Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday will take a seat on the bench with the team facing a left-handed pitcher on Thursday against the hosting Washington Nationals. Jorge Mateo will take over at the keystone and will bat ninth against Nationals left-hander McKenzie Gore. Holliday has just two hits in 11 at-bats with two walks and five strikeouts against southpaws so far in 2025. The 21-year-old former top prospect has picked things up at the plate lately with four hits in 13 at-bats over the last seven days to raise his season average to .234 (15-for-64). It hasn't been the best start for the former first overall pick, but Holliday isn't going anywhere as Baltimore's starting second baseman. Mateo is a low-upside DFS play in the nine-hole, especially since he's gone just 1-for-17 with three steals as a bench player for the O's so far in 2025.

Seattle Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo had a quality start and picked up his third win of the season in the team's 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Thursday. Woo went six strong innings and gave up two earned runs on three hits (one homer) while walking only one and striking out a season-high eight batters. This makes four quality starts for Woo in his first five outings of the 2025 season, and he dropped his season ERA to 3.09 with the strong performance in Thursday's series finale in Beantown. The 25-year-old has been sharp with a 0.97 WHIP, 30 strikeouts and seven walks in the early going in 2025. Fantasy managers will want to keep him in their starting lineups when he faces the division-rival Los Angeles Angels next week.

Washington Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli (elbow) is moving his minor-league rehab assignment to Double-A Harrisburg and will make his next start on Thursday. In his first rehab start while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Cavalli threw four shutout innings with one hit allowed, two walks and three strikeouts for Single-A Fredericksburg. The former first-rounder made his major-league debut back in 2022 with the Nationals but allowed seven earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in his lone start before missing most of the last two seasons due to right-elbow issues. Because of his extended layoff, the 26-year-old is likely going to spend all 30 days on his rehab assignment before the Nationals decide what to do with him. When he's ready to come off the 15-day injured list, there's a good chance Cavalli will be sent to Triple-A Rochester.

Washington Nationals infielder Paul DeJong (nose) saw an eye specialist on Thursday who found no issues. However, DeJong will undergo surgery to fix his broken nose. Manager Dave Martinez didn't offer a timetable for DeJong's eventual return after he was hit by a pitch back on April 15. In addition to his injury, the 31-year-old veteran has had a rough start at the plate in his first year with the Nats, going 11-for-54 (.204) with no home runs, four doubles, two RBI, two stolen bases, two walks and 24 strikeouts in his 16 games played. Until DeJong is able to return from surgery on his nose, veteran Amed Rosario and Jose Tena will split playing time for Washington at the hot corner. Fantasy managers in deep-mixed leagues don't really have any reason to hang onto DeJong while he recovers from a scary hit-by-pitch.

The Athletic's Dan Hayes reports that Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (hamstring) will begin his minor-league rehab assignment on Friday with the Triple-A St. Paul Saints. Things were trending this way after Lewis didn't have any setbacks after sprinting on Monday and running the bases on Tuesday. Because the oft-injured 25-year-old has been out of action since the middle of March in spring training with a left-hamstring strain, his rehab assignment could be longer than normal, but there's also a chance he'll come off the injured list to rejoin the big-league roster at some point later next week. When Lewis does make his 2025 debut for Minnesota, young infielder Brooks Lee will head back to a bench role for the Twins. Lewis, the former first overall pick in 2017, has yet to reach the 20-homer mark since debuting in 2022, but he also hasn't played in more than 82 games in a season due to injuries.