MLB Player News

Walker batted fifth in one of the final Cactus League games before MLB was suspended, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports.

The lineup manager Torey Lovullo fielded Mar. 9 against the Royals looked like an Opening Day batting order. That lineup had the right-handed hitting Walker fifth behind lefty David Peralta and ahead of lefty Kole Calhoun. Lovullo may tweak the order so that he can alternate right-handed and left-handed batters, but Walker should be comfortable in the five hole. That's where he had his most plate appearances in 2019, when he took command of the first base job and swatted 29 home runs. The man he replaced at first base, Jake Lamb, had a good spring, but the job belongs to Walker right now and will be his whenever MLB opens its doors for the regular season.

Blandino got extra playing time in spring training as a result of Freddy Galvis's injuries, and hit .458/.536/.792 in 28 plate appearances. He's competing with Kyle Farmer to be the Reds' middle infield backup.

The Reds don't have a true shortstop beyond Galvis on the major-league roster, so they have to make due with what they'll get from either Blandino or Farmer as the backup until Jose Garcia is ready for the big leagues, which is probably a year away.

Smith could be squeezed off the Mets' 26-man roster if the delayed start to the regular season allows both Yoenis Cespedes (ankle) and Jed Lowrie (knee) to avoid the injured list.

When spring training started, Smith's bench spot seemed secure even after the offseason addition of Matt Adams, as both injured veterans seemed unlikely to be ready to play by the end of March. With Opening Day now pushed off into the future, however, Cespedes and Lowrie could get enough recovery time, giving the club some tough decisions. For his part, Smith wasn't doing much in camp to force his way onto the roster -- he'd gone 3-for-28 (.107) with zero extra-base hits and a 1:8 BB:K when the Grapefruit League schedule was put on pause.

Cooper is a candidate to platoon with Matt Joyce in right field once the regular season begins, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.

The 29-year-old is facing competition from Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison and Harold Ramirez for the role. Cooper put up solid offensive numbers in 2019 when he was healthy, but the rebuilding Marlins may prefer to give a younger player like Brinson another chance to establish themselves.

Hoskins hit a decent .241/.371/.483 in 12 Grapefruit League games before play was suspended, but he also struck out at a 40 percent clip.

The slugger owns a career 23.4 percent strikeout rate in 363 big-league games, a perfectly respectable mark for a power hitter, so it's possible his spring struggles in that area were nothing more than a small-sample blip. Either way, Hoskins faces some questions about his value this season, as his slugging percentage dropped from .496 to .454 last year despite league-wide power increasing. His expected slugging percentage according to Statcast came to just .426, suggesting that even his mediocre showing was an overachievement.

Alonso and the Mets agreed to a one-year contract worth over $652,000 on Wednesday, an MLB record for a player heading into his second season, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.

Players have no bargaining power before they reach their arbitration years, so the club giving Alonso anything more than the league minimum of $563,500 was essentially a show of gratitude for his exploits as a rookie. The 25-year-old hasn't found his timing at the plate yet this spring -- he's hitting only .243 (9-for-37) without a homer -- but Alonso still has a couple weeks to round into form before Opening Day.

Freeman (personal) is expected to re-enter the Braves' Grapefruit League lineup Friday versus the Mets, David O'Brien of The Athletic reports.

Freeman left the team Tuesday to tend to a family issue, but he looks like he'll only need a few days to address the matter. The missed time shouldn't impact his availability to get himself ready for Opening Day.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said Wednesday that Goldschmidt is dealing with right elbow soreness and will be out of the Grapefruit League lineup for at least "a couple of days," Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.

The Cardinals haven't yet indicated that Goldschmidt's injury is anything overly worrisome, but it's somewhat disconcerting that he's dealing with the same issue that already limited him earlier in camp. The first baseman will presumably be re-examined prior to the weekend before the Cardinals provide more clarity on his situation.

Freeman was a late scratch from Tuesday's lineup for what the team said was a family matter, David O'Brien of The Athletic reports.

Ryan Casteel was inserted into the lineup batting third and playing first base. Freeman is expected to return to Wednesday's lineup against the Twins after attending to his family. The 30-year-old is likely to take a cautious approach during the rest of spring training after dealing with right elbow inflammation earlier this week.

Raley was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday, Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA.com reports.

Raley got off to a hot start at the dish in spring games, but it wasn't enough to earn him a spot on the big-league roster to open the 2020 campaign. He'll begin the season at Triple-A, where he hit .302 with seven homers, 21 RBI and four stolen bases in 33 contests a year ago.