MLB Player News

Rays catcher Curt Casali hit his first home run of the 2015 season during Wednesday night's 5-0 victory over the Nationals. 

Casali went yard in the fifth inning with a solo shot. Casali was recently recalled from Triple-A Durham. He finished the game 3 for 3 with two singles. 

Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal is getting the night off on Wednesday, as he is out of the starting lineup against the Rangers. The Dodgers are facing a lefty in Wandy Rodriguez, and the switch-hitting Grandal is batting just .227 (5 for 22) against southpaws this season. 

Grandal has also started each of the last four games behind the plate, so A.J. Ellis will handle the catching duties, as per normal when Clayton Kershaw makes the start for the Dodgers.

Padres rookie catcher Austin Hedges accomplished a career milestone during Tuesday's loss to the Athletics: he hit his first-career home run.

Hedges went 1 for 3 with a solo blast in the third inning, which snapped an eight-game hitless streak.

Hedges has struggled since being called up on May 4, hitting .107 with just three hits in 28 at-bats.

Diamondbacks catcher Oscar Hernandez, who has been sidelined all season due to a broken hamate bone in his left hand, began a rehab assignment Tuesday with Class A Kane County. He was hitless in two at-bats and hit by a pitch.

Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki is back in action Monday against Toronto after losing extensive time to dizziness. He had not played since June 7.

Plawecki was on a 4-for-22 slide before going down, weakening his slash line to .211/.256/.312.

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco played three games with Triple-A Louisville during a rehab assignment but was recently pulled after his injured hip continued to bother him.

Louisville manager Delino DeShields is saying Mesoraco still has a long way to go to recover from the lingering hip issues, per Cincinnati.com.

"He's not going to be the player they want him to be with a bad hip," DeShields told the Courier-Journal Sunday. "I don't care where you put him. … The main thing for him, right now, is to get healthy. It's obvious, to me, that he's injured, and he's not going to get better. It was even hurting him on his swings the other night in Columbus. I just want to see him get healthy, if it's surgery or whatever it is."

The Mets sent catcher Anthony Recker to Triple-A Las Vegas on Sunday. 

Recker hit .143 with two home runs for the Mets this year. The Mets chose to send him down and keep catcher Kevin Plawecki. 

"It was a chance to keep Kevin here and get him some playing time," manager Terry Collins said, per ESPN. "One of the things that's really important for Reck is when he plays, he's dangerous. He's just got to get some at-bats. So this is an opportunity for him to go to Triple-A and get some at-bats, and hopefully find his swing and get back here and help out."

Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos is getting the day off for Sunday's game against the Indians. 

Starting in Castellanos' place is Andrew Romine. James McCann is also out of the starting lineup as Bryan Holaday is in his place at catcher. Anthony Gose, who hit ninth the past two days, is back to the leadoff spot.  

Catcher Yasmani Grandal provided all of the scoring for the Dodgers in the 2-1 loss to the Padres on Saturday. Grandal launched a solo home run in the third inning to tie the game up at one. But the Dodgers were unable to add to that, as they snapped their four-game win streak.

Grandal's home run was his seventh of the season, and his second in as many games as he continues to swing a fairly-hot bat since returning from the disabled list. 

Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit a game-tying, solo home run in the fourth inning on Saturday, but it wasn't enough as the Royals fell to the Cardinals 3-2. The home run was Perez's 10th of the season, and fourth in his last seven games.