MLB Player News

Manager Alex Cora and hitting coach Tim Hyers want Bogaerts to be more aggressive at the plate, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal reports.

Bogaerts has gotten into the habit of taking pitches, including pitches down the middle of the plate he can drive. It's a passive approach that may have led to his diminished power in 2017, when he hit 10 home runs, down from the 21 he hit in 2016. Bogaerts swung at a career-low 42 percent of pitches last season, including fewer than 12 percent of first pitches. "He's an impressive young man who has power," Hyers said. "The more balls he hits over the center of the plate and where he's looking, he can do more damage and put some fear in the pitchers instead of just trying to put the ball in play." The challenge for Bogaerts will be to train his body to be more aggressive and not take a hittable strike for the sake of taking a pitch.

Mateo (knee) will run the bases Saturday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Mateo suffered a knee sprain at the start of camp and has been limited in practice thus far. The young shortstop has played just 60 games at the Double-A level and isn't a candidate to start the year in the majors, so this injury should have little effect on his eventual ETA.

Anderson is away from the team while dealing with a personal matter. He is day-to-day.

He is hitting .231 with one home run in 13 at-bats this spring, but is currently away from the team. Anderson is an appealing source of power and speed later in drafts (current NFBC ADP of 197.4). While he hit 17 home runs and stole 15 bases in 146 games last season, a 20/20 season isn't out of the question in the coming years.

Gordon, who went hitless over three at-bats in a 4-3 Cactus League loss to the Rangers on Thursday, is nevertheless hitting .364 (4-for-11) with a double, a home run, three RBI and three runs over his first five spring training games.

The speedster has wasted no time in making a strong impression on his new Mariners teammates, even launching a rare round tripper against the Cubs last Monday. Gordon officially made the move to center field upon his arrival in Seattle, as the seemingly ageless Robinson Cano remains a mainstay at second base. While he has limited experience playing the outfield, Gordon's physical skills should certainly carry him to a respectable defensive performance at a minimum. There'll be more familiarity on the offensive side, as Gordon is slated to fill the same leadoff role he proved quite adept at in Miami. Given his above-average ability to make contact (career-low 13.4 percent strikeout rate last season), elite speed and quality of hitters behind him, he'll be primed for a potentially spectacular run total during the coming campaign.

Vincej has been held out of game action due to quad tightness, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

The 26-year-old shortstop is in camp with the Mariners as a non-roster invitee, and the likelihood of him making the team was already low. He has just 12 career major-league plate appearances and hit an unimpressive .270/.325/.370 with just three home runs in 420 plate appearances for Triple-A Louisville last year. If he misses much more time this spring, his chances of breaking camp with Seattle will sink even further.

Navarro has been limited in practice and held out of game action with a hamstring injury, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Navarro is in camp with the Mariners as a non-roster invitee. With just 10 career major-league games under his belt (all in 2015), Navarro had a very slim chance of breaking camp with Seattle even before this injury.

Urena could break camp with the Blue Jays as a reserve infielder if Troy Tulowitzki (heel) is unavailable Opening Day, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Aledmys Diaz and Yangervis Solarte are set to open the year as the Blue Jays' reserve infielders, but if Tulowitzki remains sidelined through Opening Day, the team could choose to carry additional infield depth. Urena, who struggled to a .206/.270/.309 slash line in his first taste of the majors last season (21 games), would likely battle it out with Gift Ngoepe for Toronto's final bench spot if Tulowitzki ultimately isn't ready for the start of the 2018 campaign. Even if Urena were able to break camp with the Blue Jays in a reserve role, he would likely head down to the minors once Tulowitzki returns, leaving him off the fantasy radar in redraft leagues.

Anderson said he wants to steal more bases in 2018, telling Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-TImes that he wants to reach at last 25 stolen bases. "I'll say over 25. In that 20s range is good," Anderson said before taking the field for Friday's Cactus League opener. "I'll take more, though."

Anderson was a prolific basestealer in the minors, but put that part of his game on hold since being promoted to Chicago. That all changed last September when he went 9-for-9 on stolen-base attempts. That's 60 percent of the 15 steals he recorded in 2017. Anderson dealt with some personal off-field setbacks last season which contributed to a poor start and lingered well into the season before his production ticked up noticeably in August and September. The 24-year-old shortstop, who hit a three-run homer in Friday's spring training game, bashed 17 homers in 2017 and is poised to be a 20-20 player if he follows through on his plan to steal more bases.

Mondesi will officially be known as "Adalberto" going forward, Josh Vernier of 610 Sports reports.

It's unclear what prompted the name change for Mondesi. The well-regarded 22-year-old is competing for a job in spring training, but ultimately may open the year at Triple-A Omaha with Alcides Escobar and Whit Merrifield currently holding down the middle of the infield. If the team decides to move Merrifield around, there could be an opportunity for Mondesi.

Anderson worked on "everything" during the offseason and reported to spring training prior to Monday's deadline for position players, the Chicago Tribune reports.

"He actually looks very, very relaxed - he looks very happy," manager Rick Renteria said. "The situation he had going on last year takes hold of you a little bit and tugs at your emotions when you have a loss of a friend that you consider almost a brother. This year he's able to come in (with a) fresh mind to compete and do the job he ended up doing the latter part of the season." Anderson has struggled to draw walks at every level since High-A, and his 2.1-percent walk rate last season was a step down from the 3.0 percent mark he posted as a rookie in 2016. The subsequent low OBP generated by the lack of free passes makes him an unlikely candidate for a spot near the top of the order, though he was used as a leadoff option at times down the stretch last season. Despite his struggles, Anderson will get plenty of chances to build upon the .257/.276/.402 line he posted last season, which included 17 homers, 56 RBI, 72 runs and a 15-for-16 mark as a basestealer. For his career, Anderson is 25-for-28 on the basepaths over 245 games with the White Sox, and his path to improvement on that front will require a more refined eye at the plate.