MLB Player News

Maldonado (COVID-19 injured list) is starting Tuesday in Colorado, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

As expected, Maldonado is back in the starting nine for the first of a two-game series in Coors Field.

Nola (finger) has been given the green light to begin playing games at the Padres' alternate training site, Daniel Guerrero of MLB.com reports.

Nola has been gradually working his way back from the fracture to his middle finger on his left hand. He has been throwing to bases and is now able to take batting practice and play in games following an encouraging CT scan. It's unclear when he may return to the big-league squad given his long layoff, which has extended to over a month. "We'll kind of wait and see how the rhythm and timing goes," manager Jayce Tingler said, "but we're really encouraged that finally we're at the stage where he hadn't had any setbacks and the doctors feel like he can't injure it or it can't get worse." Tingler added that Nola's ability to participate in games is "going to be a matter of playing through pain."

Sanchez (finger) is starting at catcher and batting seventh Tuesday against Atlanta.

He exited Saturday's game with a couple bruised fingers, but he only needed a couple days to get right. Sanchez is hitting .237/.356/.421 with two home runs in 12 games.

Vazquez went 3-for-5 with two runs scored in Monday's 11-4 win over the White Sox.

Vazquez was part of Boston's six-run first inning, when a line of six consecutive batters recorded hits off Chicago starter Lucas Giolito. His opening-frame single snapped an 0-for-15 skid, and this strong performance raised the veteran catcher's batting average to .308.

Tromp was optioned to the Giants' alternate training site Monday.

Tromp was called up Sunday to give the Giants some extra catching depth with Buster Posey dealing with an elbow issue. While Posey still isn't starting Monday against the Phillies, the team is evidently confident he'll be available off the bench, as Tromp is no longer needed.

Maldonado is tentatively expected to be activated from the COVID-19 injured list ahead of Tuesday's series opener in Colorado, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Of the five Astros on the COVID-19 IL, only Jose Altuve appears unlikely to rejoin the team in Colorado while he waits to clear all MLB health and safety protocols. Once they arrive in Denver, the quartet of Maldonado, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez and Robel Garcia will still have a few more hurdles to clear related to COVID-19 intake testing, but all four should be eligible to play Tuesday if they continue to test negative for the virus. Once reinstated, Maldonado should take back primary catching duties from Jason Castro.

D'Arnaud went 2-for-5 with a home run, a double, three RBI and two runs Sunday in Atlanta's 13-4 win over the Cubs.

D'Arnaud was one of four Atlanta players to leave the yard during a six-run first inning, which provided young starting pitcher Bryse Wilson with all the cushion he would need in the series finale. The long ball was d'Arnaud's first since April 4, ending an 11-game dry spell in which he slashed a porous .189/.231/.243. D'Arnaud's track record over the past two seasons coupled with his stranglehold on the No. 1 job in Atlanta over lightly used backup Alex Jackson is still enough to make the 32-year-old one of the top fantasy options at catcher, despite his slow start to 2021.

Perez went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run and two strikeouts in Sunday's 6-3 win over the Reds.

Perez was on the bench in two of the last three games, but he smacked his third home run of the season in the fourth inning of Sunday's series finale against Cincinnati. The catcher is now slashing .194/.375/.484 with eight RBI and six runs this season.

Perez went 1-for-5 with a two-run home run in Sunday's win over the Blue Jays.

Perez slugged a walkoff home run Saturday during Game 2 of the doubleheader against Toronto, and he accounted for all the offense Sunday with a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh. The veteran catcher is enjoying a strong start to the season and is hitting .291 with a .957 OPS while going deep in three of his last five contests and tallying five RBI in that stretch.

Murphy went 1-for-2 with a solo homer and a walk in Sunday's 3-2 win over Detroit.

Murphy's eighth-inning blast tied the game up at 2-2. After starting the year 1-for-18, the 26-year-old is 4-for-13 with four extra-base hits over his last four games.