MLB Player News

Contreras isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Cardinals.

Contreras is 2-for-13 with a double and an RBI over his last three contests, so he'll catch a breather Tuesday. Victor Caratini will handle the catching duties and back sixth in Contreras' stead.

Diaz isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against Cincinnati.

Diaz will head to the bench for the third time in the last four days. Jacob Stallings draws the start behind the dish and is set to hit eighth in Diaz's absence.

Hedges is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Orioles.

Francisco Mejia will handle catching duties in the series finale, but he seems to have fallen behind Hedges on the depth chart, given the usage of both backstops recently. Hedges had started four of the Padres' previous six games, and it looks like his superior defense could be the playing-time tiebreaker between the two when Mejia is in the midst of dry spells at the plate.

Barnhart is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against Pittsburgh.

Barnhart has gone 6-for-10 at the plate over his last three games. He'll get a rest in favor of Kyle Farmer on Tuesday.

Gomes drew walks in all four of his plate appearances during Monday's win over Atlanta and scored two runs.

His display of patience had a lot more to do with the fact that Gomes was hitting eighth in front of the pitcher than any skill on his part. On the season, the veteran catcher has a feeble .213/.317/.325 slash line, and he's fallen decidedly behind Kurt Suzuki on the Nats' depth chart.

Mejia is not starting Monday against the Orioles.

Mejia has started three of the past four games, going 2-for-12 (.167) with a trio of strikeouts over that stretch. Austin Hedges is starting at catcher and hitting eighth in Monday's series opener.

Manager David Bell said Sunday that Casali (knee) is "getting close" to resuming baseball activities, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Casali has been on the 10-day injured list since July 18 with the right knee issue and is expected to miss up to a month with the injury, per Sheldon. While the fact that Casali is progressing as anticipated suggests he's on track to return from the IL around mid-August, the Reds won't be able to pin down a target date for the backstop's return until he begins logging on-field work on a regular basis.

Realmuto went 1-for-4 with a grand slam Sunday against the Braves.

Realmuto extended his team's lead to six in the fifth inning with a grand slam over the fence in left field. He's now left the yard in three of his last four contests, putting him at 14 home runs over 99 games this season.

Gomes is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Dodgers.

Gomes is on the bench for the sixth time in nine games, signaling that he's fallen behind Kurt Suzuki on the depth chart at catcher. The downturn in Gomes' usage doesn't come as a surprise, given that he's batting just .194/.294/.299 since the beginning of May. For the season, Suzuki holds a 163-point edge in OPS.

Stallings will start at catcher and bat ninth Sunday against the Mets.

He'll be behind the plate for the fourth time in six games with manager Clint Hurdle opting for more of a timeshare at catcher lately in light of Elias Diaz's second-half struggles. Stallings has only marginally outperformed Diaz on the offensive end since the All-Star break and boasts a less impressive track record at the big-league level, so it's probably too early to anoint Stallings as Option 1A in the timeshare.