MLB Player News

Smith is not in the lineup for Friday's contest in Milwaukee.

Smith started at catcher in all three games against the Padres earlier this week, but he will get a breather for Friday's series opener versus the Brewers. Dalton Rushing will be behind the dish and batting eighth for the Dodgers.

Ruiz went 2-for-4 with a run scored in Thursday's loss to the Mets.

The 27-year-old backstop accounted for the Nationals' only run in a 2-1 loss, leading off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single before eventually being brought home by an Andres Chaparro groundout. Ruiz has hit safely in six straight games, and over 42 plate appearances in May he's slashing a sizzling .375/.381/.775 with seven doubles, three homers, eight runs and 13 RBI over 11 contests.

Campusano (toe) has progressed to swinging in the batting cage and catching off a pitching machine, per MLB.com.

Campusano is dealing with a small fracture in his toe that he sustained when he fouled a ball off his foot May 5. The backstop seems to have made significant progress in recent days, though he'll presumably need to get in a minor-league rehab stint before he's activated off the IL. It's possible that Campusano will make it back to the Padres before the end of May, but an early June return seems more likely.

Atlanta claimed Handley off waivers from the Orioles on Thursday and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett.

With both Drake Baldwin (oblique) and Sean Murphy (finger) on the injured list, Atlanta is a bit thin at catcher at the moment, so the team will bring in Handley to provide some extra depth at the position. He'll report to Triple-A and would likely join the big club only if an injury strikes another backstop. Hurston Waldrep (elbow) was transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move.

Rodriguez went 2-for-3 with two walks and a run scored Wednesday against the Cardinals.

Rodriguez struck out in his first plate appearance but reached base in his next four at-bats. He made his third start since being recalled to the majors, while Henry Davis has made five starts in that same span. Rodriguez has gone 4-for-16 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI in his big-league sample, and he could continue to push for playing time given the lack of production from Davis.

Contreras went 3-for-4 with three singles, one walk and a run scored in Wednesday's 5-0 win over the Cubs.

It was Contreras' third multi-hit game in his last four contests, and he's now logged multiple hits in seven of 20 games over the last month. Contreras is on a six-game hitting streak, and while the power numbers haven't been there, the catcher remains an on-base machine that doesn't strike out much. On the season, Contreras is slashing .294/.366/.389 with three home runs, 27 RBI, 26 runs scored and a 20:23 BB:K across 202 plate appearances.

Davis is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Cardinals.

Davis will head to the bench after starting behind the plate in each of the previous three games while going 0-for-9 with two strikeouts. Now batting just .137 on the season, Davis could be at risk of falling into more of a timeshare at catcher with Endy Rodriguez, who draws the starting nod Wednesday.

Mack is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against Atlanta.

After drawing a start against lefty Martin Perez in Tuesday's 8-4 loss, Mack will hit the bench while Atlanta sends another southpaw (Chris Sale) to the hill Wednesday. Liam Hicks will handle catching duties in place of Mack, who is batting .205 with six RBI and six runs through his first 14 games following his May 4 call-up to the majors.

Pages is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Pirates.

He'll take a seat to open up a turn behind the plate for Ivan Herrera, who typically serves as the personal catcher for Wednesday's starting pitcher, Michael McGreevy. Pages had started at catcher in three of the Cardinals' previous four tilts.

Moreno is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Giants.

Moreno started the first two games of the series against San Francisco but will receive the day off for the series finale. Prior to Tuesday's 0-for-3 performance, Moreno had been on a tear over the previous four games, going 9-for-19 with a double, a homer, two steals, five RBI and five runs. Adrian Del Castillo will be behind the plate and bat cleanup Wednesday.