MLB Player News

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard was absent from the lineup for Sunday's contest against the Mets after starting the previous seven games. Howard, who has pushed his batting average to .281 on the heels of a nine-game hitting streak, was replaced at first by Kevin Frandsen.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo notched the second multi-home run game of his career Friday night against the Marlins. Rizzo, who hails from South Florida, belted a pair of long balls in the 4-2 win, including a two-run shot off Wade LeBlanc in the opening frame.

He also touched up LeBlanc for another two-run bomb in the third, accounting for all four of Chicago's runs.

Rizzo, who entered the contest mired in a 1-for-20 slump, finished 3 for 4 with four RBI, two runs scored and a steal.

Rizzo's eight home runs are the most in franchise history for a left-handed hitter during the month of April.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard provided his pitcher all the offense he would need, hitting a three-run home run in his team's 4-0 win over the Mets Friday night. It was the third home run of the season for Howard, who is hitting .282/.300/.459 in 90 plate appearances.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit his fifth homer -- a two-run blast in the fourth inning -- and finished 1 for 4 to lead Arizona to a 3-2 victory over Colorado Thursday. Goldschmidt's home runs this season have come with at least one runner on base leading to 18 RBI, which is tied for fourth in the National League.

Goldschmidt has reached base safely in six consecutive games and all but one of his 22 games overall. He paces the Diamondbacks with a .325 batting average.

Reds first baseman Joey Votto had the only hit of the game for his team in an 8-1 loss Thursday to the Nationals, a solo home run in the fourth inning off Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez. It was Votto's fourth home run in 111 plate appearances this season.

Votto also struck out once and didn't draw a walk but still has a 25:26 K:BB ratio this year.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is not concerned about his high strikeout total this season.

In an interview with MLB.com, Rizzo said he's typically struck out more often early in the year but is able to adjust as the season progresses.

"I need to simplify things more and start slapping the ball around. The home runs are going to come. I need to worry about low line drives instead of trying to hit four home runs in one at-bat," he said.

It seems like Rizzo understands what his issues have been thus far, and will look to make some improvements. While the power has been nice, Rizzo would like to try and get back to the line-drive approach he showed last year. 

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is not having a strong start, but he should see improvement.

Rizzo has displayed an odd change in skills, possibly brought on by adjustments to his swing. As our Chris Towers explained, Rizzo's strikeout and fly ball rates are up. Although this usually leads to lower batting averages on balls in play, Rizzo's .167 BABIP rate is among the league's worst this year. 

Rizzo's hitting will improve, but the strikeouts will limit his average. He could rebound to hit around .250 but might add enough power to offset the batting average decline. Fantasy owners shouldn't give up on him.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard has struggled against lefties this year but hit his second home run of the season Wednesday off left-hander Wandy Rodriguez as the Phillies fell to the Pirates, 5-3.

Howard is hitting .273/.293/.416 in 82 plate appearances. He'll try and extend his six-game hitting streak Thursday against the Pirates.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt doubled and homered in Tuesday's win over San Francisco.

Goldschmidt had gone five days without an extra-base hit heading into Tuesday, his longest such streak of the season. He unloaded in a big way, adding three RBI and a run scored to his six total bases. He now owns a .329/.416/.566 batting line.

Our Eye on Baseball blogger Mike Axisa took a look at Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo's production, after ESPN.com reported the team has made alterations to his swing.

According to the report, Rizzo appears to be generating more of an uppercut on his swing, resulting in a big increase in fly balls and power, but also more weak pop-ups and strikeouts. The numbers bear that out, and Axisa's analysis is worth a look. Rizzo's strikeout rate, flyball rate and infield pop-up rate have increased this season, a possible side effect of the new approach that has led him to six home runs and 14 RBI in 18 games.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum hinted a few days ago that the team could consider sending Rizzo to Triple-A to work on some things, so Fantasy owners might want to keep an eye on this situation.