MLB Player News

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton is off to a torrid start, batting .345 with two home runs, three doubles and 12 RBI in seven games.

Stanton has been among the best power-hitting outfielders in the majors for a few years, but Marlins manager Mike Redmond went on MLB Network Radio Tuesday morning to explain why Stanton is locked in offensively at the beginning of the season.

"He's really confident right now, but he doesn't feel the pressure to do everything. Now we have guys that can help him," Redmond said.

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was noticeably limping in the clubhouse prior to Monday's game at Minnesota, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Cespedes acknowledged he's dealing with some discomfort in his right heel, but it was not enough to keep him from starting Monday.

"When I have to run, I can run. It's fine," he said.

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes hit his first home run of the season Sunday against the Mariners. 

Cespedes got off to a slow start this year, but may have turned a corner in the eighth inning. Cespedes took the first pitch thrown by Yoervis Medina, and took it out to center field for a solo home run.

Cespedes finished the game 1 for 3, with one run scored and one RBI. He also managed to draw a walk in a previous plate appearance.

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt continued his torrid start to the season with a solo home run off Zack Greinke in a 6-2 defeat to the Dodgers on Sunday.

Belt took Greinke deep in the sixth inning for his fourth home run of the season. He added a single and finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. He is hitting .323 (10 for 31) with four homers and seven RBI in his first seven games.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is not in the team's starting lineup Sunday.

Harper will get a rest after collecting three hits in 21 at-bats to open the year. He expressed his frustrations following the team's Saturday night loss to the Braves. Harper should return to action Monday.

Second baseman Matt Carpenter was pretty much the entire Cardinals offense Friday against Pittsburgh.

Carpenter drove in both runs with a home run in the fifth inning against Pirates starter Gerrit Cole. He had already led off the game with a single and finished with two of his team's six hits to elevate his batting average for the season to .286.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen drove in two runs Friday against the Cardinals.

McCutchen didn't get things going until the bottom of the sixth inning. He singled off Shelby Miller after a four-pitch at-bat. In the bottom of the eighth, McCutchen hit a triple, which plated both of his RBI.

McCutchen finished the contest 2 for 5, with 1 run scored and 2 RBI.

Though Rockies manager Walt Weiss told MLB.com he is still planning on rotating his various outfield options in and out of the lineup, that was before Charlie Blackmon's huge performance Friday against the Diamondbacks.

Blackmon made his third start in five chances and made the most of it, going 6 for 6 with five runs driven in and four scores in a 12-2 win. He had three doubles and a home run, his first of the season.

Blackmon is now hitting .563 though five games, with nine hits, six RBI an four extra-base hits in 16 at-bats, while striking out just once.   

Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera continued to show why he was given a lucrative contract Friday with another explosive performance.

Cabrera went 4 for 5 and capped his day with a two-run homer in the eighth inning in a defeat of Baltimore. He elevated his batting average to .417 in the process.

Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler will get a MRI on his injured hamstring, according to ESPN.

Soler left Thursday's game with the injury. He's been assigned to the team's Double-A club in Tennessee to begin the season.