MLB Player News

Maldonado is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Athletics.

Maldonado has a .917 OPS with two home runs and seven RBI through eight games in August as he's maintained the starting role behind the plate despite the acquisition of Christian Vazquez at the trade deadline. However, Vazquez will enter the lineup Sunday and form a battery with Cristian Javier.

Murphy is out of the lineup for Sunday's game at Houston.

Murphy started the past 13 games and will take a seat Sunday while in the midst of a 2-for-18 slump. Stephen Vogt will work behind the plate in the series finale versus the Astros.

Haase is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the White Sox, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reports.

Haase started the first two games of the series in Chicago and will take a seat for the finale after going 1-for-7 with a double, an RBI and five strikeouts. Tucker Barnhart will work behind the plate and bat eighth Sunday.

Jansen is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Guardians.

Jansen has a .367 OPS through seven games in August and will take a seat Sunday for the third time in Toronto's past four contests. Alejandro Kirk will work behind the plate while Teoscar Hernandez rests his legs as the designated hitter.

Grandal is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Tigers.

Grandal started the past five games and will take a seat Sunday after going 5-for-16 with a home run, two RBI, two runs and four walks during that stretch. Seby Zavala will work behind the plate and bat eighth in the series finale versus Detroit.

Heim went 3-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored in a 7-4 win over the Mariners on Saturday.

Heim had a productive night at the plate, rapping out a couple of doubles to give him 18 on the season. Heim's performance could be a sign that he is about to come out of a terrible August slump which had seen him slash .074/.242/.185 over 27 at-bats this month entering Saturday's game. The 27-year-old catcher is still in the midst of a productive season and has a 2.7 WAR, according to Baseball-Reference.

Vazquez will sit Saturday against Oakland, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Vazquez doesn't appear to have claimed the starting catcher job just yet after moving to Houston at the deadline, as he's now been on the bench for three of the last four games. Martin Maldonado will make another start behind the plate Saturday.

Plawecki will be on the bench Saturday against the Yankees, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

Plawecki has emerged as Boston's primary catcher after the team sent Christian Vazquez to Houston at the trade deadline, though he's not far above Saturday's starter Reese McGuire on the depth chart. He may not even be ahead at all, as both backstops have started five times in the last 10 games.

Hedges isn't starting Saturday against the Blue Jays.

Hedges went 0-for-3 with a run and a walk during Friday's series opener but will get a breather Saturday. Luke Maile is starting behind the dish and batting eighth.

Perez went 1-for-4 with a two-RBI home run in an 8-3 loss to the Dodgers on Friday.

After a miserable start to the season which was then exacerbated by injury, Perez has started showing signs of life. The power-hitting catcher has hit six homers since returning from thumb surgery on July 29. Perez is now slugging .540 in August and has 17 homers on the season. He has hit over 20 home runs in every full season of play dating back to 2015 and is on pace to extend the streak again this season if he can avoid re-aggravating his thumb.