MLB Player News

Crawford is not starting Thursday against the Dodgers, Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN Seattle reports.

Crawford will get what appears to be a routine day off following a string of 11 straight starts. Through 25 games this season, the shortstop is hitting .234/.336/.287 with four stolen bases and 15 runs scored. Dylan Moore is covering shortstop in his place Thursday.

Gordon is not starting Thursday against the Dodgers, Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN Seattle reports.

Gordon is sitting for Thursday's series finale with left-hander Clayton Kershaw toeing the rubber for the Dodgers. Sam Haggerty is starting in left field and hitting leadoff in his place.

General manager Ross Atkins said Thursday that he is "extremely optimistic" that Bichette (knee) will contribute again this season, Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic reports.

There is no hard timeline for Bichette's return, but he will get a follow-up assessment this week. The swelling has gone down, and Atkins said the team will take it day by day, per Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun. Bichette was diagnosed with a Grade 1 sprain of the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee earlier this week.

Adames went 2-for-4 with an RBI single in a win over the Yankees on Wednesday.

Adames' eighth-inning single gave the Rays some key breathing room by extending their lead to 4-2. The young shortstop now has a nine-game on-base streak, a stretch during which he's raised his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage by 60, 49 and 158 points to .293, .376 and .507, respectively.

Fletcher went 2-for-4 with a double in Wednesday's loss against the Giants.

Fletcher went 0-for-4 in Tuesday's game against San Francisco, but he got right back to it Wednesday and continued what has been a very consistent stretch. He has hit safely in all but one of the Angels' last 18 games, posting a .345 on-base percentage during that stretch, and he's also produced three multi-hit efforts in the Angels' last five games. He doesn't have raw power, but he's tapped into more game power this year and should remain valuable if he keeps getting on base at a strong clip as he has done this year.

Correa went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored in Wednesday's win over the Rockies.

Correa entered this game a bit cold with five hits in his last 28 at-bats, but Coors Field is just the place for a hitter to get right. Through 24 games this season, Correa is batting .321 with an .894 OPS. He was batting .295/.360/.547 at the All-Star break last year before back issues derailed his season.

Anderson went 1-for-4 with an RBI single, a stolen base and a run scored in Wednesday's 5-3 win over the Tigers.

Anderson singled to score Zack Collins in the fifth inning, then promptly stole second. The 27-year-old Anderson tied the game when he scored on a Yoan Moncada single. Anderson now has two steals, five homers, eight RBI and 20 runs scored in 15 games this season. He's slashing .371/.400/.726 across 65 plate appearances.

Franco continues to work out regularly at the Rays' alternate training site in Port Charlotte, but he's unlikely to receive a promotion to the big club at any point in 2020, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The 2020 Super Two deadline has come and gone, but the extra year of service time the Rays have already gained won't be enough to entice the organization to call up its top prospect. Instead, the Rays appear inclined to treat this season as another development one for the 19-year-old phenom, who will at least have the benefit of playing in simulated games against some of the team's top pitching prospects in Port Charlotte. Assuming he stays healthy and continues to pass any tests the organization's braintrust gives him, Franco looks on track to make his MLB debut at some point in early 2021.

Velazquez is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays.

Velazquez had started the past two days at shortstop and went hitless with a walk in six plate appearances, but he'll give way to Pat Valaika in the series finale. Both Velazquez and Valaika are both still expected to see additional opportunities in the middle infield for at least the next week and a half after Jose Iglesias (quadriceps) was placed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

Anderson went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double, three RBI and three runs scored in Tuesday's 10-4 win over the Tigers.

Anderson has been on fire of late, extending his hitting streak to three games and going 7-for-13 with two homers, five RBI, four extra-base hits and seven runs scored in that stretch. He also increased his average to a stellar .379, one of the highest marks in the American League, making it easy to forgive the lack of steals so far.