MLB Player News

Mateo is not starting Friday against Toronto.

He'll get his first rest of the month after going just 2-for13 during the past four games. Richie Martin will fill his void at shortstop and bat ninth.

Bogaerts (illness) will be activated from the COVID-19 injured list prior to Friday's game against the White Sox, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.

Bogaerts has been on the COVID list since testing positive for the virus Aug. 31, but he will return to the active roster Friday after quarantining for 10 days. He seems likely to start at shortstop in the series opener in Chicago, though the Red Sox have yet to release a starting lineup.

Wendle is not starting Friday against the Tigers and left-hander Matthew Boyd.

Wendle has recorded a hit in each of his last five starts, but he'll not surprisingly take a seat with a southpaw taking the hill for Detroit. Yandy Diaz will man the hot corner and hit cleanup.

Bichette went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and a stolen base in Thursday's 6-4 win over the Yankees.

Bichette immediately staked Toronto to a lead with his leadoff homer in the first inning. He added a go-ahead RBI single and a stolen base in the seventh. The shortstop had gone 0-for-13 across the first three games of the series in New York, but he broke out of the mini-slump in a big way Thursday. He's hitting .289/.339/.458 with 22 homers, 84 RBI, 104 runs scored and 22 steals through 595 plate appearances for the year.

Anderson (hamstring) took grounders ahead of Thursday's game against the Athletics, Justice delos Santos of MLB.com reports.

Anderson participated in batting practice Wednesday, and his on-field work continued ahead of Thursday's series finale in Oakland. Manager Tony La Russa said Tuesday that the shortstop remains without a timetable to return to game action, but his recent participation in baseball activities has been encouraging.

Crawford went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run and a walk in Wednesday's 8-5 win over Houston.

The shortstop extended Seattle's lead to 8-4 with his ninth-inning blast. Crawford's homer gave Seattle a little more breathing room when Alex Bregman homered in the bottom of the ninth. In his last 16 games, Crawford has gone 19-for-71 (.267), hitting safely in 13 of those contests. He's slashing .267/.332/.364 with seven homers, 44 RBI, 75 runs scored and three stolen bases through 585 plate appearances.

Anderson (hamstring) took batting practice Wednesday and has been doing some straight-line running, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

Anderson remains without a timeline for his return, but it's nonetheless encouraging that he's taking part in at least some baseball activities. The 28-year-old will need to ramp up his activity level before a potential return date comes into focus.

Velazquez went 2-for-3 with a run and a stolen base in Tuesday's loss to Toronto.

Velazquez entered Tuesday's contest having gone 1-for-11 over his previous six games while seeing a significant decline in playing time due to the return of Gleyber Torres. The 27-year-old managed his first multi-hit performance since Aug. 19 and his first theft since Aug. 24. Velazquez is slashing .242/.254/.387 with a home run, six RBI and four steals on the season.

Downs (thumb) has gone 2-for-8 with two stolen bases in his first two games for Triple-A Worcester since being activated from the 7-day injured list Sunday.

Downs spent the minimum amount of time on the shelf with an inflamed thumb. He's been able to showcase his speed since returning to action, but the impact of his running has been somewhat offset by five strikeouts in those two games. The increased amount of swing and miss in Downs' approach at the plate is part of a distributing trend that has persisted throughout the 2021 campaign. He's struck out at a 33.1 percent clip this season, a major reason why he's sitting on a lowly .181 average over 344 plate appearances with Worcester.

Smith isn't starting Wednesday's game against the Yankees.

Smith's playing time has dried up recently, and he'll head to the bench for the fourth time in the last five games. Jake Lamb will start at the hot corner and bat eighth.