MLB Player News

Ohtani appeared to be throwing harder Saturday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic Los Angeles reports.

Ohtani has been throwing every other day, and he was pitching at a higher intensity from the stretch off flat ground Saturday. He still has a ways to go until he's ready to toss off a mound, although it's good news that he's managing to progress through the program.

Stanton went 1-for-5 with a two-run homer in Game 1 of Saturday's twin bill against the Royals.

Stanton cut the deficit to four in the fifth inning, but the Royals would ultimately roll to a 10-5 victory. The 28-year-old has gone 6-for-18 with a double, a home run and six RBI over his previous five games. Stanton is slashing .280/.347/.515 through 102 games during his first season in the Bronx.

Miller was designated for assignment Saturday.

This was a pretty obvious move to make room for the newly acquired Mike Moustakas on both the 40-man and 25-man rosters. Miller, 28, is hitting .248/.311/.413 with seven home runs in 254 plate appearances this season and could very well be changing organizations in the coming days.

Ozuna went 2-for-4 in a win over the Cubs on Friday, but he's hitting just .191 with no home runs over 95 plate appearances in July.

Ozuna appeared to have finally hit his stride in his new St. Louis digs in June, when he hit .333 with two doubles, a triple, seven home runs and 21 RBI. However, all of those round trippers were bunched up in the first half of the month, and Ozuna hasn't left the yard since June 16. He has just two extra-base hits -- both doubles --in July as well, but interestingly, putting good wood on the ball hasn't been an issue. Ozuna sports a solid 39.2 percent hard-contact rate this month, but he's been getting the ball in the air much less frequently, as evidenced by a 52.7 percent groundball rate. The outfielder ran into the same issue in May (54.8 percent groundball rate), another month in which he unsurprisingly experienced a significant power drought (one home run).

Vientos went 3-for-5 with two home runs and seven RBI for Rookie-league Kingsport in Friday's win over Burlington.

The Mets' No. 6 fantasy prospect got a late start to the season but Vientos is finally getting locked in, slugging five of his six homers over the last 10 games and raising his slash line to .259/.331/.466, and he has an encouraging 12:19 BB:K through 29 games. The organization has no reason to rush the 18-year-old up the ladder, but if he continues to punish Appalachian League pitchers, he could make his Low-A debut before the end of the year.

Jimenez went 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and an RBI for Triple-A Charlotte on Friday.

Jimenez continues his assault on pitchers in the International League, hitting .444 (20-for-45) with four home runs, six doubles and nine RBI over 11 games since the All-Star break. Despite Jimenez's recent success at the level just below the majors, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn continues to preach patience, Tom Musick of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The GM stresses he needs to see a longer stretch from Jimenez before calling him up. That promotion will surely come before the end of the season, perhaps as soon as early August.

Blackmon went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run in Colorado's 3-1 win over Oakland on Friday.

Blackmon continues his hot hitting, as this marked his fifth multi-hit effort in his last nine outings to bring his average up to .290 through 389 at-bats. His RBI total is down from last season, but he's leading the National League with 78 runs scored and he's also been able to push his slugging percentage from .457 to .506 with a hot month of July that's seen him slash .366/.418/.690 over 71 at-bats.

Stanton will man right field and bat second against Kansas City on Friday.

Stanton will move up in the order after Aaron Judge (wrist) was placed on the 10-day DL prior to Friday's contest. Judge had been a fixture in the two-hole all year, starting 97 of 101 games for the Yankees in that spot of the order. This likely won't impact Stanton too heavily as the 28-year-old has been occupying the cleanup position recently, but this should give him a couple extra at-bats over the next few weeks if he remains in this spot.

Buxton (wrist) was activated from the 7-day DL at Triple-A Rochester on Friday.

As expected, Buxton will rejoin the Red Wings and return to the starting lineup at the Triple-A level this weekend after landing on the shelf with a strained wrist July 14. Through 18 games with Rochester this year, he's hitting .232/.303/.377 with two home runs, six RBI and three stolen bases. Look for him to head back to the majors once he's able to get into a groove at the dish.

Choi went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored Thursday against the Orioles.

Choi has enjoyed a regular role since being recalled from Triple-A Durham on July 10, going 9-for-32 with a home run, two doubles, three RBI and two runs scored. He will almost certainly never face lefties -- he has just 10 at-bats against them in his career -- and has a .405 slugging percentage in 185 career at-bats, so expectations should be limited despite his relatively impressive run recently.