MLB Player News

Alvarez isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Giants.

Alvarez will get a breather after slugging a pair of solo homers during Friday's win. Luis Torrens will replace him behind the plate and bat ninth.

Contreras isn't in the lineup for the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against the Royals.

Contreras went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored during Game 1 of the twin bill, and he'll now watch Saturday's finale from the dugout. Gary Sanchez will start behind the plate instead and bat fifth.

Stephenson isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Rangers.

After hitting the game-winning home run in the ninth inning of Friday's contest, Stephenson will take a seat on the bench to begin Saturday's game. Jose Trevino will get the nod at catcher and bat ninth.

Ruiz isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Dodgers, Mark Zuckerman of NatsJournal.com reports.

The Nationals appear to be content alternating between Ruiz and Drew Millas behind the dish, and Saturday marks the latter's turn to join the starting nine.

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.