MLB Player News

Alvarez went 2-for-5 with two solo home runs in Friday's 10-3 win over the Giants.

Alvarez went yard for the first time since Opening Day with his fourth-inning blast. He added a second homer in the seventh. The catcher is up to three long balls, three RBI, five runs scored and a double while batting. 286 over eight contests. Alvarez will likely have a majority of the starts behind the dish over Luis Torrens. After back-to-back regular seasons with 11 homers, Alvarez is looking to tap back into the rookie-year power that saw him swat 25 homers in 123 games in 2023 without sacrificing his gains in making better contact.

Stephenson went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI in Friday's 5-3 win over the Rangers.

Stephenson broke a 3-3 tie in the ninth inning with a two-run shot off Chris Martin that proved to be the game-winning homer. After opening the season 0-for-9, the 29-year-old has recorded hits in back-to-back games. While he's sat out two of the Reds' first seven contests, Stephenson went deep 13 times in 342 regular-season plate appearances last season and has posted a double-digit homer total in four of five years, with the outlier coming during an injury-riddled 2022 campaign.

Del Castillo (calf) was reinstated from the 10-day injured list Friday.

The 26-year-old opened the season on the injured list due to a calf strain, but he's good to go after a two-game rehab assignment with Triple-A Reno. Del Castillo seemed to have a decent path to playing time when Pavin Smith (elbow) landed on the IL, but Jose Fernandez made a huge impact in his MLB debut this week and is likely to get his fair amount of chances in the short term.

Baldwin went 1-for-6 with three runs scored and an RBI in Thursday's rout of the Diamondbacks.

Per Mark Bowman of MLB.com, in the process Baldwin became just the third player in franchise history to score at least one run in each of the first seven games of a season, joining Hall of Famers Jimmy Collins (who accomplished the feat in 1900) and Hank Aaron (1957). Baldwin's had a blistering start to 2026, slashing .286/.375/.643 in 32 plate appearances with a double, three homers, eight RBI, nine runs and a 4:3 BB:K.

Fermin is absent from the lineup for Friday's game in Boston.

It will be Luis Campusano doing the catching. Fermin has made four starts to Campusano's three behind the plate thus far, and a similar playing time breakdown seems likely to continue.

Pages is not in the lineup for Friday's contest in Detroit.

Ivan Herrera is getting the start at catcher, so Pages will take a seat. Pages is 3-for-15 with one home run and a 0:4 BB:K in his first five games this season.

Susac went 3-for-3 with a walk Thursday in a 7-2 win against the Mets.

Susac won the Giants' backup catcher role in spring training, but this was the first time he had an opportunity to start (he did enter as a defensive replacement Wednesday). Susac singled in his first MLB plate appearance in the second inning and went on to reach three more times on two additional singles and a walk. Patrick Bailey is entrenched as San Francisco's starting catcher, so Susac probably isn't going to see extensive playing time.

Murphy (hip) caught three innings of a simulated game with High-A Rome on Wednesday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

Murphy has been on the shelf since the beginning of spring training while recovering from right hip surgery, but Wednesday's sim game was a step in the right direction. The catcher will have to work up to nine innings behind the plate and then do so on consecutive days before he'll be considered ready to be activated from the 10-day injured list. The plans for Murphy's upcoming rehab assignment are expected to be announced soon, but he appears to be on track to return at some point in late April or early May.

Bailey isn't in the lineup for Thursday's game against the Mets, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Bailey will take a seat Thursday after going just 2-for-18 (.111) with six strikeouts through his first six games of the year. Daniel Susac will catch instead for left-handed starter Robbie Ray, batting eighth.

Hicks went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run, two additional RBI and an additional run scored in Wednesday's win over the White Sox.

Hicks is enjoying an excellent start to the season, hitting safely in four of his first five games while already leaving the yard on three occasions. With three homers, 12 RBI and eight runs scored in 19 plate appearances through five games, Hicks should cool down sooner rather than later. However, it wouldn't be a stretch to call him one of the hottest bats in the National League over the first week of the regular season.