOENIX — Pete Alonso’s disappointing performance in this year’s Home Run Derby wasn’t a particularly big deal for the future of his big-league career. His play over the next three months could be a different story. The 29-year-old is one of the most coveted free agents in Major League Baseball...
Jarren Duran’s 2-run HR gives AL a 5-3 win over NL in All-Star Game started by rookie pitcher Skenes
ARLINGTON, Texas — Speedy Jarren Duran describes himself as a player who keeps his head down, works hard and never thinks of himself as being better than anybody else. Duran turned some heads in his first All-Star Game, hitting a tiebreaking two-run homer for the American League and being awarded...
MLB will consider whether to return to club uniforms in All-Star GameVideo
ARLINGTON, Texas — Major League Baseball will consider going back to having players wear their team uniforms for the All-Star Game. Club uniforms were used by the American League from 1933-2019 and by the National League from 1934-2019. When the game resumed in 2021 after the pandemic-related cancellation in 2020,...
Sons of former big-league stars Ortiz, Ramirez and Grudzielanek among MLB draft picks in late roundsVideo
Major League Baseball’s three-day amateur draft concluded Tuesday, with the 30 teams blazing through 300 picks in less than 3 1/2 hours. There were some familiar last names selected on the final day, which consisted of rounds 11 through 20. The Los Angeles Angels took outfielder Lucas Ramirez in the...
Ingrid Andress offers explanation for panned national anthem performance at MLB Home Run Derby
Country singer Ingrid Andress’ performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Monday night at MLB’s Home Run Derby in Arlington, Texas, has been been universally roasted. With painful pauses, the Grammy-nominated singer’s a cappella version has been called “the Star-Strangled Banner” and worse on social media. By Monday afternoon, Andress released...
Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez dethrones Mets’ Pete Alonso as Home Run Derby champ
ARLINGTON, Texas — When Teoscar Hernández needed a moment to calm down during the Home Run Derby, the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger got a boost from a former teammate who just happened to be last year’s champion. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wore a Blue Jays jersey with Hernández’s name and No....
Hempfield grad, Pitt pitcher Phil Fox drafted by White Sox in 7th round
Hempfield graduate Phil Fox can’t remember a time when he didn’t want to pitch in professional baseball. “From the day I was, like, born, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life,” he said. The Chicago White Sox made no promises that he will have...
Orioles’ Corbin Burnes to start for AL against Pirates’ Paul Skenes in All-Star Game
ARLINGTON, Texas — Baltimore’s Corbin Burnes will start for the American League in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game against Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes. A 29-year-old right-hander, Burnes is 9-4 with a 2.93 ERA in his first season with the Orioles, who acquired him from Milwaukee just before spring training. The...
Mars, West Virginia infielder JJ Wetherholt chosen 7th overall by Cardinals in MLB Draft
Looking the part of a Texan for the biggest weekend of his life, Mars and West Virginia product JJ (Jonathan David) Wetherholt was wearing a cowboy hat and snakeskin boots Sunday night when he was selected seventh overall by the St. Louis Cardinals in the MLB Draft in Fort Worth,...
Australian 2B Travis Bazzana taken by Guardians with top pick in MLB Draft
FORT WORTH, Texas — Australian second baseman Travis Bazzana was taken by the Cleveland Guardians with the No. 1 pick in MLB’s amateur draft Sunday, and three players from Wake Forest were selected in the top 10. A former cricket, rugby and soccer player who came to the United States...
MLB All-Stars back in Arlington, where 11 future Hall of Famers started outside in Texas heat in ’95
ARLINGTON, Texas — MLB still was stinging from a strike that had wiped out the World Series the previous season when the 1995 All-Star Game was played in the stifling Texas heat at the Rangers’ new ballpark. Buck Showalter certainly remembers how hot it was when he managed the American...
Marcus Semien replaces Jose Altuve as AL All-Star starter
NEW YORK — Marcus Semien of the host Texas Rangers will replace Houston’s Jose Altuve as the American League’s starting second baseman for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night. MLB said Thursday that Altuve will rest his left hand, which has been sore since he was hit by a 94.3...
Bryce Harper misses game vs. Dodgers with bruised left hand
PHILADELPHIA — First baseman Bryce Harper made a short-lived return to the Philadelphia Phillies’ lineup. The All-Star first baseman sat out Wednesday night against Los Angeles because of a bruised left hand. Harper — who had missed the previous nine games with a strained left hamstring — was hurt at...
Rangers’ Adolis Garcia, Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez complete field for Home Run Derby
NEW YORK — Adolis Garcia will represent the host Texas Rangers in Monday night’s Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez completed the eight-man field. Garcia was knocked out by Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena last year in the first round...
Rays shortstop Wander Franco is formally charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been formally charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic. Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Franco six months after a judge ordered that he be investigated in connection with sexual and psychological abuse of the...
First Call: Mitch Keller passed over as Tyler Glasnow’s All-Star replacement; ex-Carolina star praises Diontae Johnson trade
At least one former Carolina Panthers star is pumped about his old team landing ex-Steeler Diontae Johnson in a trade. One of the three sons of former Steelers who committed to Notre Dame is already heading elsewhere. Tyler Glasnow is out of the All-Star game. Does that mean Pittsburgh’s Mitch...
Projected as 1st-round MLB pick, Mars’, WVU’s JJ Wetherholt learned lessons on, off the field
Here’s the greatest lesson West Virginia’s JJ Wetherholt learned — or, more accurately, taught himself — on his way to becoming a projected top-10 choice in the MLB Draft: There’s more to hitting a baseball than taking swings in the batting cage until your hands ache. Yes, that fundamental part...
Former Pirates outfielder Raúl Mondesi sentenced to 6 years in jail in the Dominican Republic
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Raúl Mondesi was sentenced Friday by a Dominican court to six years and nine months in jail and fined $507,000 for corruption during his time as mayor in the city of San Cristobal. Prosecutors accused the 53-year-old Mondesi of embezzling $5...
Mets’ Pete Alonso to compete in Home Run Derby for 5th time
Pete Alonso will participate in his fifth straight Home Run Derby, with the New York Mets first baseman trying to win for the third time. Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm also have committed to the July 15 event at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Alonso made the...
7 Phillies, 6 Dodgers picked for MLB All-Star GameVideo
The major league-leading Philadelphia Phillies had a big league-high seven selections for the MLB All-Star Game on Sunday. Three rookies were picked for the July 16 game in Arlington, Texas: Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes, Chicago Cubs pitcher Shoto Imanaga and San Diego outfielder Jackson Merrill. Philadelphia pitchers Zack Wheeler,...
Rangers activate World Series closer Josh Sborz, put Dane Dunning on IL
ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers reliever Josh Sborz, who got the final seven outs in the team’s World Series-clinching game last fall, was activated from the injured list Friday after missing nearly two months because of a right rotator cuff strain. The Rangers brought Sborz back from his second IL...
Aaron Boone says Yankees unconcerned about criticism from Aaron Judge’s hitting coach
NEW YORK — Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was unconcerned about criticism from Aaron Judge’s personal hitting coach. Richard Schenk posted Thursday on X: “They’ve lost 13 out of 18 while he’s hitting like an MVP. The Yankees offensive player development is terrible.” “People are going to say things,...
