MLB Player News

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton is not in the club's starting lineup Wednesday against the Royals. 

Stanton will be replaced in right by Justin Ruggiano. In 278 at-bats, Stanton is hitting .237/.351/.439.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen had another strong performance Tuesday, in a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals in 14 innings.

McCutchen went 2 for 5  with a home run, his 17th of the season. He drove in two runs and scored one, while walking once and striking out twice. He has seven multi-hit games in the month of August, and is batting .471 with two home runs and nine RBI in 11 games. 

Cubs general manager Theo Epstein told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday that outfield prospect Jorge Soler is still healing from a stress fracture/tibia, but will not be able to return to Class A Daytona in time. Soler still has a chance to appear in the Arizona Fall League before the season is over.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is out Tuesday because he's dealing with the flu.

Harper will be replaced by Scott Hairston in left. There was some speculation Harper was out due to his struggles against lefties this year, but that's not the case. He would be in the lineup if he was not sick.

Harper is hitting .262/.359/.507 in 282 at-bats. 

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is not in the team's starting lineup Tuesday against the Giants. 

Harper will be replaced in left by Scott Hairston. Harper is hitting .262/.359/.507 in 282 at-bats. 

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt received some swing advice from Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The club had attempted to alter Belt's swing, but he was hesitant to make changes. He changed his mind after talking to Brown. "Domonic said it only took him a couple of days to change his grip. I thought, if it only took him a couple of days, maybe I can do it in a couple of days, too." Belt also moved back in the batting box, in order to see pitches a little longer. 

Belt is hitting .271/.349/.466 in 350 at-bats.

Phillies outfielder Darin Ruf has once again looked good in a small sample of games, and is seeing regular playing time, but is a sell high in Fantasy leagues.

Ruf has only notched 42 games over his career, and he's put up some pretty unsustainable rates. Ruf's average has been propped up by a ridiculous .370 career BABIP. Considering his career strikeout rate is over 30 percent, there's no way he'll continue to hit for a high average. On top of that, there's also reason to believe his power will taper off. Ruf has his a home run on nearly a quarter of his fly balls. 

It's been a fantastic start to his major league career, but the overall performance has been fluky. Sell while you can. 

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt was named NL player of the week (Aug. 5-12) Monday. It was his first weekly award honor.

Belt hit safely in seven straight games last week, batting .440 (11 for 25) with two home runs, three doubles, three walks, five RBI and eight runs.

Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon has benefited from extra playing time since Carlos Gonzalez landed on the disabled list with a finger injury. Blackmon is batting .429 (6 for 14) with one double, one home run, two RBI, three runs and one stolen base in his last six games (three starts).

Phillies outfielder Darin Ruf hit his fourth home run of August in his team's 8-5 loss to the Nationals Saturday. The 1-for-4 performance makes him 8 for 33 with four home runs and seven RBI this month and gives him a .289/.389/.546 line with six home runs and 11 RBI in 97 at-bats.