MLB Player News

Gimenez is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Rangers.

The lefty-hitting Gimenez will bow out of the lineup with southpaw Jake Latz on the hill for Texas. Rather than usual platoon mate Ernie Clement, Cleveland will go with the righty-hitting Owen Miller at second base in Gimenez's stead.

Vargas is hitting .308/.384/.504 across 60 games for Double-A Tulsa, bringing his composite minor-league line for the year to .310/.377/.515 with 19 homers and eight steals in 97 games.

Most remarkable has been the growth of Vargas' plate discipline since being promoted from High-A, where he put up a 9:32 BB:K in 37 contests. In Double-A, he's now sporting a remarkable 29:41 mark; that's just a 15.3 percent strikeout rate. Vargas didn't enter the season with a lot of helium, but following the Dodgers' blockbuster deadline trade, he's arguably the team's top prospect all of a sudden. At the major-league level, the 21-year-old is blocked at third base by Justin Turner (who's under contract for one more year), but he's not an especially good defender there anyway. Vargas has played a little at first and second base this year, and it wouldn't be surprising if the team moves him to one of those positions on a more permanent basis. With his defensive development seemingly lagging behind his bat, Vargas may well spend a good chunk of next year in the minors working on his fielding.

Biggio (elbow/back/neck) was diagnosed with a grade 1 sprain of his left UCL and will not hit for at least a week, Mike Wilner of the Toronto Star reports.

The injuries continue piling up for Biggio, who hasn't played for the Blue Jays since Aug. 2. He was rehabbing with Triple-A Buffalo when he hurt his elbow Sunday. The best-case scenario is an early September return for the 26-year-old, though he'll probably require more rehab work once healthy and thus miss additional time.

Gorman has collected multiple hits nine times in his last 18 games for Triple-A Memphis, a span in which he's batted .358/.427/.612 with four homers, 13 RBI and 15 runs.

He's picked up a couple four-hit efforts in that span. Most impressively, though, Gorman has noticeably cut down on the strikeouts this year; after whiffing at a 29.0 percent clip across his minor-league career prior to this season, he's at a trim 19.3 percent this year -- and it hasn't cost him any power production. The 21-year-old's future in St. Louis may be at second base rather than third due to the presence of Nolan Arenado, but this season has erased many of the doubts about Gorman's bat -- and there's untapped upside here yet, as Gorman's game power still hasn't caught up with his raw ability.

Mendick is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays.

Mendick started at shortstop in each of Chicago's last four games, going 5-for-16 with two doubles and an RBI. With Tim Anderson (hamstrings) back in the starting nine for Wednesday's contest, Mendick's time as an everyday player now looks to be over.

Chavis went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Tuesday's 4-2 win over Arizona.

One game after making his team debut, Chavis moved up from seventh to the leadoff spot in the lineup. He also showed off his versatility, moving from second base to first base. With general manager Ben Cherington looking for more power sources, Chavis figures to see more playing time and is off to a good start.

Castro isn't in the lineup Wednesday against the Cardinals.

Castro went 1-for-4 with a run and two strikeouts Tuesday, and he'll retreat to the bench with left-hander Jon Lester taking the mound for St. Louis. Zack Short will start at shortstop and bat eighth.

Mendick started at shortstop and went 2-for-5 with an RBI in Tuesday's 5-2 win over the Blue Jays.

Mendick made his fourth consecutive start at shortstop Tuesday, replacing the injured Tim Anderson (leg). That might be the last start for Mendick, as Anderson is due back Wednesday, per Jordan Horrobin of MLB.com.

Polance went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI Tuesday against the Red Sox.

Polanco delivered a two-run homer in the seventh inning, his 23rd long ball of the season. He's now gone yard in consecutive games and has five multi-hit efforts in his last seven games to go along with 11 RBI and three runs scored in that span. For the season, Polanco is hitting .274/.334/.491 with 74 runs scored and 74 RBI across 500 plate appearances.

Frazier is not starting Tuesday against the Dodgers.

Frazier will sit for the second time in four games with the Dodgers sending lefty Julio Urias to the mound. Ha-Seong Kim gets the nod at the keystone.