Max Scherzer struggled a bit in his second exhibition appearance on Thursday, but the ace is happy to face some adversity early on.

The right-hander allowed two runs in three innings against the Houston Astros. He also had two wild pitches and a walk. He struck out five batters.

"You don’t want to just go three up, three down," Scherzer said. "You want to pitch out of the stretch. You want broken-bat base hits to fall in. You want to face some adversity and have to make pitches around that."

Marcel Ozuna signed a one-year, $18 million contract with the Atlanta Braves this winter.

Ozuna did so after rejecting the one-year, $17.8 million qualifying offer from the St. Louis Cardinals earlier in the offseason.

The outfielder expected to land a multiyear deal in free agency.

"If I knew before it was going to happen like this, I would have taken it," Ozuna said of the qualifying offer. "But I wanted to make sure I had a chance (at a contract) for my career."

He hit .241/.328/.472 last season.

"If they offer a good offer, I would get it," Ozuna said. "But they didn't do it. … I thought the Cardinals were going to offer something (early), but they didn't do that after I rejected the qualifying offer. So, I got patient. And I waited. And I talked to my agent a lot of the time. We were waiting – and then Atlanta was the team that gave me the opportunity for the one year and a good deal. I had to do that."

The San Diego Padres and Fernando Tatis, Jr. were set to discuss a contract extension this offseason, but the young star says there is "nothing happening" currently.

Tatis, who just turned 21 in January, won't become a free agent until after the 2024 season.

"(We will) talk about it if the Padres come with something, but there's nothing happening out there yet," he said.

A.J. Preller appeared on the Ben & Woods Show on 93.7 The Fan earlier this week and was asked about Tatis.

"Definitely not looking to comment publicly ... We'll sit down with him and his representatives when the time is right here, and kind of get a feel for where they're at and see if there's something there," the general manager said.

Major League Baseball is still investigating the Boston Red Sox for stealing signs during their championship run in 2018.

It was originally reported that the Red Sox implemented a scheme that involved using the replay monitor to decode the signs from the opposing battery and then relay the pitch selection to the batter via a runner on second or sometimes first.

Rob Manfred said last week that he expected the Boston investigation to conclude by the end of this week.

Alex Bregman was hit on the back by a pitch on Wednesday, making him the seventh Houston Astros player drilled in five spring training games.

Some opposing players have called for retaliation against the Astros following Major League Baseball's finding that Houston broke rules against electronic sign stealing en route to its 2017 World Series title and again in 2018.

"I think I got hit, like, 10 times last year or something like that," Bregman said. "One of them got me good last year, but that one was just a split-finger."

Major League Baseball has appointed its first African American umpire crew chief by promoting Kerwin Danley to the position, according to a report.

MLB often shuffles its roster of umpires in the offseason to account for retirements, promotions and new hires.

Danley, 58, has worked two World Series and been on the field for 10 other postseason rounds, including the AL Championship Series last year. He also has been chosen to call two All-Star Games.

The New York Yankees will likely be without Giancarlo Stanton on Opening Day because of a strained right calf.

Stanton was injured near the end of defensive drills on Tuesday and an MRI found a Grade 1 strain.

"It will probably put us against it a little bit," Aaron Boone said. "I would say it's time for him to get back, but then getting built up and stuff. We'll see."

The Yankees open the season on March 26 against the Baltimore Orioles.

Nearly a year after he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, Bryce Harper says he's more comfortable in his second year with the club.

"It's definitely different," Harper said.

"Coming into camp this year, it’s a lot better knowing you’re going to be here for the next 12 years. A lot better coming in. A lot more calm. Not as crazy. Not as many cameras or anything like that. Just talking to you guys, which is great. So just trying to enjoy that and go about it the right way and talk to the young guys as much as possible. [Mickey] Moniak, [Bryson] Stott, [Alec] Bohm, just trying to get to know them a little bit more each day. Because those are the guys that are going to help us hopefully this year and beyond that. So just trying to talk to them as much as possible and try to get to know them a little bit more."

The New York Mets are considering entering the season without a fifth starter, instead making their plans based on their opponent, according to a report.

New York will enter the season with Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and Rick Porcello as their top four starters.

The fifth starter could be either Steven Matz or Michael Wacha, depending on whether the opposing team is better against righties or lefties.

The 2021 World Baseball Classic will be played Taiwan, Tokyo, Phoenix and Miami.

The Marlins will host the semifinals and final along with half of the quarterfinals.

The tournament will be played from March 9-23 next year. There will be four groups of five teams. Those are the 16 participants in the 2017 tournament plus four qualifiers to be determined during a 12-nation tournament this March 13-25 at Tucson, Arizona.