MLB Player News

Perez was a late scratch Friday against the Tigers.

It is unclear why the Royals' starting catcher was scratched Friday, but his status will be updated when the team provides a reason. Drew Butera is starting behind the dish and hitting ninth in his stead.

Leon is out of the lineup Friday against the Rays, the Boston Globe's Pete Abraham reports.

He is still getting the bulk of the starts behind the dish for the Red Sox, but regression has come hard and fast for Leon. Over his last nine games he is hitting .097/.125/.129 with 10 strikeouts. Bryan Holaday will start at catcher and hit ninth Friday.

Casali went 1-for-3 with a double in Thursday's 2-0 victory over the Yankees.

It was only the 27-year-old's second hit of September in 17 at-bats, bringing his slash line for the month to a paltry .118/.167/.176. Casali has found playing time hard to come by while in a platoon with Bobby Wilson and Luke Maile, who have both performed appreciably better overall at the plate. Although Casali's bat has provided some modest pop again in 2016 with eight two-baggers and seven homers, his average has seen a precipitous 75-point drop from last season's .238 figure.

Leon went 0-for-4 with a run scored in Wednesday night's win over Baltimore. He is now hitless in his last 17 at-bats.

Leon's average has dipped to .322, which is still about 140 points higher than his career average (.187) entering the season. The batting-average correction is something we all expected to happen, though probably a lot sooner than this, but Leon still leads Boston's backstops in catcher's earned run average. As such, he's positioned himself to be the No. 1 catcher through the end of the regular season and into the postseason should Boston qualify. Long term, the catching job belongs to Christian Vazquez and/or Blake Swihart.

Sanchez continued to crush balls Wednesday, going 3-for-5 with a pair of homers, three runs scored and five RBI.

Sanchez has been the best player in baseball since being called up in August, now with a .337 average and 19 home runs in 43 games this season. He's now the fastest player in major league history to 19 home runs (45 career games), and is showing no signs of slowing down. He's made a strong case for AL Rookie of the Year despite playing less than two months, and will certainly be a sought-after player in 2017 fantasy drafts.

McCann went 1-for-4 with a three-run homer in Tuesday's win over the Twins.

With Victor Martinez (knee) out, McCann made his first career start as a designated hitter, and swung like it. After striking out and fouling out in his first two at-bats, McCann chased Twins' starter Hector Santiago from the game by pouncing on a hanging sinker for a tape-measure three-run homer to the second deck in left, projected by Statcast at 439 feet. The blast was the catcher's 12th of the season, and his first since Aug. 25, also against the Twins. Overall, McCann's .222/.274/.366 slash line is a disappointing drop off from last season's .264/.297/.387.

Sanchez went 1-for-3 with a walk and a three-run homer in Tuesday's game against the Rays.

Sanchez continues his hot hitting with the go-ahead blast in the seventh inning Tuesday. The catcher has now homered in three straight games, giving Sanchez six this month and 17 for the season. Over his last five games, the 23-year-old is 8-for-22 (.364), with five extra-base hits, eight RBI and four runs.

Sanchez went 3-for-5 with a solo home run in Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Red Sox.

Sanchez homered for the second straight game as part of his first three-hit performance in September, narrowly missing a second homer on a ball that hit near the top of the Green Monster. The 23-year-old has continued his assault on MLB pitching in September after posting a 1.239 OPS in August, smacking five home runs in 16 games this month. With his latest long ball, Sanchez became the second-fastest player to 16 career homers since 1900. The slugging backstop is slashing .327/.393/.698 in 159 at-bats this year.

Leon is out of the lineup Sunday against the Yankees, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports.

Leon will get the day off following four consecutive starts behind the plate. Bryan Holaday will man the backstop in his stead, making his first start at catcher since Sept. 5.

Sanchez went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer in Saturday's 6-5 loss to the Red Sox.

Although he struck out in half of his plate appearances, Sanchez also managed his fourth homer in the last nine games when he took David Price deep for a 436-foot shot over the Green Monster in the third, plating Brett Gardner. The 23-year-old has cooled off in September, but has now hit safely in four of his last five games.