Zyhir Hope homers, steals base at Double-A

With a day game after a night game and a left-handed pitcher on the mound, the Royals will leave their talented rookie on the bench on Thursday. While Jensen is not in a strict platoon, the Royals do tend to find days off for him against left-handed pitching, which dampens his fantasy ceiling a bit. He is still worth rostering in one catcher formats given his recent performances. Starling Marte will DH on Thursday with Salvador Perez catching.

Blackburn hasn’t thrown more than two innings in an appearance since June 17, so he figures to get a shot at two innings today. With Max Fried and Carlos Rodon both sidelined, there is a chance that the Yankees could stretch Blackburn out to fill a starting pitching role, but that seems to be a long-shot right now.

Paul Goldschmidt is in the midst of an extended slump, so Bellinger will play first base with Ben Rice at DH, and Max Schuemann getting another start in left field. The Yankees are doing everything they can to try and jumpstart a floundering offense.

The left-hander also struck out six and walked one on the day. Garrett has struggled in two starts with the Marlins, but he has a 1.54 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, and 75/26 K/BB ratio in 70 innings at Triple-A. He probably deserves another chance to start or provide bulk relief innings at the big league level. But with Janson Junk (shin) close to returning from his rehab assignment, it’s tough to see how the Marlins will fit Garrett in.

It was a box score-stuffing night for Hayes, who also played the entire game at third base. He’s played only four rehab games so far, but he seems like he’ll be ready to go after the All-Star break. Since Hayes has no minor league options left, the Reds will likely need to decide whether to send down Edwin Arroyo or Matt McLain when Hayes is ready to come back. Another option could be Nathaniel Lowe, who has hit just .203/.313/.261 with a 34 percent strikeout rate in 27 games since June 1st.

Báez had a tremendous month of June, but the last two weeks have been a struggle. In 11 games from June 25th on, Báez has gone 5-for-44 with two doubles and two home runs. Obviously, the hits aren’t falling, and his 13/3 K/BB ratio over those 11 games isn’t ideal, but it’s also not egregious and shows he’s not being overmatched. He will likely get hot again, but there remains no real spot for him in the Cardinals’ lineup, so he’s probably not as much of a priority stash as he was three weeks ago.

White missed the first three games of the week to be with his family. He’s hitting .227 with four homers and four steals in 119 plate appearances for Atlanta this season.

The Braves designated Azócar for assignment in May and re-signed him to a minor league deal, so the same thing could happen this time around.

Back in 2018, the Red Sox drafted Feltman in the third round out of TCU, and the prevailing wisdom was that he would fly through the minors after a stellar career as a closer in college. He actually posted a 1.93 ERA in 23 1/3 innings in his first professional season, but then the wheels fell off a bit in 2019. Feltman bounced back after the COVID-19 shutdown, but a 7.63 ERA in 48 1/3 innings in 2022 got him released by the Red Sox, and then he was signed and subsequently released by the Athletics. The 29-year-old has been playing in the Independent Leagues and will now get another shot to make his MLB debut.

Eaton was suspended for two games for his role in the Nationals and Red Sox’s bench-clearing incident last week. He’s just 4-for-28 in 12 games this season for the Red Sox.