MLB Player News

Perez went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Saturday's 6-1 loss to Atlanta.

He took Bryce Wilson deep in the third inning to put the only blemish on the right-hander's line. Perez only has five hits in 51 at-bats on the season, but three of them (two homers and a double) have gone for extra bases.

Murphy is not in the lineup Saturday against the Angels, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Murphy will receive the day off Saturday after starting the past five games behind the plate. Aramis Garcia will start at catcher and bat ninth for the A's.

Smith is not starting Saturday against the Giants, Eric Stephen of SBNation.com reports.

The Dodgers stated before the start of the season that Smith would start around 90 games, but he's been ahead of that pace so far. Even after sitting in favor of Austin Barnes on Saturday, he's on pace to start 102 contests. Given his .274/.371/.496 slash line, it would be a surprise to see his share of playing time decrease any time soon.

Vazquez is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Phillies, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.

Vazquez hits the bench after going 5-for-13 with a homer and five RBI over his last three games. Kevin Plawecki starts behind the plate in his absence.

Murphy went 2-for-5 with a two-run double and another two-bagger in a win over the Angels on Friday.

Murphy didn't take part in the Athletics' four-homer parade, but he did his part with a timely sixth-inning two-bagger that plated Ramon Laureano and Chad Pinder to snap a 1-1 tie. The talented backstop has been showing signs of life at the plate lately after a tough start to the season, going 6-for-17 with four doubles, four RBI, a walk and a run over his last five games.

McCann will remain on the bench Saturday against the Marlins, Justin Toscano of The Bergen Record reports.

McCann appears to be losing his starting job to Tomas Nido, who's started in his place four times in the last five games. McCann's .200/.273/.240 season slash line doesn't exactly make the best case for him to earn regular at-bats.

Garver is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against Cleveland, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Garver hits the bench after starting two games in a row. Only once this season has he made three consecutive starts. Willians Astudillo will start behind the plate in his absence.

Grullon was claimed off waivers by the Rays on Saturday, Neil Solondz of the Rays Radio Network reports.

Grullon has spent the year bouncing between several different organizations. He was briefly with the Rays for 18 days in April but never made the team's active roster. It will likely take an injury for that to happen this time around.

Stallings is not starting Saturday's game against the Braves, Kevin Gorman of TribLive.com reports.

Stallings receives a much-needed day off after catching all 184 pitches of Friday's 20-1 disaster. He's had a solid run of late, hitting .297 with three homers and eight RBI in his last 11 games. Michael Perez fills in behind the dish Saturday.

Sanchez is out of the lineup Saturday against the White Sox.

As usual, Kyle Higashioka starts behind the dish with Gerrit Cole pitching. Sanchez has played in 31 games to Higashioka's 22, but with their offensive numbers so similar, the latter, who's a better defensive catcher, is progressing toward being the Yankees' preferred option at the position.