MLB Player News

Smith was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday.

Smith will spend the final month of the season in the majors with the minor-league season coming to a close Monday. The 23-year-old owns an unsightly .195/.225/.377 slash line across 31 games with the big club this season, while he slashed just .258/.328/.380 across 84 games with the 51s. Despite his struggles, Smith should still see his fare share of starts at first base and in the outfield as the Mets look to evaluate him against major-league pitching before the 2019 season.

Shaw is not in the lineup Monday against the Rockies, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Shaw will head to the bench with a southpaw in Tyler Anderson starting for the Rockies. The rookie, who is 0-for-6 with five strikeouts through his first three big-league games, is expected to start mostly against right-handed pitchers down the stretch.

Hoskins is out of the lineup Monday against the Marlins, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports.

With the Phillies playing back-to-back day games and Hoskins stuck in a 2-for-18 rut over the team's past five contests, manager Gabe Kapler decided it was a good time to give the star slugger a breather. Hoskins will hit the bench for the first time since June 8, opening up a spot in the lineup for the surging Roman Quinn.

Rizzo went 2-for-2 with a solo home run, two RBI, two walks and three runs scored Sunday against the Phillies.

Rizzo filled the stat sheet in the series opener as he reached base four times, slugged a solo homer in the fourth inning and delivered an RBI single in the eighth to pad the lead. He'll be relied upon as a key cog in the Cubs' offense during the final month of the season while they look to maintain control of the NL Central.

Flores is out of the lineup Sunday against the Giants, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.

Manager Mickey Callaway seems to have gotten increasingly comfortable with using Jay Bruce at first base, as the veteran will draw his fourth start in five games at the position. That has translated to less playing time for Flores, who has been on the bench three times during that same stretch. The lack of a guaranteed full-time role could make Flores a drop candidate in deeper mixed formats where he has been a serviceable corner-infield option for most of the season.

The Phillies activated Bour (oblique) from the 10-day disabled list ahead of Sunday's game against the Cubs.

Bour missed the minimum amount of time with the minor left oblique strain and was able to rejoin the Phillies without requiring a rehab assignment beforehand. With Carlos Santana locked in as the Phillies' everyday first baseman and the team recently adding another corner-infield option to the roster in Jose Bautista, Bour will likely struggle to find consistent at-bats now that he's healthy again.

Walker hit a pinch-hit solo home run Saturday against the Dodgers.

Walker took Clayton Kershaw deep in the sixth inning to record his second home run of the season and fourth of his career. He's received only sparing at-bats at the major-league level this season and remains firmly planted behind Paul Goldschmidt at first base. While the sample is too small to draw any kind of conclusion, even when Walker has gotten in the lineup, he has not been particularly impressive, batting just .214/.290/.464 across 28 at-bats this season.

Votto went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored Saturday against the Cardinals.

Votto doubled home a run in the fourth inning, his 25th double and 56th RBI of the season. He's played in all three games since returning from the disabled list Thursday and has gone 3-for-12 with only one extra-base hit. It's been a disappointing campaign for Votto, marred by injury and lack of power production.

Shaw is set to start mostly against right-handed pitchers, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The lefty hitter certainly impressed with his power while launching 24 homers and slugging .505 for Triple-A Sacramento, but Shaw is likely to be treated as a platoon asset and sit against most left-handed hurlers. The fading Giants, who just traded Andrew McCutchen, are in a position to see what Shaw is made of as they play out the string on 2018, which could make him a matchup play in many deeper mixed fantasy formats.

Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with his 31st home run of the season, a double and two RBI in a 3-2 loss to the Dodgers on Friday.

Goldschmidt's two-run shot off Hyun-Jin Ryu extended the first baseman's on-base streak to a franchise-record 43 consecutive road contests. The 30-year-old has continued to keep himself in the conversation for NL MVP consideration with a huge second half, during which he's slashed .322/.420/.584 with 10 home runs, 26 RBI and 22 runs in 38 contests.