MLB Player News

Torres (hip) took groundballs prior to Thursday's tilt against Cleveland, Pete Caldera of The Bergen Record reports.

Torres is starting to ramp up his baseball activity as he nears a rehab assignment. He's expected to get some minor-league at-bats sometime during the All-Star break, and if all goes well, the 21-year-old second baseman could return for the Yankees' first series with the Mets after the break.

Andrus went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a run scored and a stolen base in Wednesday's 4-2 loss to the Red Sox.

The steal was his first in 33 games on the campaign, and Andrus' streak of consecutive seasons with at least 20 stolen bases is in serious jeopardy of ending at nine. His .259/.320/.374 slash line on the year is also below the level he'd established in 2016 and 2017, but the 29-year-old is healthy after missing time earlier in the year with an elbow injury and could still raise those numbers significantly with a big second half.

Semien went 3-for-4 with a triple, two doubles and two RBI in Tuesday's loss to the Astros.

Semien slashed a triple -- his second of the year -- off Justin Verlander and later hit a two-run double in the ninth off Hector Rondon to tie the game at 4-4. Semien now has 18 doubles to go along with seven home runs and 33 RBI on the year. The 27-year-old's 49 runs are tied for seventh among MLB shortstops, and he's 7-for-11 in stolen-base attempts.

Merrifield went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two walks and two runs scored in Tuesday's win over the Twins.

Merrifield recorded both of his doubles against starter Aaron Slegers, giving him 29 doubles on the year (which ties him for second in the majors). Merrifield has a 12-game hitting streak in the works and is now slashing .306/.375/.435 on the year. The 29-year-old has five homers, 29 RBI, 39 runs and 16 stolen bases this season.

Jones was promoted to Double-A Mobile on Tuesday.

He didn't earn the promotion in the same manner he has earned previous promotions, but after 116 career games at High-A, it seems the Angels wanted to give Jones a trial by fire against Double-A pitching. Jones, who moved from the outfield to second base this year, hit .235/.338/.383 with eight home runs and 13 steals in 75 games at High-A.

Beckham was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on Tuesday.

Dee Gordon seems to be over his recent back issue but the Mariners decided they'd still like a little extra depth in the infield, so they swapped out outfielder John Andreoli for Beckham. Beckham hit .206/.270/.235 in 12 games (39 plate appearances) with the big club earlier in the season.

Arroyo (oblique) went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in High-A Charlotte's win over St. Lucie on Monday.

Although Arroyo's night at the plate wasn't successful, it's certainly encouraging he got back into game action. The 23-year-old was slashing a solid .264/.339/.396 across 59 plate appearances over 20 games with the Rays before landing on the disabled list on June 16.

Drury was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

Drury was demoted following Game 1 of Monday's doubleheader against the Orioles. The 25-year-old second baseman hit just .195 with one homer and seven RBI through 14 games with the big club.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday that Torres (hip) could be ready to begin a minor-league rehab assignment during the upcoming All-Star break, Mike Mazzeo of the New York Daily News reports. "Maybe it's [July 18], maybe it's the day after," Boone said while speculating on a target date for Torres to begin the assignment. "Those are discussions that we'll have especially if it's on the shorter side of things and he's good to go."

Torres is eligible to come off the 10-day disabled list Sunday, but with the break beginning a day later, the Yankees seem inclined to give the star rookie the extra time off to recover from the strained right hip. The 21-year-old hasn't experienced any reported setbacks since suffering the injury July 4, so he'll likely only require one or two games in the minors before being cleared to return to the big club. Once he's activated, Torres should settle back into an everyday role at second base, pushing Neil Walker and Brandon Drury to the bench more frequently.

Arroyo (oblique) will begin a rehab assignment Monday with High-A Charlotte, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The Rays could keep Arroyo in the minors through the All-Star break to give him steady at-bats and help him make up for lost time, following a three-week absence due to his left oblique strain. The 23-year-old could act as a utility man for the Rays once he's ready to return from the 10-day disabled list.