MLB Player News

Mathias (shoulder) is expected to be out until early May, MLB.com's Mike Rosenbaum reports.

He suffered a dislocated left shoulder and a slight tear in his labrum while diving for a groundball in a Cactus League game on March 11, and while he has avoided surgery, rehabbing the injury will take at least four weeks. Mathias is a gifted hitter with excellent plate skills (87:48 K:BB in 115 games at High-A last year), and has a chance to be an average everyday second baseman at the big-league level. He is expected to report to Double-A Akron when healthy.

Polanco is starting at shortstop and hitting third Tuesday against the Tigers, the Star Tribune's Phil Miller reports.

This is a new look lineup, as Polanco has hit fifth, sixth and seventh so far this season. However, he is one of the Twins' only hitters who is off to a hot start at the plate (.389/.450/.667), and has a career .346/.385/.568 line in 91 career plate appearances against lefties, making him a prime option in the three hole against southpaw Matt Boyd.

Chavis was placed on the 7-day disabled list at High-A Salem after sustaining an elbow injury, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports.

Chavis' 2016 campaign was derailed by a thumb injury, but the Red Sox don't seem to fear that the elbow issue will cast a major pall on his status for the current season. Assuming the injury proves to be the short-term concern the Red Sox believe it is, Chavis could return to action in late April and reassert himself as one of the organization's top corner-infield prospects.

Polanco went 2-for-4 with a home run in Sunday's win over the White Sox. He's hitting .389 (7-for-18) through five games this season.

Polanco's strong first week to the season should ease any concerns he could lose playing time to Eduardo Escobar. However, Polanco's glove may ultimately decide if he'll stick as Minnesota's everyday shortstop.

Andrus will start at shortstop and bat second in the order in Sunday's game against the Athletics.

The Rangers are facing a left-handed starter (Sean Manaea) for the first time all season. Manager Jeff Banister will alter his lineup a bit by moving up Andrus, who had previously occupied either the eighth or ninth spot in the lineup, and sending the lefty-hitting Shin-Soo Choo to the bench. The more favorable placement should afford more run-scoring and base-stealing opportunities to Andrus, giving him a higher ceiling as a DFS play than he normally would against right-handed pitching.

Altuve went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Friday's 5-1 loss to the Royals. It was his fourth multi-strikeout effort in five games.

When Altuve didn't strike out Friday, he hit into two double plays. Through five games, Houston's three-hole hitter is 3-for-21 with eight strikeouts and three GIDP. The strikeouts really stand out -- he had just seven games all last season with multiple strikeouts. April hasn't typically been a poor month for Altuve, who has a 10-percent strikeout rate in 309 April at-bats over the last three seasons.

Semien went 1-for-3 with a walk, run and stolen base in Thursday's 5-1 win over the Angels.

Semien's third-inning single to deep center and Mike Trout's subsequent error while playing the ball brought home Adam Rosales to open the scoring for Oakland. The slugging shortstop also swiped his first bag of the season and has now hit safely in three straight games.

Espinosa is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the A's.

Cliff Pennington will make his season debut with Espinosa getting the afternoon off against Oakland's Andrew Triggs. Espinosa is just 2-for-11 to start the year, but he's made the most of them with five RBI.

Espinosa went 1-for-3 with two RBI from a second-inning single in Wednesday's 5-0 victory over the A's.

The veteran slugger continues to demonstrate a penchant for timely hitting in the early going of 2017, with Wednesday's second-inning run-scoring single extending his RBI total to five over the first three games. In fact, Espinosa's only two hits over 11 at-bats have been run producers, after he smacked a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the ninth in Tuesday's 7-6 victory. The 29-year-old's Achilles' heel -- strikeouts -- are still very much a presence as well, though, as four of the nine outs he's made on the young season have come on whiffs.

Andrus went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Wednesday's loss to Cleveland.

It's always nice to get some unexpected slugging out of the ninth spot in the order, and Andrus' homers are among the most unexpected of all. He's never cracked double digits in that category, with last season's eight representing his career high. Andrus is off to a strong start with the bat, having cracked two singles, a double, a triple and a homer over the course of this season-opening three-game set. His fantasy owners will be thrilled if he can approximately replicate last year's strong .302 batting average while continuing to provide his usual complement of steals.