MLB Player News

Raleigh is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the White Sox, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

All of Raleigh, Luis Torrens and Tom Murphy have now picked up two starts apiece at catcher this season, making it difficult to discern which of the three is atop the depth chart. Raleigh is sitting for the second straight day Wednesday while Murphy picks up a turn behind the dish.

Perez went 2-for-4 with a pair of solo home runs Tuesday in the Royals' 6-5 loss to the Cardinals.

Perez had been quiet through Kansas City's first four games, but he rediscovered the power stroke Tuesday that he displayed frequently during his 48-homer campaign in 2021. Fantasy managers should expect a fair amount of downturn in his power production in 2022, but he'll still be an elite contributor in home runs, RBI and runs relative to most other catchers while also producing a non-toxic batting average. Perez is also projected to handle one of the heavier workloads among all catchers; he played in 161 games in 2021 and has yet to get a day off in 2022.

Jeffers is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Dodgers.

With the Dodgers and Twins playing a day game after a night game in the series finale, Jeffers will be getting a breather after he spent all nine innings of Tuesday's 7-2 loss behind the dish. Gary Sanchez will pick up his third start of the season at catcher Wednesday after serving as the Twins' designated hitter Tuesday.

Maldonado is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Diamondbacks.

Maldonado is 0-for-9 with three walks and two runs through his first three appearances of the season and will head to the bench Tuesday. Jason Castro will start behind the plate in his place.

Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Tuesday that he expects Jansen (oblique) to miss "several weeks," Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.

The skipper's comments imply that Jansen is dealing with at least a moderate strain of his left oblique, an injury he likely picked up during the Blue Jays' season-opening series with the Rangers. While Jansen is out, Montoyo said he plans to take a matchups-based approach to the catcher position. Alejandro Kirk is the leading candidate to see the bulk of the playing time behind the dish, but on the occasions he rests or serves as a designated hitter, the Blue Jays will turn to Zack Collins and Tyler Heineman to make starts at catcher.

Gallagher will start at catcher and bat ninth Tuesday against the Cardinals.

The Royals will give top backstop Salvador Perez a day out of the field and deploy him at designated hitter, opening up catching duties for Gallagher for the first time all season. Perez is expected to handle one of the bigger workloads among all No. 1 catchers this season, so Gallagher may struggle to get more than one start even in seven-game weeks when Perez is healthy.

Murphy went 1-for-4 with an RBI fielder's choice, a triple, a hit-by-pitch and a run in a win over the Rays on Monday.

Murphy has followed up an impressive spring at the plate with just two hits in his first 18 plate appearances; however, both knocks have gone for extra bases, as the backstop also laced a double Opening Day against the Phillies. The 27-year-old has also struck out on six occasions, however, whiffing at least once in each of the Athletics' first four games.

Stassi went 1-for-1 with three walks and scored twice in a 6-2 win over Miami on Monday.

Stassi helped ignite the Angels' offense by getting on base in each of his four plate appearances. The backstop entered the contest having gone 1-for-6 on the season but boosted his OBP to .500 with the patient performance Monday. Stassi has started behind the plate in three of the team's first five contests to begin the campaign.

Raleigh is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the White Sox, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

The Mariners have rolled out a three-man rotation at catcher to begin the season, with Raleigh and Luis Torrens both picking up two turns behind the plate while Tom Murphy has started once. Raleigh's superior defense might be enough to give him the edge over Torrens as the nominal No. 1 option, but the 25-year-old backstop may need to show some improvement at the plate to maintain his spot atop the depth chart. Through his first 154 plate appearances in the big leagues, Raleigh is slashing .182/.234/.308 with a 35.1 percent strikeout rate.

Barnhart is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Red Sox.

The quick turnaround for Tuesday's 1:10 p.m. ET first pitch in addition to Boston starting a lefty (Rich Hill) likely explains why Barnhart -- a switch-hitter who is more comfortable batting from the left side -- is taking a seat. Dustin Garneau will fill in behind the dish for Barnhart, who has only produced one hit through nine plate appearances but has been masterful in guiding the Tigers' young pitching staff. Barnhart's game-calling savvy was a key reason why right-hander Matt Manning delivered the best start of his young career in Monday's 3-1 win.