Welcome to the Fantrax MLB injury Report for Wednesday, April 2, 2025. In today’s edition, Zach Neto made a surprise rehab appearance, Gunnar Henderson had an unsurprising performance, and Freddie Freeman revealed his injury prognosis. All of that and so much more in today’s Injury Report from Fantrax.
Fantasy Baseball Injury Report
Zach Neto – SS Los Angeles Angels
Zach Neto is scheduled to start a rehab assignment at AAA tonight. Gotta say that happened a little earlier than I expected.
Will check soon if he's going to play SS or DH.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) April 1, 2025
Neto ended up playing the game as the team’s designated hitter and also got in six at-bats for the Salt Lake Bees, garnering a double. This is a quick-moving development, but as Jeff says in another post, he has yet to throw from the hole or participate in relay drills, hence the spot as the team’s designated hitter. Still, this is great news for a player whose timeline has been incredibly vague since the team announced his impending surgery. All that being said, we may never know the extent of his injury.
Sean Manaea – SP New York Mets
Sean Manaea is still having oblique trouble and got a PRP shot, Carlos Mendoza said. He is shut down for two weeks.
So he’s likely out till late May or early June in a new best-case scenario.
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) April 1, 2025
Manaea had made some progress while trying to work toward his 2025 debut. After suffering the injury almost immediately after reporting to camp, he progressed his way into starting a throwing program. It turns out that success would be too much, as now this setback will cost him additional time. With him being shut down completely and needing a PRP shot to numb the pain and speed up the healing, this has become a worrisome situation. It is unclear if this setback has increased the severity of the situation, but expecting him anytime before June would seem incredibly advantageous.
Clarke Schmidt – SP New York Yankees
Aaron Boone says that Clarke Schmidt will throw a rehab outing with Double-A Somerset this weekend and the plan is for him to return in the April 15-16 range: pic.twitter.com/j7Yd596YSh
— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) April 2, 2025
Schmidt threw three innings’ worth of work on Monday within a simulated game and will now progress toward the mound for a rehab outing this weekend. He told reporters yesterday that he felt good and that he was ready to take the next step forward. In total, he will likely have two rehab outings before returning on the date as mentioned earlier, as stated here by manager Aaron Boone. Fantasy owners are encouraged to stash him on their rosters if possible.
Freddie Freeman – 1B Los Angeles Dodgers
Freddie Freeman explained he slipped and fell on his right ankle on Sunday morning.
Freeman has a good sense of humor about the fall because X-Rays showed he didn’t damage his surgically repaired right ankle.
Likely won’t play until Friday at the earliest. #Dodgers
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) April 1, 2025
There were some reports explaining how Freeman fell in the shower, as he did so in the guest bedroom of his house. From the sounds of things, while the X-rays came back negative, he did do some damage to his already surgically repaired ankle, which could cause some concern here. That said, with him needing a few days off, if he were to return on Friday, then all should be well moving forward. It turns out that the early off-season notion of resting him after night games may come to fruition, too. Stay tuned.
Reynaldo Lopez – SP Atlanta Braves
Reynaldo López’s right shoulder will get scoped out next week, Brian Snitker said. Braves won’t know the extent of the damage — or if there is any besides inflammation — until doctors go in there during this arthroscopic procedure. The hope is he pitches again this season.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) April 2, 2025
This is somewhat of a refreshing development, only in the sense that players and teams seem willing to figure out the problem and see if there’s something more than meets the eye. That being said, this seems like a very dismal outlook for the future of Lopez here, as nobody is quite sure what is wrong. Even more ominous is the fact that the team is hopeful that he will pitch again this season. Usually, when that word is used to describe an outlook, it means that there is a small chance of it happening, though every situation is unique. While a return cannot be counted on here, it also should not be counted out. Stay tuned.
Alexis Diaz – RP Cincinnati Reds
Alexis Díaz said that he’s attacking the strike zone like he normally does. The workout progression he has been on has helped him keep his front leg from going “all over the place.” He doesn’t know if the next step is another live, or a rehab assignment or back to games, but he…
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) April 1, 2025
It would appear that Diaz is not just working on getting physically better, but he’s also working on his mechanics and strategy. Whether or not it will be effective remains to be seen, as he’s been getting progressively worse for the past two years. He may be a flash in the pan or a diamond in the rough, we don’t know just yet. As for when he will return, he needs to advance to live BP before a rehab assignment is even considered.
Brayan Bello – SP Boston Red Sox
Brayan Bello’s first rehab start;
2.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
47 pitches, 32 strikes
Fastball reached 97mph— Boston Strong (@BostonStrong_34) April 2, 2025
While the overall line here doesn’t look impressive, it’s important to note that he pitched two scoreless innings before getting himself into trouble in the third frame, resulting in his exit from the game. Still, he threw 47 pitches, and his fastball reaching 97 mph is enough to consider this a successful outing. He will likely need at least one more start before returning to the Red Sox, but two may be the magic number here.
Gunnar Henderson – SS Baltimore Orioles
Gunnar Henderson is looking ready for his return to Baltimore.
The SS is with the Tides in Charlotte tonight, but will likely be in Baltimore by Thursday night. @FOXBaltimore #Birdland pic.twitter.com/E3RWIzDb1t
— AJ Gersh (@AJGersh1) April 1, 2025
Gunnar Henderson, seen here working out and participating in on-field drills, hit a mammoth home run last night as well. The towering shot went 401 feet and was a no-doubter the moment it hit his bat. This is just your daily reminder to get your Thursday lineups ready and ensure that he is in them because all signs point to his 2025 debut happening then.
