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Suarez pitches 3 scoreless innings in first rehab start originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ATLANTA — A night after Taijuan Walker took his second turn in the Phillies’ rotation, Ranger Suarez began a rehab assignment with Single A Clearwater.

Suarez threw 33 pitches (24 strikes) over three scoreless innings, allowed one hit and struck out four. His first two fastballs of the night were 92.6 and 92.5 mph and he sat mostly 90-92, right in line with his career norms.

Suarez suffered a back injury early in spring training and was limited to just five innings in Grapefruit League games with four more on the back-fields at Carpenter Complex. The Phillies have been careful with him because he’s had a history of back injuries, but it’s a promising sign that the velocity is already where it should be.

Suarez will likely need at least two more rehab starts, perhaps three. He basically needs a full spring training. It helps that Walker has pitched 10⅔ scoreless innings in his place. All Walker needs to do during this stretch is keep the Phillies in games and he’s done that and more.

The Phillies’ eyes will remain on the Threshers Friday night when top prospect Andrew Painter pitches in a minor-league game for the first time since September 2022. Painter is expected to throw two innings and/or 35 pitches. He will start once a week and likely stick to the 35-pitch range for a little while not just because the Phillies want to play it safe with him but also because they want to preserve as many innings as possible for him to help them in the majors in the second half.

While it’s been 2½ years since Painter last pitched in the minors, he did throw 15⅔ innings in the Arizona Fall League, where he excelled, threw in the upper-90s, missed a ton of bats and took home a Pitcher of the Year award.

While the New York Rangers still have four games, but the inevitable is already crystal clear and they are just running out the clock. 

With their loss on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Montreal Canadiens now just need to get one point in their next four games to officially eliminate the Rangers from playoff contention. 

The Rangers’ nightmare of a season that has been filled with trades, drama, dysfunction, and heartless play is finally about to end. 

There will be some major turnover whether it’s a change in management, coaching or drastic trades and free agent signings to drastically shake up the roster.

We are officially about to witness some meaningless games for the Rangers and let's see how they handle it. 

If we can take any lessons from the atmosphere in the locker room after Wednesday night’s loss, it appears as if the Blueshirts no longer have any hope and are frustrated beyond belief. 

This next batch of games feels like the calm before the storm. A whirlwind of change is coming and it will likely come very quickly upon the season’s end. 

That being said, pay close attention to the way the Rangers conduct themselves over the last four games of the regular season.

We’ll see by their body language on the ice, compete level, and quotes after games to see where they are at mentally and how fed up they are with the whole year.

(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.)

During a lively discussion in the latest episode of "Baseball Bar-B-Cast," Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman ventured into a very fun and totally hypothetical exploration of cloning the versatile Tommy Edman and fitting multiple of him into the Dodgers' roster.

Through two weeks of the 2025 regular season, one of the biggest reasons of concern for the Dodgers is their defense, which has been subpar at almost every position. As Mintz put it, "I think they only have one above-average, very good defender in the field at any time. And it's just where Tommy Edman is, right?"

This led to the delightful hypothetical: If the Dodgers could clone Edman, who can play shortstop, second base and outfield at a high level, just how many Edmans would L.A. want?

"You obviously don't want 26 because then he's going to pitch. You obviously don't want 13 because you'd rather have Shohei Ohtani," Mintz stated. "How many guys on this roster would you be like, 'Thanks for the memories, but I'm going to take Tommy Edman No. 7?'"

According to the hosts, the Dodgers would still need Austin Barnes or another backup catcher, and they're not displacing any of their stars. But they could have Edman cover second base, center field and most of the bench, replacing Kiké Hernández, Andy Pages, Miguel Rojas, Chris Taylor and Hunter Feduccia. The hosts debated Michael Conforto but decided the Dodgers would probably keep their offseason addition.

Including the actual Tommy Edman, that adds up to six Edmans on the Dodgers' hypothetical roster.

As Shusterman said, "I think the line's around 5.5 or 6.5 Tommy Edmans that you would want, even on this team."

Taking it one step further raises the question of just how many Tommy Edmans would other MLB teams want?

"The White Sox would take all Tommy Edmans but the catchers," Mintz said.

All hypotheticals aside, through 14 games, Edman is tied for the Dodgers' lead in home runs with five.

To listen to the full episode and more, tune in to "Baseball-Bar-B-Cast" on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.