MLB Player News

Cabrera went 2-for-4 with a run scored in Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Indians.

That's back-to-back two-hit games for Cabrera, who's now riding a five-game hitting streak overall. During the hot stretch, the veteran has raised his batting average from .120 to .286. Cabrera doesn't offer the pop he used to, but he's still a very smart hitter who just might need to settle for more singles as opposed to doubles and home runs these days.

Stanton (biceps) has begun swinging a bat, James Wagner of The New York Times reports.

Stanton is slightly ahead of schedule, as he wasn't originally expected to resume swinging until this weekend. The slugger is trending in the right direction, though he'll likely remain without a timetable for his return until he's further along in his rehab.

Carpenter agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Cardinals on Wednesday, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The deal includes a third-year vesting option.

Carpenter was in the final guaranteed year of his contract but will now remain with the Cardinals through the 2021 campaign. The 33-year-old is coming off an impressive 2018 season that saw him slash .257/.374/.523 with 36 homers and 81 RBI in 156 games.

Buxton went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and runs and a stolen base in Tuesday's 14-8 victory over the Mets.

Buxton produced one of the Twins' five extra-base knocks against Mets ace Jacob deGrom, who saw his streak of 26 straight quality starts come to an end. The outfielder has done well to cut down on his strikeouts thus far while improving the quality of his contact (career-best 33.3 hard-hit percentage), but it hasn't translated to over-the-fence power yet. All five of his extra-base hits this season have been doubles.

Belt is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Padres, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Belt will head to the bench for what appears to be a routine breather after starting the past 10 games, going 9-for-35 (.257) with a trio of homers and eight RBI in those appearances. Buster Posey will cover first base in place of Belt, opening up a spot in the lineup for Erik Kratz to start behind the dish.

Reyes is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Giants.

Reyes has a hit in each of the last two games, but that's only been enough to bring his batting average up to .148, and he has just a single homer. Hunter Renfroe, who starts in right field Wednesday, has hit .333 with four home runs.

Ozuna describes his current arm strength at "55 percent" following offseason right shoulder surgery but continues a therapeutic regimen designed to progressively increase it, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.

Ozuna is undergoing therapy, pregame exercises and work on his throwing mechanics daily with coach Willie McGee in an effort to get back to full capacity as soon as possible. Ozuna has tabbed accuracy as one of the areas he's still most lacking in, acknowledging that he's occasionally missing his target and "throwing wild." Despite his struggles at times this season, Langosch notes that a throw Ozuna made in Pittsburgh last week clocked in at 84.4 mph per Statcast, harder than any he'd made last year but still below some of the 90-plus mph lasers the veteran uncorked in Miami back in 2016. The good news for fantasy owners is that the results have been increasingly better on the offensive side of things -- Ozuna slugged the hardest-hit home run thus far this season in the first inning Monday, and both of his round trippers have come within the last four games.

Vogelbach went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run in a win over the Royals on Tuesday.

The gravy train will slow down at some point, but fantasy owners are basking in the glow of Vogelbach's incandescent start for the time being. The 26-year-old's multi-hit effort Tuesday was his fourth in the last five games, a span during which he's also racked up nine extra-base hits (four doubles, five home runs). While Vogelbach is actually making contact slightly less frequently as compared to last season (68.2 percent, compared to 2018's 70.1 percent), he's benefiting from a 55.6 percent HR/FB rate that is obviously an extreme outlier.

Miller is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers.

With southpaw Matthew Boyd on the hill for Detroit, Miller will move to the bench in favor of platoon mate Max Moroff. After a 2-for-18 start entering Tuesday's series opener, Miller equaled his season-long hit total in the Tribe's victory, finishing with a home run, double, walk, stolen base, three runs and two RBI.

Jimenez is starting in left field and hitting fifth Wednesday against the Rays, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Jimenez is back in his usual spot in the lineup after going 2-for-4 with an RBI as the team's No. 7 hitter Tuesday. The youngster is off to an uneventful start to his rookie campaign, going 11-for-39 (.282) with a 2:13 BB:K and no extra-base hits through 10 games.