MLB Player News

Ahmed went 1-for-2 with a walk and a solo home run in Friday's spring game against the Rockies.

Ahmed, who hit a career-high 19 home runs in 2019, cranked out his first spring home run. The Diamondbacks made the soon-to-be 30-year-old shortstop a wealthier man during the offseason, inking Ahmed to a four-year extension. It's a payday earned by his improvements at the plate. All the advanced metrics (wRC+, contact rates, plate discipline, hard-hit percentage, barrels, etc.) indicate the improved bat is for real.

Cruz, who went 1-for-3 with a run scored Wednesday, is batting .235 in 17 Grapefruit-League at-bats.

The 6-foot-7 shortstop hasn't looked out of place defensively thus far, even if he's expected to eventually move to another position. Cruz showed off a glimpse of his power potential with a tape-measure homer Sunday, stroking a prodigious shot over the center field wall. He's expected to start the season at Double-A and has done nothing to diminish his prospect tag in spring training, though a 0:7 BB:K throws up a hint of caution in his timeline.

DeJong, who went 2-for-3 with a run in a Grapefruit League win over the Astros on Tuesday, is hitting .571 with a double, three home runs, seven RBI, a walk and five runs across his first six spring games.

DeJong's exhibition slate has been a rousing success early, as he now has a five-game hitting streak and homered both Sunday and Monday. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports the 26-year-old vowed to simplify his approach at the plate this season by focusing on laying off any pitches that are down and away, the culprit for many of his career-high 149 strikeouts in 2019. DeJong is hoping that by establishing a zone and sticking to it, he'll also improve his situational hitting after slashing an unsightly .193/.297/.277 with runners in scoring position last season, including slugging only one of his 30 homers with a runner on second or third base.

Camargo will most likely be sent back to Triple-A Gwinnett if he doesn't win the starting third base job this spring, Gabriel Burns of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

While Camargo and Austin Riley, his competition for the starting spot, each have experience playing other positions, the organization would rather see both get consistent playing time rather than hurting their development in a bench role. "I don't know that realistically, can you get both guys (ample playing time)? No, I don't know that you can do (them) justice. If you're not playing every day, you're not going to do justice with things. You talk about it, it sounds good, but in reality, it's not that easy to do," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said Sunday. Camargo is currently considered the favorite to win the big-league job.

Perdomo was reassigned to the Diamondbacks' minor-league camp Monday.

Perdomo was able to spend some time with the major-league coaching staff to begin the spring, but he'll head to minor-league camp to get ready for the 2020 season. The 20-year-old is one of Arizona's top prospects, but he'll need some more time to develop in the minors prior to making his debut in the majors, especially since shortstop Nick Ahmed received a contract extension during the offseason.

Baez went 2-for-2 with a walk and a solo home run in Sunday's Cactus League game against the Mariners.

Baez looks great in the early going, as he now has two home runs and an absurd 1.914 OPS through five Cactus League games. The 27-year-old has established himself as an MVP-caliber player and should post elite numbers once again in 2020.

Camargo, who hit a home run off Yankees prospect Deivi Garcia in Friday's Grapefruit League game, is the favorite in the third-base job battle with Austin Riley, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

This sounds like an educated guess from Bowman. We already know Camargo will make the 26-man roster, getting some occassional starts at the hot corner while serving as the backup at second base and shortstop, but it sounds like he could also just win the third base job outright. Riley has produced a couple long line drives while going 2-for-10 with just one strikeout thus far and is the much more appealing fantasy option due to his big power potential, but Camargo could become useful in deep leagues if he enters the season as close to an everyday player.

Arcia went 2-for-2 and hit a three-run home run in Thursday's spring game against the Royals.

Arcia is off to a fast start this spring, going 4-for-10 with two home runs and seven RBI over four games -- a good sign for a player who had the worst wRC+ among qualified hitters a season ago. The Brewers brought in Luis Urias to either compete with or supplant Arcia, but Urias is working his way back from wrist surgery, so Arcia will get ample opportunities to hone his hitting skills during the exhibition season.

DeJong, who went 2-for-2 with a walk and a run in a Grapefruit League win over the Astros on Wednesday, also hit a three-run home run and drove in four runs overall in an exhibition loss to the Nationals on Tuesday.

The slugging shortstop has only logged six plate appearances through three spring games, but he's made excellent use of them. DeJong mustered career highs in extra-base hits (62) in 2019, including new high-water marks in doubles (31) and home runs (30). He drove in a career-best 78 runs, but he also produced a pedestrian .233 average, the lowest of his big-league career thus far. The timely hitting he's demonstrated over a small sample thus far in Grapefruit League play is a particularly welcome sight after DeJong hit just .193 with men in scoring position last season, and Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports manager Mike Shildt was particularly gratified to see it. "I want to see Paul hit with that runner at third, less than two outs, " Shildt said. "And today we got that situation. He got to two strikes and didn't try to do too much. What a fluid, pretty swing."

Garcia homered twice in Tuesday's spring training loss against the Angels, despite the wind blowing in, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Garcia is getting some extra playing time in spring training with Freddy Galvis out for the short-term, but he impressed manager David Bell. "He's fun to watch," Bell said. "He's a talented young player. It will be fun to see him. We'll be sure to get him some playing time this spring. It will be a good experience for him." Garcia is ticketed for Double-A after breaking out at High-A Daytona last year.