MLB Player News

Urias is not in the starting lineup for the team's series finale Sunday against the Cubs.

Urias was held out of two games earlier in the week with calf tightness, though returned to the lineup for the first two contests of the team's weekend series. There's no indication his current absence is due to injury. David Robertson will take over at shortstop and hit eighth.

McNeil is not in Sunday's lineup against the Nationals.

McNeil is absent from the team's lineup for the second time in the last four games, this time with lefty Patrick Corbin on the mound. Jonathan Villar will take over at second base and hit seventh.

Hoerner went 1-for-2 with two walks, a double and two RBI in Saturday's loss to the Brewers.

Hoerner is off to a strong start at the MLB level, going 4-for-6 in two starts following his Thursday call-up. The 23-year-old started at shortstop Saturday with Javier Baez getting a day off, but he could get regular playing time at second base moving forward over David Bote and Eric Sogard, so long as he stays productive at the plate.

Hoerner went 3-for-4 with a walk, two doubles and an RBI in Friday's 15-2 win over the Brewers.

Making his first start off the season after getting called up Thursday, Hoerner delivered for the Cubs right away. Chicago isn't getting a ton of production from David Bote or Eric Sogard at second base, so there's an opportunity for Hoerner to seize regular playing time if he's productive at the plate. The 23-year-old looked good in a 20-game debut back in 2019, posting a .282/.305/.436 slash line, but those numbers fell to .222/.312/.259 across 48 games last year.

Rojas went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI in Friday's 5-4 loss to Atlanta.

Rojas got the start at shortstop in place of the slumping Nick Ahmed and hit safely in his third straight start. Manager Torey Lovullo said Ahmed remains the starting shortstop for now, but Rojas' bat is heating up. He's gone 5-for-13 with a double, a home run, three RBI and five runs scored over his last five appearances (three starts).

Albies went 2-for-4 with a double, a solo home run and a second run scored in Friday's 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

The second baseman has a slow start to the season, but Albies may be coming out of his funk. Over his last nine games he's gone just 7-for-31 (.226), but six of his hits (three doubles and all three of his homers on the year) have gone for extra bases.

Urias (calf) is starting at shortstop and batting eighth Friday against the Cubs, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

The 23-year-old missed the past two games with right calf cramps after exiting Monday's contest in San Diego, but he'll rejoin the starting nine after Thursday's scheduled off day. Urias is 5-for-13 with two homers, two doubles, six walks, eight RBI and four runs over his past six games.

Frazier went 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base and two runs scored Thursday against the Tigers.

Frazier was a driving force behind the Pirates' offensive output Thursday. He led the game off with his sixth double of the season and came around to score in the same inning. Frazier also tallied his second stolen base of the campaign, though he shouldn't be counted on to contribute significantly in that category. He doesn't have much power to showcase, but Frazier is hitting .329/.415/.471 across 82 plate appearances.

Rojas went 2-for-4 with his first stolen base of the season in Thursday's extra-inning win over the Reds.

Rojas had been on the bench since Sunday before getting the start in right field in the series finale in Cincinnati. This was Rojas' second multi-hit game in his last two starts; the full-time experiment did not last long, but perhaps manager Torey Lovullo will ride the hot hand this weekend in Atlanta.

India went 1-for-4 with a walk and a solo home run in Thursday's extra-inning loss to the Diamondbacks.

The 24-year-old's first career homer tied the game at eight in the bottom of the eighth inning. India went 10-for-21 with 10 RBI in his first six games, but he entered Thursday's game in a 3-for-30 slump. Even after the homer, he's still sitting with a sub-.700 OPS.