Major League Baseball

MLB Quick Hits: Cubs' Bryant homers twice

Published Mar. 13, 2015 6:03 a.m. ET

John Halpin

Lost in the Will Ferrell hoopla was Cubs 3B Kris Bryant homering twice during Thursday's 10-9 loss to the Angels. Bryant - who is ranked by some as baseball's top prospect - leads MLB with four spring home runs, and is batting .500 in 14 at bats.

Before the season, we didn't rank Bryant among the top 30 fantasy third basemen because we didn't know when he'd have a job. But FOXSports.com's C.J. Nitkowski wrote this week that the Cubs can delay Bryant's free-agency clock by a year by waiting only until April 17 to call him up. Mike Olt won't be able to hold off Bryant for long in real life, and you probably shouln't let the likes of Martin Prado or Josh Harrison stand in his fantasy path. Bryant's BA might struggle due to a high strikeout rate, but boatloads of big-league home runs appear to be in his near future. He's a top-20 third baseman, likely to be belting balls out of Wrigley Field before the end of next month. Or maybe even by Opening Day.

In other news ...

Miguel Cabrera (ankle) and Victor Martinez (knee) continue to make good progress for the Tigers.

Jung-Ho Kang played third base for the Pirates on Thursday. Kang is still undraftable in most mixed leagues because he doesn't have a full-time job, but they're probably going to move him around to get him plenty of at bats.

Yankees SP Masahiro Tanaka tossed two perfect innings in his spring debut and did not tear his ulnar collateral ligament, which is nice.

In other Yankee news, SP Chris Capuano (quad) is expected to miss all of April. The Yanks will probably mix and match the fifth starter spot until Capuano is ready to return.

Tigers closer Joe Nathan allowed six runs (four earned) in two-thirds of an inning on Thursday. One spring game doesn't mean much, but I still think Nathan is the closer most likely to lose his job early in the season. Consider Joakim Soria in the late rounds for all fantasy formats.

Tigers OF Yoenis Cespedes is day-to-day with a quad injury.

Here's an article about how the Rangers might try a "non-traditional" approach to their Darvish-less rotation. A six-man rotation doesn't seem to be in the cards, which is no fun.

Phillies 2B Chase Utley (ankle) might make his spring debut today.

Speedy Eric Young Jr. looks like the Braves' Opening Day center fielder.

Marco Estrada probably didn't help his quest for a Blue Jays' rotation slot by allowing seven runs in two-thirds of an inning on Thursday.

The Dodgers beat the Padres 1-0 on a ninth-inning homer from Joc Pederson. Where are they going to trade Andre Ethier?

See you back here Monday morning.