MLB Player News

Manager Dusty Baker said Wednesday that Correa and Myles Straw are the "leading candidates" to bat leadoff Opening Day for the Astros, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

George Springer was the longtime leadoff man for Houston, but now that he's moved onto Toronto, Baker is in search of his new man atop the order. Correa has never batted leadoff in his major-league career, primarily hitting third or fourth. The 26-year-old struggled in 2020 with a .264/.326/.383 slash line, five homers and 25 RBI in 58 games, but he had an .845 OPS across the previous five seasons. Correa is the safer option between the two candidates since Straw has only 224 big-league plate appearances to his name, though the latter certainly provides more upside on the basepaths.

The Red Sox are hopeful that Bogaerts (shoulder) will be available to serve as a designated hitter in Grapefruit League games as soon as this weekend, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports.

Boston has been cautious with Bogaerts since he first reported soreness in his right shoulder March 1, but the star shortstop looks to be nearing a return to full health. After he was cleared to resume a throwing program last weekend, Bogaerts will take another step forward Wednesday, when he's scheduled to take live batting practice. If Bogaerts checks out fine during the workout, the Red Sox could clear him to rejoin the spring lineup as early as Friday's game against the Rays.

Bogaerts said Tuesday that his shoulder feels "pretty close" to 100 percent and he thinks he'll be ready for Opening Day, Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald reports.

He's set to take batting practice for the first time Wednesday, and assuming that goes well, he will be tracking toward being active on Opening Day. Bogaerts has already resumed throwing and appears to be nearing game action.

Bogaerts (shoulder) is scheduled to take batting practice Wednesday, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

The Red Sox had initially left the door open for Bogaerts to face pitching Tuesday, but the team will instead give the shortstop another day to recover from his shoulder injury before he takes the next step forward in his rehab program. Bogaerts, who has already resumed throwing since developing the sore shoulder early in camp, could be ready to rejoin Boston's spring lineup at some point next week.

Allen, considered the top defensive prospect at shortstop in all of baseball entering 2021, has played in seven of the Athletics' first eight Cactus League games, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports. "This spring is important for [Allen]," manager Bob Melvin said. "He's a top prospect of ours, and we want to take a hard look at him."

The fact the 22-year-old has yet to play above the High-A level and lost a year of in-game action in 2020 will prevent Allen from opening the season any higher than Double-A Midland, but that doesn't necessarily rule out an ascension all the way to the majors at some point in 2021. So says Oakland's farm director Ed Sprague, who saw plenty of Allen at the team's alternate training site last season and was impressed with the prospect's developing plate skills. Allen will naturally need to continue demonstrating that offensive improvement at the minor-league level before a promotion is considered, but the consensus on his glove is that it's already major-league caliber.

Adames is hitting .300 (3-for-10) with a double, a walk, an RBI and two runs across his first four spring games.

Entering his fourth major-league season, Adames is looking to put it all together after showing plenty of flashes thus far in his first three campaigns. Adames slugged .481 in 2020, belted a career-high 20 home runs a season prior, and generated a career-best .348 on-base percentage as a rookie back in 2018. The 25-year-old upped the intensity of his training this past offseason in an attempt to hit on all cylinders offensively in 2021 and hold off elite prospect Wander Franco as long as possible, and he's gotten his quest off to an encouraging start, albeit over a small sample early in Grapefruit League play.

Bogaerts (shoulder) will take batting practice Tuesday and could get into game action as a designated hitter next weekend, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports.

Bogaerts has been battling a sore shoulder for most of camp. He's been able to hit off a tee and has begun a throwing program, but the Red Sox continue to bring him along cautiously. The team still expects him to be ready by Opening Day.

Mondesi (foot) will bat second and play shortstop Friday against the Dodgers, Alec Lewis of The Athletic reports.

Mondesi had been dealing with a sore foot since the start of camp and missed the Royals' first few spring games. The injury never seemed particularly serious, however, and returning to game action Friday gives him plenty of time to get up to speed by the regular season.

Royals manager Mike Matheny said Thursday that Mondesi (foot) is "moving in the right direction," Josh Vernier of 610 Sports reports.

Mondesi still hasn't made his Cactus League debut due to a sore foot that he sustained when fouling a ball off his foot prior to spring training. He'll work on running the bases and sliding Thursday as he continues his journey back to full strength. Matheny hasn't expressed much concern regarding the injury, but it's still not clear when Mondesi will be healthy enough to appear in spring games.

Bogaerts (shoulder) will start a throwing program Thursday, Bill Koch of The Providence Journal reports.

Bogaerts has been dealing with a sore right shoulder since early in camp. An MRI taken Monday revealed nothing serious, which seemingly leaves him with a good shot at being ready for Opening Day. He's been swinging for a couple days already and has now advanced to throwing; that's promising progress with the start of the regular season still four weeks away.