MLB Player News

Pederson is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Cubs.

Pederson will remain on the bench for a second straight game with another left-hander in Cole Hamels toeing the rubber for the Cubs. In his place, Chris Taylor will start in left field and hit seventh.

Buxton is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Astros.

Buxton will take a seat for Wednesday's series finale after starting the past 15 games, slashing .278/.328/.481 with nine doubles, seven RBI and four stolen bases during that stretch. Max Kepler will shift to center field in his absence, with Willians Astudillo starting in right field.

Turner went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in Tuesday's 7-2 loss to the Cubs.

Turner was one of the few Los Angeles hitters able to muster any offense against Jose Quintana, as his third-inning two-bagger was one of the just two extra-base hits on the night for the Dodgers. Tuesday's performance aside, Turner's power has been conspicuously absent through the Dodgers' first 25 games, as he has zero homers and only three doubles to his name. Turner is at least sporting a strong batting average and on-base percentage, and a career-best 50.8 percent hard-hit rate offers hope that his slugging percentage could soon be on the upswing, too.

Choi (personal) was activated from the restricted list Wednesday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

Choi is back with the Rays ahead of Wednesday's series finale against the Royals after missing Tuesday's contest for personal reasons. The hefty first baseman, who is hitting .286/.387/.444 with a homer and six RBI through 19 games this season, should be available off the bench. Andrew Velazquez was sent to the minors in a corresponding move.

Choi (personal) wasn't activated from the restricted list and will be unavailable for Wednesday's game against the Royals, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

A prior report suggested that Choi might rejoin the Rays ahead of the series finale, but the 27-year-old apparently needs additional time to tend to a personal matter. Before leaving the team, Choi had been contending with a calf issue, but that injury isn't believed to be a major concern at this point. The Rays should provide an update on Choi's status before the team kicks off its road trip in Boston this weekend.

Belt went 1-for-4 with his fifth home run of the season in Tuesday's 7-6 win over Toronto.

Belt had fallen into a miniature slump following his previous homer April 16 (2-for-16 with six strikeouts), so Tuesday's long ball was a welcomed sight for fantasy owners. The 31-year-old has settled in as the Giants' cleanup hitter (13 of 24 games batting fourth), but only has 10 RBI so far due in large part to San Francisco's league-worst .270 team on-base percentage. Still, Belt's power potential keeps him relevant in most fantasy formats even with his current .215 batting average and suppressed counting stats.

Ford went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run and a second run scored in Tuesday's 7-5 win over the Angels.

His fifth-inning blast off Chris Stratton was Ford's first career homer, and first RBI, in the majors. The 26-year-old is slashing only .176/.364/.412 through his first five games, but with the injury-wracked Yankees looking for offense from any source, Ford should continue to get regular chances to produce until someone like Giancarlo Stanton (bicep) comes off the IL.

Reyes went 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBI in the Padres' 6-3 win over the Mariners on Tuesday.

Reyes cranked his fifth and sixth long balls of the season, touching up Erik Swanson for a two-run shot in the second inning before getting to him again with a solo shot in the sixth. He's hitting just .219 with an unimpressive .288 on-base percentage, but the six homers over 64 at-bats leave the 23-year-old with a robust .531 slugging percentage.

Ohtani (elbow) is still expected to take live batting practice this week but he won't be activated before the end of April, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports.

Ohtani expressed optimism at the start of April he would be ready to play by the end of the month, but the fact he has yet to face live pitching makes this news relatively unsurprising. According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, the 24-year-old has also progressed to throwing from 95 feet as part of his throwing program.

Vogelbach is not starting Tuesday against lefty Nick Margevicius and the Padres.

There isn't room for both Vogelbach and Edwin Encarnacion in the lineup with the series being played in a National League park. Vogelbach could play first base Wednesday with righty Chris Paddack on the mound, but he's been strictly a designated hitter so far this season, so it's possible the Mariners will prefer Encarnacion's defense over Vogelbach's platoon advantage.