MLB Player News

Rodriguez has been on fire over his last nine games at High-A Greensboro, hitting .450 with six home runs and nine walks while striking out just twice in 41 plate appearances.

This red-hot stretch has lifted his season line to .294/.388/.533 with 15 homers in 85 games -- terrific results that have put him on the precipice of joining the game's top 100 prospects. Rodriguez may not develop into a big-time power bat, but as an athletic, switch-hitting catcher with decent pop and strong defensive skills, he's looking like an underrated part of the Pirates' return on Joe Musgrove.

Manager Buck Showalter said McCann (oblique) is on track to return from the 10-day injured list for Thursday's series opener against Atlanta and will likely be part of a near-even timeshare at catcher with Tomas Nido in the short term, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

Showalter said he initially expects McCann and Nido to alternate turns behind plate in an effort to ease McCann back into the mix, but that arrangement won't necessarily remain in place for the rest of the season. Before the playing time tilts more in McCann's favor, however, he'll likely need to show some improvement at the plate, as Nido has historically been the superior pitch framer of the two. McCann has a much better track record of offensive success than Nido, but the 32-year-old was sitting on a career-worst .543 OPS before he was placed on the IL on July 10 with a left oblique strain.

Barnes went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI in a 9-5 win over San Francisco on Tuesday.

Barnes came into the contest batting a paltry .160 on the campaign, but he contributed to a big offensive night for Los Angeles with his first multi-hit performance since May 13. The backup backstop collected his first extra-base hit in over a month with an RBI double in the eighth inning. Barnes has managed a .305 OBP thanks to a 14.2 percent walk rate, but he's otherwise endured a rough season at the plate.

Contreras will start at catcher and bat seventh in Wednesday's game against the Phillies.

Contreras will be making his fourth consecutive start Wednesday, though it comes with the caveat that Travis d'Arnaud isn't available while he recovers from a stomach bug. Even so, Contreras may have already supplanted d'Arnaud as Atlanta's preferred option behind the plate, given their wide gap in performance over the past month. Since July 1, Contreras has supplied an .861 OPS, while d'Arnaud owns a .473 mark over that stretch.

D'Arnaud is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Phillies due to a stomach bug, Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Since William Contreras was behind the plate for all nine innings of Tuesday's 13-1 win, Atlanta was likely planning on resting him for the day game after a night game, but he'll have to catch a second straight contest with d'Arnaud feeling under the weather. With a .190 average since the beginning of July, d'Arnaud was already beginning to lose out on playing time to Contreras, and the bout with the stomach bug certainly won't help his case for re-establishing himself as Atlanta's clear-cut No. 1 backstop.

Bart went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run in a 9-5 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday.

Bart capped a five-run fourth inning with a two-run shot to center off Los Angeles starter Tyler Anderson and added an infield single in the sixth. The 25-year-old has homered in two of his last three games and has gone deep four times in 21 games since being recalled from the minors July 6. However, in that same span he's walked only three times. Bart is slashing .191/.289/.368 with eight home runs, 21 runs and 16 RBI in 58 games.

Gallagher was acquired by the Padres from the Royals on Tuesday in exchange for Brent Rooker, Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports.

A longtime backup for Kansas City, Gallagher will now head to San Diego, and he's likely to fill a similar role behind Austin Nola and Jorge Alfaro, assuming he remains in the majors. Gallagher has a .656 OPS in 171 career major-league contests.

Knizner is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Cubs, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

With Yadier Molina (knee) back from the 10-day injured list and stepping into the lineup Tuesday, Knizner is expected to serve as St. Louis' No. 2 backstop moving forward. Knizner finally started to find a rhythm at the plate in July with a .280/.345/.320 slash line on the month, but he's still holding down a poor .575 OPS over 194 plate appearances on the season.

Narvaez will sit Tuesday against the Pirates.

Most of Narvaez's off days come against lefties, but he'll sit here against righty Bryse Wilson. Victor Caratini will get the nod behind the plate.

Delay is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Brewers.

On the bench for the fourth time in five games, Delay looks to have fallen behind Tyler Heineman on the depth chart at catcher. The Pirates could opt for a soft platoon between the switch-hitting Heineman and the righty-hitting Delay, with the latter backstop drawing most of his starts versus left-handed pitching.