MLB Player News

Pennington left Thursday's game with cramping in his left hamstring, MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez reports.

While Pennington was forced from Thursday's game with the injury, the report indicates his not considered serious. If true, he will have a chance to return to action for the Angels' next game Friday against the Mariners.

Bogaerts went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBI in an 11-1 demolition of the Astros on Thursday.

That's now seven straight games with a hit for the 23-year-old shortstop, lifting his average to a season-high .331 mark. Remarkably, he was hitting just .204 as recently as April 19, but Bogaerts has gone a spectacular 36-for-88 (.409) over his last 21 contests. It'd still be nice to see him contribute more power and speed -- his three homers and six steals aren't that exciting -- but it's hard to complain when the guy's in the top five of the American League in batting average.

Updating on a previous report, Mondesi will be eligible to play should the Royals reach the postseason, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports.

The 20-year-old super prospect was suspended for 50 games earlier Tuesday due to a positive test for a performance enhancing drug. It was initially reported that Mondesi wouldn't be eligible to be called up for the playoffs if the Royals made it that far, but Sanchez reports that that is not the case. Still, Mondesi's suspension will begin immediately and last 50 games.

Pennington will start at shortstop and bat ninth Tuesday against the Cardinals, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports.

Andrelton Simmons is slated for thumb surgery and could be facing an extended absence, so the door appears open for Pennington to play regularly at short for the Angels in the weeks and months ahead. However, Pennington is a .244 career hitter with little power or speed to speak of, and veteran Brendan Ryan, whom the team brought in from Washington, could steal occasional starts.

Mondesi has been suspended 50 games after testing positive for the performance enhancing drug Clenbuterol, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports.

Mondesi, the top prospect in the Royals' system, was off to a strong start to the season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, slashing .250/.304/.462. He also had hit five home runs through his first 113 plate appearances this season, while his previous career high in that category was eight when he was at High-A Wilmington in 2014. It took him 472 plate appearances to hit those eight home runs in 2014. According to Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com, Mondesi will not be eligible to play in the 2016 postseason for the Royals if they qualify.

Navarro is expecting a call-up to replace Andrelton Simmons (thumb) on the Angel's 25-man roster, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Navarro has only 10 MLB games under his belt but will have the chance for extended time on the 25-man roster with Simmons expected to miss a good portion of time off the diamond. That said, Navarro has a lackluster slash line of .253/.278/.333 over 93 plate appearances with Triple-A Salt Lake in 2016.

Anderson, 22, is batting just .225 over his last 10 games for Triple-A Charlotte.

Anderson has fanned 12 times over that span as he continues to strike out entirely too much. He has a 32:3 K:BB in 25 games in 2016. With the White Sox in first place and Anderson struggling, a promotion is not likely in the cards, at least not in the short term.

Bogaerts went 1-for-4 with a solo homer in Sunday's win over the Yankees. The homer was just his second of the season.

Power production is the final frontier for the 23-year-old shortstop. After averaging 17 homers in three full minor league seasons, Bogaerts has yet to match that power rate in MLB, averaging 9.5 in two seasons. He had 12 long balls in 2014, then just seven last year. But with that drop in power came an 80-point improvement in batting average (from .240 to .320) and a 4.3 WAR (35th in MLB), according to FanGraphs. Here in 2016, both his OBP (.368) and slugging (.447) are up. The power may come, but you also have to enjoy the hitter you're seeing right now.

Lindor went 3-for-4 with a run scored in Friday's 7-1 victory over the Royals.

The 22-year-old shortstop continued his stellar season, with Friday's output representing his second three-hit outing in his last four games. Lindor is now slashing .421/.476/.632 in 19 at-bats this month and has filled out every offensive category except for triples over his first 101 at-bats of the year.

Correa went 3-for-3 with a solo home run and RBI single in the 5-3 victory over Seattle on Friday.

This is the 21-year-old's second three-hit game since Wednesday. He has two home runs and five RBI in the last three games. All the sudden, he's slashing .288/.403/.500 with five homers, 15 RBI, 16 runs and four stolen bases in 104 at-bats. That's more like what fantasy owners were expecting when they made Correa a first-round pick before the season.