MLB Player News
-
Brandon Drury 2B | KC
Blue Jays' Brandon Drury: Bat heating up
Drury went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored and two RBI in Saturday's 10-1 win over the A's.
He's now homered in back-to-back games, although those are Drury's only two long balls on the year. The 26-year-old still only sports a .181/.234/.333 slash line through 19 games, though, and time is running out for him to prove to the Jays that he deserves to keep a starting role -- whether at second base or elsewhere -- after Vlad Guerrero Jr. joins the big-league roster and displaces Drury from third base.
-
Jorge Polanco DH | NYM
Twins' Jorge Polanco: Sits for night game
Polanco is sitting for the second game of Saturday' doubleheader against the Orioles, Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Polanco went 0-for-5 in the first game of the day. Ehire Adrianza will fill in at shortstop for the nightcap.
-
Michael Chavis 2B | CIN
Red Sox's Michael Chavis: Not starting again
Chavis remains out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the Rays, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.
The Red Sox promoted their top hitting prospect ahead of Friday's series opener, but he's been on the bench for both of his first two games with the big club. A corner infielder by trade, Chavis had been receiving work at the keystone prior to his callup, but the Red Sox may not be comfortable enough with his defense at the position to deploy him there on a regular basis. Tzu-Wei Lin will instead pick up a second straight start at second base with all of Dustin Pedroia (knee), Brock Holt (eye) and Eduardo Nunez (back) on the injured list.
-
Marcus Semien 2B | NYM
Athletics' Marcus Semien: No signs of slowing down
Semien went 2-for-4 with a run in a loss to the Blue Jays on Friday and now has five multi-hit efforts in his last nine games.
Semien is a career .251 hitter, even when factoring in his .325 average through 95 plate appearances thus far this season. Therefore, skepticism persists that he'll be able to keep up anything close to his current pace, but the shortstop isn't yet showing any signs of a downturn. A look at Semien's peripheral stats reveals that a combination of improved plate discipline and a corresponding spike in contact rate have led to his stellar numbers in the early going. Both Semien's 11.6 percent walk rate and 86.7 percent contact rate are easily career highs and will naturally be pivotal to disproving the notion that his current numbers are simply outliers.
-
Brandon Drury 2B | KC
Blue Jays' Brandon Drury: Hits first homer
Drury went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Friday's win over the A's.
Drury has been really struggling this season, batting .147/.194/.250 with a strikeout rate pushing 40 percent. It's nice to see him get on the board with his first long ball of the year, but Drury's playing-time outlook moving forward is murky with Vlad Guerrero Jr.'s arrival seemingly imminent. Second base is a possibility, although Drury hasn't really played the position much at all over the past two seasons.
-
Jose Altuve 2B | HOU
Astros' Jose Altuve: Cranks eighth homer
Altuve went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in Friday's 7-2 win over the Rangers.
He went back-to-back with Alex Bregman in the first inning, giving Justin Verlander all the offense he would need. Altuve now has eight homers in 19 games to begin 2019 after smacking only 13 all of last year, but that power display has come at a price -- the 28-year-old has only stolen one base in two attempts so far.
-
Brandon Lowe 2B | PIT
Rays' Brandon Lowe: Smashes solo bomb
Lowe went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in a 6-4 loss to the Red Sox on Friday.
He's been a bit inconsistent, but Lowe has four multi-hit games since April 9. During that stretch, he also has six extra-base hits, including four homers. In large part because of this hot streak, Lowe is slashing .275/.329/.594 with six home runs, 14 RBI and 11 runs in 69 at-bats this season.
-
Michael Chavis 2B | CIN
Red Sox's Michael Chavis: Joining Red Sox
Chavis was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports.
The 23-year-old joins the big-league club ahead of the weekend series in Tampa Bay with a serious chance at heavy playing time, as Dustin Pedroia (knee), Eduardo Nunez (back) and Brock Holt (eye) are all on the injured list. Chavis has been receiving starts at second base with Pawtucket through the first few weeks of the season and will seemingly have those skills tested at the major-league level. The Red Sox's top prospect slashed .250/.354/.600 with four home runs in 12 games at Triple- A.