MLB Player News

Casali is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Yankees, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Casali will earn the day off after starting five of the last six games for the Rays behind the plate. Hank Conger will take his place and bat ninth against Masahiro Tanaka. During the past ten games, Casali is just 3-for-29 from the dish, and is batting .165/.221/.361 on the season with 41 strikeouts in just 34 games. Even though Casali is struggling at the plate, Conger isn't fairing much better and his defensive shortcomings allow Casali to remain the Rays' starter.

Gomes is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Orioles.

Chris Gimenez will take his place behind the plate while batting eighth in the lineup for Friday's game. Gomes is hitting just .177/.216/.377 in 2016, but he has been finding his stride and hitting better in the past couple weeks.

Lavisky (ankle) is back on the active roster with Triple-A Columbus.

After missing most of April with an ankle issue, Lavisky returned for one game before being sidelined for another couple weeks with the same problem. He seems to be completely healthy now, although his playing time will still likely be limited while Anthony Recker continues to act as the primary catcher for the Clippers.

Sanchez has been diagnosed with a cracked right thumb and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the YES Network's Jack Curry reports.

The hard-hitting catching prospect will rest his thumb for two weeks and then the Yankees will X-ray it to see where he's at. Sanchez has plenty of potential if and when he gets a chance in the big leagues, but with Brian McCann in place, he had an uncertain ETA.

Vazquez is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Rockies, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports.

Vazquez will get the day off after playing in five straight games. The 25-year-old has struggled a bit at the dish this season, hitting just .226/.270/.345 with six RBI through 24 games, but will likely continue to be starting catcher for the Red Sox.

Perez will bat fifth as the team's DH against the Twins on Wednesday, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports.

Perez has gone 7-for-9 in his first two games of the series, so it makes sense for manager Ned Yost to keep him in the lineup as much as he can. He will also get a much-needed day off behind the plate after starting 43 of the team's first 45 games.

Perez hit his seventh homer and knocked in two runs in a 2-for-4 game in Tuesday's win over the Twins.

Perez extended his hit streak to 10 games and is demolishing the Twins in this series. He's now 7-for-9 with three extra-base hits and three RBI in the first two games, and Minnesota can't wait until he's out of town. Perez has a pair of homers in his last six games and has raised his slugging percentage from .435 to an even .500 in that span.

Sanchez left Tuesday's game after taking a foul ball off his right thumb.

His status should be updated once the Yankees take X-rays and announce the exact injury. Sanchez is one of the most big-league-ready catchers in the minor leagues, especially offensively, but he is blocked for now by Brian McCann.

Perez went a perfect 5-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI in Monday's win over the Twins.

Perez has been hot of late, but this was by far the best game of his current nine-game hitting streak. After going a modest 10-for-33 in the previous eight games, Perez busted out for just his second game of the season with three hits or more. He doubled and tripled one time each to push his batting line up to .270/.300/.480. His combination of power and defense makes him one of the game's premier catchers.

Gomes is out of the lineup for Game 2 of Monday's doubleheader against Chicago.

Gomes was behind-the-dish in Game 1 so he will get a breather for the nightcap. Chris Gimenez will replace him at catcher for Game 2.