MLB Player News

Whitcomb was mostly playing third base in Triple-A, but he has some outfield experience if the Astros want to him out there against lefties on occasion. The 27-year-old is a lifetime .262/.341/.493 hitter in 314 Triple-A games, but he’s come in at just .173/.235/.253 in 81 plate appearances in the majors.

Walcott returns after spending just over one week with on the injured list after being struck by an errant pickoff throw on August 1. The 20-year-old top prospect has homered three times in 13 games since making his season debut back on July 17. He boasts one of the more intriguing fantasy skillsets of any prospect in the minors given his raw power upside and likelihood that he’ll stick at shortstop long-term.

It appears to be a routine day off for Edman, who is hitting just .154 (6-for-39) with one homer and four RBI in 10 games since the start of August. It’ll be Miguel Rojas drawing a start at second base in his absence.

Ballesteros finds himself behind the plate for the third time in nine contests since being acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline earlier this month. The 22-year-old former prospect’s clearest path to sustained fantasy relevance involves retaining catcher eligibility, which wasn’t going to happen in Chicago. The change of scenery, and return to catching regularly in Los Angeles, make him an interesting fantasy option looking ahead to next season.

Langford receives a much-needed mental break to reset after going 2-for-21 over his last seven games. The 24-year-old fantasy standout was tearing the cover off the ball before hurting his foot back in late July. He’s batted .094 (3-for-32) with one homer and one stolen base across 10 games since the start of August.

Knack augments Los Angeles’ relief depth in a long relief capacity. The 29-year-old former starter allowed five runs over five innings across a pair of relief outings last month. He’ll operate in low-leverage spots for the Dodgers moving forward.

Halvorsen turned in a scoreless inning against the Royals during his Dodgers debut on Tuesday night. The hard-throwing 26-year-old reliever figures to return to Los Angeles in a couple weeks to operate in middle relief.

Hicks’ homers are rarely bombs, but he drilled a Jack Perkins pitch 401 feet to right center today. It was the fourth time in 830 career plate appearances that he’d hit a ball 400 feet. Hicks is batting .308/.438/.654 with two homers and nine RBI in eight games since joining the Rays.

It’s certainly not one of Rasmussen’s better lines this year, but he did what he needed to do after getting handed a nice lead in a really tough ballpark for pitchers in Sacramento. Rasmussen’s velocity was down about one mph on all of his pitches today, which probably played a role in him finishing with just three strikeouts. He should get an extra day of rest next time out before taking on the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Perkins took the loss to fall to 2-0 with a 7.26 ERA. It seems like time for the A’s to give someone else a try, but if not, he’ll face the Royals on Tuesday.

DeLuca mostly plays against lefties, but he got a start with Chandler Simpson resting today. He actually has a better OPS against righties than lefties this year (.776 to .731), but the Rays haven’t truly bought in. If typical form holds, he’ll start against the one lefty and probably one of the three righties the Orioles throw in their upcoming four-game series.