MLB Player News

The Tigers reassigned Sanchez to their minor-league camp Tuesday, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports.

Detroit is expected to open the season with Grayson Greiner and John Hicks as its top two catchers, so Sanchez never had much of a shot at breaking camp with the big club as a non-roster invitee. The 29-year-old will likely be bound for Triple-A Toledo once the International League gets underway in April.

McGuire was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports.

McGuire had seemed to be the third catcher in Toronto behind Danny Jansen and Luke Maile, and this move confirms that. He could return whenever an injury strikes.

Sanchez went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts Sunday in the Yankees' 7-3 win over the Phillies in Grapefruit League play.

After a disastrous 2018 campaign, Sanchez hasn't had the big spring some might have hoped to have seen before tabbing him for an early round selection in fantasy drafts. Over nine exhibition contests, Sanchez has gone 5-for-26 with eight strikeouts, but the backstop remains optimistic he'll break out of his rut at the plate. "Offensively I haven't gotten the results I want, but you also have to have patience," Sanchez told George A. King III and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post after the game.

Wynns (oblique) said Monday that he's hopeful to return to the Orioles' Grapefruit League lineup by the end of the week, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

Wynns is slated to hit soft-toss pitching Tuesday before likely moving on to live batting practice Wednesday. If his oblique checks out fine following the two workouts, Wynns could re-enter the lineup as a designated hitter before eventually stepping back in behind the plate. With Chance Sisco having seemingly separated himself from the Orioles' other catchers in spring training, Wynns is competing with a trio of non-roster players in Jesus Sucre, Carlos Perez and Andrew Susac for the No. 2 gig.

Maldonado will rest Sunday after being hit by a pitch in the calf during a minor-league game, Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star reports.

The HBP happened Saturday, and the Royals are just being cautious with Maldonado due to Monday's off-day. The 32-year-old is still expected to make his Cactus League debut Tuesday against the Cubs and should remain on track to start the season as the Royals' primary catcher.

Vazquez was the starting catcher for Chris Sale's debut Saturday against the Braves. He went 0-for-2 and caught all of Sale's four innings.

Sale worked primarily with Sandy Leon in 2018, so seeing Vazquez as his batterymate is an indicator of Boston's catching plans for 2019. Red Sox management said earlier this spring that they will keep two of the three catchers currently in camp, and it appears Vazquez will be one of them. Vazquez possesses all the requisite non-hitting skills a catcher needs, but he's not scaring anyone with a bat in his hand. After hitting .207 last year, Vazquez is batting .154 this spring.

Manager Ned Yost said Maldonado would make his Cactus League debut Tuesday against the Cubs, Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star reports.

A late arrival to spring training after waiting until last weekend to sign with Kansas City, Maldonado is being eased into action with the big club. Since reporting to camp, Maldonado has caught in two minor-league games, with his most recent appearance coming Saturday. Maldonado is on track to serve as the Royals' primary catcher this season, though his workload could be monitored more carefully in the first few weeks of the campaign.

The Yankees optioned Higashioka to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday.

Higashioka's demotion signals that the Yankees will roll with Austin Romine as their top backup to No. 1 catcher Gary Sanchez to begin the season. While Sanchez missed time due to injury in 2018, Higashioka shared work behind the plate with Romine and slashed .167/.241/.319 across 79 plate appearances.

Sanchez was assigned to minor-league camp Friday.

Sanchez never seemed to have much chance to capitalize on his big-league camp invitation and make the roster over either Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Jeff Mathis. The 30-year-old hasn't appeared in more than three major-league games in a season since 2014.

Maile went 0-for-2 in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Yankees, dropping his spring batting average to .095 (2-for-21).

Offense isn't exactly Maile's calling card -- last year's .699 OPS in 68 games for the Jays was a career high -- so despite his spring struggles, his role as the backup to Danny Jansen doesn't appear to be in any jeopardy, especially with Reese McGuire also failing to make a good impression at the plate in camp.