MLB Player News

McCutchen gets a chance to face Athletics lefty Jeffrey Springs on Saturday afternoon with Joc Pederson heading to the bench. The 39-year-old has played sparingly this season, hitting .242 (8-for-33) with one homer and five RBI in 17 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

It’s an extremely rare break for Turner, who has started 10 consecutive games since May 2. The 32-year-old power/speed combo threat has hit a bit of a rough patch recently, hitting .182 (8-for-44) with 10 strikeouts since the start of May. It’ll be Edmundo Sosa taking over at shortstop and hitting ninth with a sizzling-hot Kyle Schwarber moving up to the leadoff spot to face Red Sox veteran righty Sonny Gray at Fenway Park.

He also stole two bases, bringing his season total to eight. Martínez was leading off on a rare day off for Steven Kwan today. There’s a good argument for the Guardians making a more permanent switch in the leadoff spot with Kwan hitting just .206/.311/.265, but Martínez probably isn’t the right man for the job; he’s walked only five times in 143 plate appearances this season and has a .281 career OBP (.300 this season). Still, it’d make Martínez a pretty attractive option in shallow leagues if he could convince the Guardians to bat him first or second regularly. He has started eighth of the team’s last 10 games.

Facing right-handers exclusively today, the left-handed Messick allowed only four hits on an average exit velocity against of 81.8 mph. He’s eighth in the majors with 58 strikeouts, 12th with a 0.99 WHIP and 15th with a 2.35 ERA. His next start is likely to come Tuesday in Detroit.

Smith was a little shaky early on this season, but he seems to have really settled in of late. In his last seven outings, he’s fanned 14 and walked none over 7 2/3 innings.

Detmers gave up a leadoff homer to Angel Martínez in the bottom of the first and later fueled a couple of rallies with a pair of walks and a HBP. It’s not a horrible outing, but it’s just not enough for the Angels, who dropped to 2-7 in his starts. At this rate, he might finally get traded this summer. His 53/17 K/BB in 49 1/3 innings is pretty solid, and there are surely a few teams that would like to see if they could get more from him than his current 4.38 ERA. He’ll face the A’s next time out.

Perhaps Neto shouldn’t be leading off for the Angels, though he has greatly improved his walk rate this year; he currently has a .330 OBP in spite of a .224 average. But he definitely shouldn’t be batting sixth and probably won’t be for long. He entered today on pace to score 105 runs as the Angels’ leadoff man.

Soler is 3-for-23 with no RBI and 10 strikeouts in his last six games, dropping his average back down to .221. The Angels’ recent lineup shifts haven’t touched Soler in the cleanup spot, but perhaps there’s a chance he’ll find himself batting lower against the Dodgers this weekend.

Goodman receives a break after handling the catching duties in three of Colorado’s last four games. He spent the other contest at DH. It’ll be a full night off for the slugging backstop, who is up to 10 round-trippers already through just 38 games this season. It’ll be Brett Sullivan behind the dish in his place on Wednesday evening.

Garcia takes a seat against Reds lefty Nick Lodolo following an impressive three-hit performance, which included a pair of home runs, during Tuesday’s series opener. The 25-year-old first baseman has recorded three consecutive multi-hit performances to raise his batting average from .231 to .270 through 37 games. It’ll be Curtis Mead getting an opportunity at the cold corner and hitting second in his place.

The Rockies have a left-hander on the mound, which means Brandon Lowe will move down from his usual spot in the order to seventh. However, Griffin has never hit above sixth in the batting order for the Pirates, even against lefties. If this is going to be a regular thing, that’s a nice boost for his counting stats.