MLB Player News

Maldonado made his first start since being acquired by Houston and went 0-for-3 in Sunday's 4-3 loss to Texas.

Maldonado was brought on board to be the Astros' backup at catcher to Max Stassi while Brian McCann (knee) recovers from surgery. To get a sense of how much playing time he'll receive, Maldonado is replacing Tim Federowicz, who made seven starts in 17 games while with Houston. Maldonado has more MLB experience than Federowicz had, so he could get more at-bats, but he's also less familiar with Houston's staff. We suspect Stassi will remain the primary starter with Maldonado getting two-to-three starts per week.

Narvaez went 3-for-4 with a home run, a triple, two RBI and a run scored in the 7-4 loss to Toronto on Sunday.

The lefty-hitting backstop finished just a double shy of the cycle in one of his best performances of the season. Narvaez has had a strong July, hitting three of his four home runs during the month alongside a .391 (18-for-46) batting average. However, Welington Castillo (suspension) is eligible to return from suspension at earliest Aug. 24, after which he'll bump Narvaez back to the No. 2 role.

Hedges is out of the lineup Sunday against the Diamondbacks.

A.J. Ellis will fill in for Hedges behind the plate, catching for Padres southpaw Joey Lucchesi. Hedges has started seven of the Padres' nine games since the All-Star break, going 5-for-22 with a pair of home runs.

Murphy will start at catcher and hit seventh Sunday against the Athletics, Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post reports.

Murphy will pick up his second start in a row and third in four games after tallying an extra-base hit in both of his previous two appearances. Though Murphy possesses the highest fantasy ceiling of the Rockies' three backstops, his lack of polish behind the plate may prevent him from displacing Chris Iannetta as the team's top option on the depth chart.

Stassi is out of the lineup Sunday against the Rangers.

Stassi started the last two games behind the plate, even though the newly acquired Martin Maldonado was available for both contests. While he'll give way to Maldonado on Sunday, it appears Stassi still may have a chance to retain the primary catching role, though it's more likely manager A.J. Hinch will go with some sort of timeshare arrangement behind the plate.

Garver is out of the lineup Sunday against the Red Sox, Dan Hayes of The Athletic Minnesota reports.

Garver will get a routine breather after making four consecutive starts, which included a 4-for-6, five-RBI performance against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Bobby Wilson serves as the Twins' catcher in the series finale, working in a battery with Jose Berrios.

Barnhart is out of the lineup Sunday against the Phillies, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Barnhart has caught the last four games for Cincinnati, collecting exactly one base hit in each outing to raise his season batting average up to .252. He'll head to the bench for the series finale, however, giving way to Curt Casali behind the plate.

Realmuto went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run against the Nationals on Saturday.

Realmuto came to the plate with runners on first and second in the 10th inning and delivered a game-winning RBI single. He continues to produce, driving in six with a home run and two doubles to go along with five runs scored since the All-Star break.

Grandal is not in Saturday's lineup against the Braves, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports.

Grandal has gone 3-for-9 with a home run and three RBI over his previous two starts. He'll get at least most of the day off, as Austin Barnes gets the nod behind the dish.

Zavala (undisclosed) was reinstated from the minor-league disabled list Saturday, James Fegan of The Athletic Chicago reports.

Zavala is good to go after recovering from an undisclosed injury; he'd been on the shelf since July 16. He's batting .227 with four extra-base hits and six RBI through 17 games at Triple-A Charlotte in 2018.