MLB Player News

After a second opinion, Padres infielder Ryan Jackson has not improved as quickly as anticipated, which could cause him to opt for surgery, U-T San Diego reports. If he undergoes surgery on his right wrist, he would likely miss a good portion of the minor-league season.

Shortstop stinks. I get it.

But haven't we been through this once before with Brandon Crawford? The hot start? The wishful thinking? The foolishness to entertain the notion that he might be more than just a defensive whiz?

It would be so, so, so, so helpful if that was the case. But as we learned last year, it probably isn't.

With his home run Wednesday, Crawford now has five to go along with a .258 batting average. Through May 14 last year, he had five to go along with a .271 batting average only to hit four with a .240 batting average over the final three-fourths of the season. The worst part was nobody made a move for him until after he hit that fifth home run, so they missed out on the one part of the year when he had something to offer, banking only the regression to the mean. I fear that's happening all over agian.

It's one thing if you invested everything in Brad Miller in a deeper league and are just hoping to get something, anything out of the shortstop position until he bounces back, but if you pass up on a Jonathan Villar or Asdrubal Cabrera type for Crawford, you'll probably regret it.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford continues to be a surprise source of run production for the Giants, as he drove in three more runs in a 10-4 win over the Braves.

Crawford hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot in the eighth inning. That came after his RBI single in the first inning, ad he finished with three RBI while going 3 for 5 with two runs scored.

Crawford is already at 20 RBI on the season, nearly halfway to his career-high total of 45. He is hitting .258/.342/.461 in 128 at-bats.  

Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada came into Sunday's game against the Phillies mired in a terrible offensive slump to begin May. For one day, however, he put an end to his offensive woes, knocking in the winning run with a walk-off single in the 11th inning of a 5-4 win Sunday.

Tejada finished 2 for 4 with one double and two walks. He came into the game 0 for 15 in his first six May games.

"It feels pretty good after a rough week for me and the team," said Tejada, who recently lost his starting job at shortstop.

Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon continued to excel out of the leadoff spot Saturday, going 2 for 3 with one walk, two runs, one RBI and three stolen bases in his team's 6-2 win over the Giants.

Gordon reached base on a single in his first at-bat then promptly stole second and third base, though the offense wasn't able to bring him home. After grounding out in his next at-bat, he walked to start the bottom of the sixth and stole second base again. He came around to score that inning and scored again after an RBI double in the seventh. Gordon has been wildly impressive in the first six weeks of the season, hitting .336/.369/.443 with 21 runs and a league-leading 24 stolen bases that doubles his nearest competitors in the category.

Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada went hitless in two at-bats Wednesday at Miami, dropping his season average to .183. Tejada is hitless in 14 at-bats in May.

"I just think he's trying a little bit too hard. He's swinging at some very marginal pitches," hitting coach Dave Hudgens said. "Yesterday he swung at two pitches that were up and in and hit groundballs. We're kind of searching, wanting to get hits, as opposed to having a good approach and getting a good ball to hit and don't try to force it. I think he's just trying to force it a little bit right now."

Diamondbacks shortstop Chris Owings went 1 for 5 with his first home run of the season in his team's 7-5 win over the Brewers Tuesday.

Owings came through with a solo home run in the sixth inning to break up what was otherwise a down night at the plate. He has hit .298/.348/.404 in 104 at-bats.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford produced his first career multihomer game, going deep twice in a 4-1 win over the Braves. Crawford entered the day with one homer this season.

Crawford hit a solo shot in the fourth and a two-run blast in the eighth. His 2-for-4 performance upped his average to .264.

Dodgers infielder Dee Gordon delivered a big performance Saturday, going 5 for 6 with three stolen bases in his team's 9-7 win over the Marlins.

Gordon scored twice and drove in two runs while running his league-leading stolen-base total up to 19. He has hit .357/.387/.464 with one home run and 10 RBI in 112 at-bats.

Diamondbacks rookie shortstop Chris Owings had mixed results offensively through the first month of the season.

Owings proved to be a good contact hitter, batting .313 and totaling seven multi-hit games through his first 28 appearances. He even got on base at a .367 clip.

However, Owings provided little power or RBI production. He has no home runs and just two RBI, while slugging .398. Owings had a .441 slugging percentage in 460 minor-league games.