MLB Player News
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Elly De La Cruz SS | CIN
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Stays hot Friday
De La Cruz went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, two runs scored and a walk in Friday's win over the White Sox.
De La Cruz's fourth home run of the year was a 449-foot moonshot during the Reds' five-run third inning. All four of his homers have come in the last four games, and the star shortstop is now slashing .333/.396/.708 with nine extra-base hits and 15 runs through 13 games. Also of note, De La Cruz has gone four straight games without striking out.
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Ezequiel Tovar SS | COL
Rockies' Ezequiel Tovar: Homer, stolen base in win
Tovar went 2-for-5 with a home run, a stolen base, two total runs scored and two total RBI in Friday's 12-4 victory over Toronto.
Tovar extended Colorado's lead to 8-2 with a solo homer off Paolo Espino in the seventh inning, his third long ball of the year. It's Tovar's fourth straight multi-hit game and his sixth in his last seven contests -- he's gone 13-for-29 with three doubles and two homers in that span. The 22-year-old Tovar is now batting .340 with a .975 OPS, three home runs, eight RBI and two stolen bases through his first 53 at-bats this season.
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Willy Adames SS | MIL
Brewers' Willy Adames: Three hits, homer in win
Adames went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer, a double and two additional runs scored in Friday's 11-1 victory over the Orioles.
Adames broke the game open in the fifth inning, cranking a three-run homer off Jonathan Heasley to extend Milwaulkie's lead to 7-1. The 28-year-old Adames had been stuck in a 1-for-14 slump in the three games prior to Friday's contest. He's gone 13-for-49 (.265) on the season with three homers, eight runs scored, seven RBI and a stolen base through 12 games.
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Tim Anderson SS | MIA
Marlins' Tim Anderson: Sitting with illness
Anderson is out of the lineup for Friday's game against Atlanta since he's feeling under the weather, Daniel Alvarez-Montes of ElExtraBase.com reports.
Anderson started at shortstop in Miami's first 13 games of the season, but he'll hit the bench for Friday's series opener since he's not feeling well. Vidal Brujan will take over at shortstop and bat ninth.
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Nick Ahmed SS | SD
Giants' Nick Ahmed: Big day in rout
Ahmed went 3-for-3 with a triple, three runs scored and two RBI in Wednesday's 7-1 win over the Nationals.
The bottom of the Giants' batting order drove the offense in this one, as Ahmed (the No. 8 hitter) and Tyler Fitzgerald (No. 9) combined for half of the team's 12 hits, both its extra-base hits and eight total runs plus RBI. Ahmed hadn't had a multi-hit performance since Opening Day, but the veteran shortstop is having a solid start to his first campaign in San Francisco, batting .282 (11-for-39) through 13 games with three runs and six RBI.
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Ezequiel Tovar SS | COL
Rockies' Ezequiel Tovar: Gets leadoff look against lefty
Tovar went 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored Wednesday against the Diamondbacks.
Tovar hit atop the Rockies order for the second time this season, though both came with Charlie Blackmon out of the lineup. He's likely to move back down the lineup for the foreseeable future, but he has hit well to start the campaign by collecting at least one hit in 10 of 13 games. While the sample is small, Tovar has shown some promising changes in his batted ball profile, including increased launch angle and barrel rate.
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Elly De La Cruz SS | CIN
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Homers in loss
De La Cruz went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 7-2 loss to Milwaukee.
De La Cruz's fifth-inning homer was his third in three games. He's reached base safely in all 12 games thus far, going 14-for-44 (.318) with three walks and a hit-by-pitch. It's a nice start to the season for De La Cruz, who has dazzling advanced metrics: 93.1 mph average exit velocity (89th percentile), 51.9 hard-hit percentage (85th) and 14.8 barrel percentage (87th). Unfortunately, his .458 BABIP suggests a correction is due; De La Cruz's expected batting average is .244.
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Ha-seong Kim SS | SD
Padres' Ha-Seong Kim: Triple, stolen base in win
Kim went 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and a stolen base in Wednesday's win over Chicago.
Kim came around to score San Diego's second run of the game on a fielder's choice play after reaching on an infield single and later stealing third. The shortstop then added a triple in the fourth before coming around to score a second time as the Padres jumped back out to a two-run lead. Kim is still batting just .182 in April following the two-hit performance, though he's now hit safely in three of his last four contests. It also marked his second triple in his last three games.
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Blaze Alexander SS | ARI
Diamondbacks' Blaze Alexander: Homers in win
Alexander went 2-for-2 with a walk and solo home run in Wednesday's 5-3 win over the Rockies.
Alexander bopped his second home run of the season in the second inning and has hit safely in four consecutive games. He's been the primary fill-in at shortstop since Geraldo Perdomo injured his knee. In the six games since the injury, the righty-hitting Alexander has started five, four against lefties and one against a righty. The lefty-hitting Jace Peterson, who started the one game Alexander didn't, is around and could see action against right-handers. Kevin Newman could also see action in short, but that would counter the organization's desire expressed during spring training to give its prospects consistent at-bats.