MLB Player News

Belt (heel) is not yet ready for game action but will continue taking part in baseball activities for the next few days, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Belt underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his right heel in October, placing his readiness for Opening Day in some doubt. He was further slowed by an illness early in camp, though he seems to be past that now. There's still seemingly time for him to get up to speed by the start of the regular season, but he'll need to get into game action fairly soon if that's to happen.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona said Reyes (COVID-19 protocols) could be cleared to rejoin the team as soon as late Monday or Tuesday, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal reports.

Both Reyes and Jose Ramirez were forced to self-isolate after the two admitted to violating MLB's COVID-19 protocol, though neither tested positive for the virus. Assuming Reyes continues to submit negative test results over the next 24 hours, he should be back in camp in the next day or two. The brief absence from workouts should't affect Reyes' readiness for Opening Day.

Choi went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and two runs in a Grapefruit League loss to the Twins on Sunday.

After a delayed start to Grapefruit League participation due to knee soreness, Choi is quickly making up for lost time. The 29-year-old has reached safely in all three of his games thus far, and he also went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run in Thursday's contest versus the Twins. Choi will look to boost his batting average back to its previous standards in 2021 after slumping to a .230 figure across 145 plate appearances last season.

Pederson went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Saturday's Cactus League game against the Brewers.

Pederson is just 2-for-9 to begin spring training, but both of the hits have left the yard. That's pretty much par for the course with the outfielder, who batted just .190 last season but slugged seven home runs in 43 games. Pederson had a .249 average and 36 home runs in his last full season back in 2019. Fantasy managers shouldn't expect a great batting average in 2021, either, but the power should be there in Pederson's first season with the Cubs.

Torrens (finger) went 0-for-1 with an RBI sacrifice fly in a Cactus League tie with the Athletics on Saturday, his Cactus League debut.

Torrens is expected to see what has been estimated as about 45 percent of the playing time behind the dish as a platoon mate of Tom Murphy this coming season. The 24-year-old acquitted himself well after arriving via trade with the Padres last season and distinguished himself with a .300/.373/.500 line that included 39 extra-base hits and 62 RBI at Double-A Amarillo back in 2019.

Reyes is being kept away from his teammates after breaking COVID-19 protocols, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.

Reyes reportedly got a haircut and went to dinner inside a restaurant with teammate Jose Ramirez, who has also been temporarily sent home. The team expects to find out soon when the pair can return. Reyes similarly violated health protocols last season by attending a Fourth of July party without a mask.

Lewi went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs in a Cactus League tie with the White Sox on Friday.

Lewis went 0-for-4 over his first two Cactus League games before breaking the ice with Friday's multi-hit effort. The slugging outfielder heads into 2021 with extremely elevated expectations after blasting 11 home runs across 242 plate appearances in 2020.

Torrens (finger) is batting seventh and serving as the designated hitter in Saturday's spring game against the Athletics, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

Torrens will make his spring debut Saturday after missing time due to a finger laceration early in camp. If all goes well Saturday, he could resume catching duties in the near future.

Carpenter is 0-for-8 with two walks and four strikeouts across his first four Grapefruit League games.

It's certainly early and the sample is therefore small, but Carpenter's struggles are an unfortunate development with respect to his bid for regular playing time to start the season. Manager Mike Shildt has gone on record with his desire to try and keep the 35-year-old's bat in the lineup as much as possible despite the fact Nolan Arenado is now entrenched at the hot corner. Nevertheless, Carpenter has plenty to prove after generating a combined .216/.332/.372 line across 661 plate appearances over the last two seasons, and with the designated hitter currently not in the National League's 2021 plans, he could have a difficult time getting consistent at-bats even if he shows marked improvement over the balance of spring training.

Ohtani completed 1.2 innings in Friday's Cactus League contest against Oakland, allowing one run on three hits and two walks while striking out five.

Ohtani's control -- especially on his slider -- wasn't in peak form, but the two-way star recorded all five of his outs via strikeout and touched 100 mph on his fastball, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. More importantly, manager Joe Maddon liked what he saw in terms of Ohtani's mechanics, which never appeared to be in sync last season. "It really starts with his delivery, I think it's more clean and consistent," Maddon said. "I like his arm stroke better. It starts there and then he's able to recapture the velocity he's had in the past, and the really good break of his splitter. The big thing for his success is going to be repetition of delivery and knowing where his fastball is going consistently." Ohtani won't have any restrictions as part of the Angels' six-man rotation this season, though health is always a concern considering that injuries have limited him to 53.1 total innings on the mound over three big-league seasons.