MLB Player News

Mountcastle (hand) was activated from the disabled list at Double-A Bowie and went 3-for-4 with a run and a RBI Thursday against Hartford.

He suffered a broken hand midway through spring training, and this was his first game back. Mountcastle isn't a great defender anywhere on the diamond (he played third base in this one), but he has the potential to hit for average and for power, which would allow his bat to profile at third base or in left field. He is on pace to reach the majors in early 2019.

Smith will be called up Friday to fill in for Jay Bruce while the outfielder is on the paternity list, Betsy Helfand of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

Bruce is expected to miss the entire weekend series in Philadelphia but will return to the team Tuesday. If Smith is only up to replace Bruce, his stay with the team will likely be short, though incumbent first baseman Adrian Gonzalez won't be much of a roadblock should the team decide it's finally Smith's time to take over. Smith had a poor showing in his 49-game debut for the Mets last year, hitting just .198/.262/.395, though he's been solid for Triple-A Las Vegas so far this season, hitting .278/.390/.417 through 31 games.

Santana went 1-for-4 with a three-run homer Thursday against the Giants.

The homer, a fourth-inning shot off Ty Blach, was Santana's sixth of the year and his third in the four-game series against San Francisco. Through May 2, Santana was having a very disappointing season, hitting just .151 with two homers and a .569 OPS. Since then, he's gone on a seven-game hitting streak, going 10-for-30 with four homers and 15 RBI over the span of a week, enough to drag his OPS up to .714. That number would certainly be disappointing should it not climb any higher by the end of the year, but the recent hot streak combined with encouraging batted-ball data during Santana's early slump gives reason to believe that the veteran will eventually live up to his draft price.

Freeman went 5-for-5 with a two-run home run Thursday against the Marlins.

Freeman only had one extra-base hit Thursday, but made it count by blasting his sixth home run of the season. He remains one of the most complete hitters in the league, ranking top 10 in the National League in batting average, runs and RBI while hitting .326/.424/.558.

Cron went 2-for-4 with a run in a loss to the Braves on Wednesday.

Cron continues to serve as one of the Rays' steadiest sources of offense, as factoring in Wednesday's production, he's now reached base safely in 15 straight games. The 28-year-old has compiled 12 extra-base hits (five doubles, seven home runs) overall, and his current .201 ISO represents a career high.

Santana went 3-for-5 with a double and five RBI in Wednesday's win over the Giants.

Santana is finally starting to break out of his season-long slump, as he had a four-RBI game earlier in the week and is hitting 9-for-26 (.346) with three homers and 12 RBI amidst a six-game hitting streak. The 32-year-old has just a .189 BABIP, suggesting he's been suffering from a stroke of bad luck, so once that number starts to creep up the rest of his game should follow along with it, which seems to already be happening.

Gurriel went 1-for-4 with two RBI in Wednesday's win over the Athletics.

Gurriel was also caught stealing in this one in what was his first attempt of the season. After a slow start in April, the 33-year-old is now riding an 11 game hitting streak -- with extra-base hits in five of those -- and has upped his slash line to .284/.324/.411.

Rizzo went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, two runs scored and five RBI in Wednesday's 13-4 win over the Marlins.

Despite a .210/.282/.371 slash line on the season, Rizzo has been able to stay productive with 13 runs and 19 RBI in 25 games. He's hitting .355 (11-for-31) over his last seven contests with four of his five homers on the season, though, and the first baseman's batting average should climb quickly now that he's busted out of his slump.

Hiura started at second base for High-A Carolina on Tuesday for the first time this season.

Hiura was limited to DH duty only for the first month of the season after dealing with a sore elbow this spring and a shoulder injury in April, but it appears the Brewers are now comfortable with him seeing some action in the field. Hiura went 0-for-3 Tuesday, but he was on fire heading into that contest, hitting .440 (22-for-50) over his previous 11 games.

Hoskins is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Giants, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports.

The off day is just Hoskins' second of the season and his first in nearly a month. The young slugger is on a bit of a cold streak, hitting just .128/.261/.256 with a 34.8 percent strikeout rate over his last 10 games. Despite the slump, he's hitting an impressive .274/.423/.487, with a 19.5 percent walk rate that ranks third in the league among qualified hitters. Nick Williams will start in left field in his absence.