MLB Player News

Diaz is out of the lineup Sunday against the Nationals.

Diaz, who has batted second in the order in 10 straight contests, will rest Sunday in favor of Greg Garcia at shortstop. Diaz has been a staple in the St. Louis infield this season, but with tough righty Stephen Strasburg on the hill for the opposing Nationals, manager Mike Matheny will look to get as many left-handed bats in his lineup as possible. That will come at the cost of a start for Diaz, who sports an impressive .900 OPS on the season.

D'Arnaud was scratched from Saturday's lineup after being involved in a minor car accident on his way to the stadium, Kevin McAlpin of 680 The Fan in Atlanta reports.

D'Arnadu walked away from the fender bender unharmed, but the Braves opted to give him the day off anyway. He'll be replaced at shortstop by Daniel Castro, who will bat eighth in the order. Expect d'Arnaud to return to availability Sunday.

Tejada was designated for assignment by the Cardinals on Saturday, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Tejada dealt with a quad injury early in the season which kept him sidelined until April 19. He never appeared to fully regroup upon his return, as he's just 6-for-34 at the plate this season. Tejada will be subjected to waivers, and if he is unclaimed, he may accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Memphis.

Story went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI Friday against the Giants.

The rookie shortstop has looked pretty comfortable in the seventh spot in the lineup, where he's gone 3-for-8 in the last two games. Strikeouts will always be an issue for him, but his power (13 home runs and 29 total extra-base hits) and ability to produce runs (35) more than make up for his lack of contact.

Arcia, 21, is slashing .299/.331/.425 with four home runs, 22 RBI and six steals through 40 games for Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Arcia's stolen base numbers appear to be down a bit, but he is otherwise flashing his expected skill set. Arcia has the ability to hit .300 with a little pop and a bunch of steals. Jonathan Villar is playing well at shortstop for the big cub, though, so Arcia will likely bide his time in the minors for the time being.

Story went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run and a strikeout against the Red Sox Thursday.

The move down the order and they off day Wednesday helped Story, as the rookie contributed on offense after he struck out six times in eight at-bats in the last two games. His value is still on the decline after he's gone 10-for-42 in the past 10 contests, but the homer might be what he needs to get back on track.

Story is batting seventh for Thursday's series finale against the Red Sox, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports.

Due to his scorching hot start, Story had been a mainstay in the second spot of the batting order. However, he's struggled to the tune of a .238 batting average with nine strikeouts over the past week, so manager Walt Weiss decided it was time for some change. This may reduce his ability to score runs if this continues, which could lower his somewhat declining value.

D'Arnaud is 11-for-26 (.423) with three doubles and a triple over the last seven games.

He has a hit in six of those seven contests. D'Arnaud also has seven walks versus just four strikeouts and two stolen bases during that time, but unfortunately it hasn't led to many runs. In the last seven games, d'Arnaud has two runs and zero RBI.

Crawford went 2-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and a run Wednesday against the Padres.

Crawford was decisive at the plate once again, and he provided the game-winning RBI with a single in the bottom of the 10th inning. With five RBI in the last two games and 21 over the month of May, the third baseman might be on the verge of breaking out despite going hitless in five of his last 11 games.

Ahmed is in the lineup Wednesday after taking a pitch to the jaw on Tuesday.

Ahmed left Tuesday's game, as did fellow middle infielder Jean Segura, who took a pitch to the head. While Segura will sit out at least Wednesday, Ahmed will get right back in there, starting at short and batting leadoff.