MLB Player News

The Mets plan to keep Travis d'Arnaud on the roster once John Buck returns from a paternity leave and expect to give him significant playing time, major-league sources told FOX Sports. d'Arnaud, who was promoted to the majors Saturday, is considered a top 100 prospect by MLB.com (No. 6) and Baseball America (No. 23).

Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit his fifth home run in a loss Saturday against Detroit.

Perez finished 2 for 4 with a run scored, two RBI and a walk to go with the home run. It was Perez's first home run since returning from the disabled list Aug. 11. He is hitting .273/.308/.379.

Mets top prospect Travis d'Arnaud was officially recalled Saturday, as expected. d'Arnaud joins the team with John Buck being placed on the paternity leave list. 

d'Arnaud, who is making his major league debut against the Padres Saturday, batted .304 with two homers and 12 RBI at Triple-A Las Vegas. He hit .286 with three home runs and 20 RBI in 105 at-bats in the minors. The backstop entered the season as the No. 6 overall prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com. 

Giants catcher Hector Sanchez homered during Friday's 14-10 win at Miami. Sanchez went deep in the fourth inning for a three-run shot.

The second home run of the season was a big one for Sanchez. He finished the game 1 for 6 with three strikeouts otherwise. Sanchez is batting .222 on the year.

Both of Sanchez's homers have come in the last two games. In fact, his three-run home run on Thursday night defeated the Nationals. San Francisco was down 3-1 before Sanchez went deep and they won 4-3. Sanchez has gone 2 for 7 with six RBI in his last two games, but has gone just 5 for 22 (.227) with the same six RBI over his last 15 games.

Mets catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud will join the team Friday and make his major-league debut Saturday against the Padres, according to the New York Post.

d'Arnaud will fill in for John Buck, who is on paternity leave. He batted .304 with two homers and 12 RBI at Triple-A Las Vegas. He hit .286 with three home runs and 20 RBI in 105 at-bats in the minors.

Mets catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud "will be active" Friday night against the Padres, manager Terry Collins told ESPN.

With John Buck on a paternity leave, d'Arnaud is expected to be called up in time for Friday's game. He batted .304 with two homers and 12 RBI at Triple-A Las Vegas. He hit .286 with three home runs and 20 RBI in 105 at-bats in the minors.

I assume Yan Gomes is the main reason the Indians let Mark Reynolds go. They probably know as well as anyone that the former Diamondbacks and Orioles slugger has another power surge in him, but why suffer through this crippling cold spell when they can just go with Gomes and live happily ever after?

That's basically what they've done in five games since, starting Gomes at catcher in four of them. With Reynolds out of the picture, first base and DH are all the more available for Carlos Santana, their opening day catcher who they've never really treated as a catcher.

Gomes has a .314 batting average and .893 OPS. Granted, those numbers are inflated by recent hot streak that has him hitting .500 (21 for 42) with two homers over his last 13 games, but with more regular playing time, his streaks might not be so exaggerating moving forward.

And with more regular playing time, he's a legitimate Fantasy asset. I've moved him all the way up to 20th at catcher in my rankings, but if you prefer the upside play, you could make a case for him as high as 16th.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez was out of the team's starting lineup Tuesday against the Marlins, but it was not because of any lingering effects from his recent return from a concussion. Manager Ned Yost is just looking to get him a day of rest with the Royals stuck in a tough stretch in the schedule.

"We're 14 days into a stretch where we play 44 games in 44 days," Yost said. "With a day game coming tomorrow, give him a break where you can afford to give him a break."

Perez had appeared in consecutive games since returning from the concussion DL, and he should be back in the lineup Wednesday. He has switched to a hockey-style mask to try to give him some extra protection against stray foul balls, and he will stick with that for the time being. 

Yankees catcher Chris Stewart said his hand is fine and he's just getting a day off so Austin Romine can get some more playing time Tuesday, The Journal News reports. 

Stewart's production and playing time have dropped off recently and Romine has shown improvement. 

"I've talked about playing Ro a little bit more, and you will see him a little bit more," manager Joe Girardi said. "But Stew is still going to catch a lot."

Stewart, batting .219 on the year, has gone just 7 for 58 (.121) over his last 21 games. He has three RBI over that stretch. 

Indians catcher Yan Gomes moved into the sixth spot in the lineup Monday against the Twins for the fourth time this season.

"I think he's earned it," manager Terry Francona said, per The Plain Dealer. "Especially with what he's done against left-handers."

Gomes is batting .324 with a .603 slugging percentage and .963 OPS against left-handed pitchers in 2013. Overall, he's batting .310 with a .532 slugging percentage and .885 OPS in 52 games.

"Early in the year, I was trying to protect him because we'd pinch-hit for him early," Francona said. "Now we've gotten to the point where we're not going to do that. He's been swinging the bat really well."