MLB Player News

Royals catcher Salvador Perez is not in the team's lineup Thursday against the Twins.

Perez will be replaced by George Kottaras behind the plate. Perez is hitting .281/.312/.410 in 398 at-bats. 

Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud is sitting Thursday against the Phillies.

Anthony Recker will take over behind the plate with d'Arnaud out. He's hitting .107 in 28 at-bats. 

Royals catcher Salvador Perez had a big game Wednesday during a win at Minnesota. Perez drove in four runs on the four-hit night. 

Perez hit two home runs for the Royals as he went deep in the fourth inning for a two-run shot and added another in the eighth. He now has nine HRs on the season. Perez also drove in a run in the ninth but wasn't credited with an RBI as he hit into a double play. 

The backstop finished 4 for 5 and added a double. He's batting .281 on the year and has gone 11 for 22 (.500) with a double, four homers and 13 RBI over a five-game hitting streak. 

Rookie Travis d'Arnaud is the Mets' starting catcher. Has been since he got the call Aug. 17. But with John Buck still lurking on the bench, the Mets could have easily pulled the plug on d'Arnaud if he didn't produce right away.

So much for all that. The Mets traded Buck to the Pirates Tuesday, making Anthony Recker their only recourse at catcher. In other words, d'Arnaud is here to stay.

He hasn't done much with the bat yet, but six walks to six strikeouts in 21 at-bats is pretty good for a youngster. Considering he hardly played in the minors this year because a broken foot, I'm skeptical he'll get going in time to justify a roster spot in single-catcher leagues, where typically only 10 or 12 (depending on the size of the league) catchers are owned, but his upside certainly makes him intriguing in two-catcher formats.

With Miguel Montero and Eric Chavez back for the Diamondbacks Monday, the team had to option two players to the minors. Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch and third baseman Matt Davidson were the odd men out for the club, MLB.com reports. 

Gosewisch went 5 for 27 (.185) with one RBI over eight games and six starts. Davidson was 5 for 28 (.179) over 12 games and five starts. He had two runs driven in. 

Royals catcher Salvador Perez homered Monday during a one-game series win over the Rays. Playing at home, Perez went deep off Cesar Ramos in the sixth inning.

Perez's two-out three-run blast, his seventh of the year, gave the Royals a 10-1 lead. He added a sacrifice fly in the game and finished with four RBI. Perez went 1 for 3 and is batting .271 on the year.

The backstop of the Royals has homered in back-to-back games and has seven RBI over that span. In fact, he's driven in nine runs in his last three contests and is up to 56 runs driven in on the year. He's heating up right now with base hits in eight of his last nine contests.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit his sixth home run in Sunday's win over Washington.

Perez finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and three RBI. It was Perez's first home run at home since June 7 against Houston. His batting line sits at .270/.303/.377

Mets rookie catcher Travis d'Arnaud hit his first major-league homer during Sunday's 11-3 loss to the Tigers. It was a two-run homer off Rick Porcello in the fourth inning.

d'Arnaud came into Sunday's game with just one hit in his first six games (15 at-bats). He had one double, no RBI and six walks in that span.

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco is making his third consecutive start Thursday against the Diamondbacks. 

Mesoraco was supposed to split time with Ryan Hanigan once Hanigan returned from the disabled list, but that hasn't happened. Mesoraco is hitting .252/.309/.391 in 258 at-bats. 

Blue Jays catcher Josh Thole smashed his first home run of the season Wednesday night in New York. Although the Jays lost the game, Thole's homer tied the score at two in the fourth inning.

Thole finished 1 for 3 in the contest and is batting .146 on the year for Toronto. He added a sacrifice. The backstop has just six RBI all season over 82 at-bats.