MLB Player News

Gomes is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the White Sox.

Gomes will head to the bench for the series finale after he started at catcher or designated hitter in each of the past five games. Tucker Barnhart will check in for Gomes behind the dish and will bat ninth.

Alvarez (hand) is starting at catcher and batting eighth Wednesday versus the Yankees.

Alvarez was removed from Tuesday's game after taking a pitch off his right hand, but X-rays came back negative and he's good to go for Wednesday's series finale against the Yanks. The 21-year-old catcher holds a strong .792 OPS with 19 home runs and 41 RBI through 260 major-league plate appearances this season.

Barnes will start at catcher and bat ninth in Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

With top backstop Will Smith resting for the day game after the night game, Barnes will be getting a turn behind the plate. Barnes will be making just his sixth appearance of July after going 2-for-17 with four strikeouts over his prior five games this month.

Smith is not in the lineup for Wednesday's contest against the Blue Jays, Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register reports.

The Dodgers and Blue Jays are playing a day game after a night game, so Smith appears to be receiving a breather. Austin Barnes will do the catching for Tony Gonsolin.

Contreras is absent from the lineup for Wednesday's contest versus the Diamondbacks.

Contreras returned to action Tuesday after missing two games with a hip issue, but he'll take a seat Wednesday for the day game after a night game. Andrew Knizner will catch for starting pitcher Jack Flaherty.

Stallings will start at catcher and bat eighth in Wednesday's game against the Rays, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports.

Stallings will pick up his third start in four games and may have usurped Nick Fortes as the Marlins' preferred option behind the plate. Neither Stallings (.538 OPS) nor Fortes (.547 OPS) has done much offensively to create excitement for fantasy purposes, and even in mixed leagues that start two backstops, both profile as low-end options at catcher.

Fortes is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Rays, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports.

Fortes is on the bench for the third time in four games and may have ceded No. 1 catching duties to Jacob Stallings. Though Fortes holds a minor edge over Stallings in terms of OPS (.547 to .538) this season, Stallings has a longer track record as a reliable defender behind the plate.

Diaz is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Nationals.

The Rockies and Nationals are concluding their series with a day game after a night game, so Diaz will take a seat after he started behind the plate while going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run in Tuesday's 6-5 loss. Austin Wynns will pick up the start at catcher Wednesday.

Sanchez went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBI in Tuesday's 5-1 win over the Pirates.

Sanchez posted his second three-hit game of the campaign and had his first multi-hit effort since June 30. The 30-year-old is batting just .208 in July but has hits in four of his past five games, going 6-for-16 with two homers and six RBI.

Contreras went 2-for-4 in Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Contreras missed a couple of games while tending to right hip tightness. He was the only Cardinal to log multiple hits in this contest, though they had just five as a team. The catcher is batting .442 (19-for-43) in July, a surge that has him up to a .248/.343/.429 slash line with 11 home runs, 40 RBI, 37 runs scored and five stolen bases through 87 games overall.