MLB Player News

Pena was removed from Thursday's game against the Twins in the bottom of the fourth inning with an apparent injury, Julia Morales of AT&T SportsNet Southwest reports.

Pena was effective early in Thursday's matchup, as he went 3-for-3 with a double and a run. However, he was examined by trainers after singling in the top of the fourth inning. Although the 24-year-old initially remained in the game, Aledmys Diaz (undisclosed) took his place at shortstop in the bottom half of the inning. The nature and severity of Pena's injury aren't yet clear.

Owings went 1-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base in a 3-2 win Thursday in St. Louis.

Owings singled, stole a base and scored in the seventh inning. It was just his fourth game in the month of May and his first stolen base this season. After showing some promise last season in limited time for Colorado, Owings has been dreadful at the plate in 2022, slashing .138/.286/.172 over 35 plate appearances with one extra-base hit.

Manager Dusty Baker said Thursday that Diaz continues to tend to a nagging unspecified injury, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

The injury first surfaced Sunday, when Diaz went 2-for-3 with a grand slam before departing the Astros' 5-0 win over the Tigers in the eighth inning. He hasn't appeared off the bench since and will remain out of the lineup for Thursday's series finale with the Twins. Baker said he's hopeful Diaz will be able to pick up a start at some point during the Astros' three-game series in Washington this weekend, so whatever is bothering the veteran infielder doesn't appear to be too significant.

Castillo isn't starting Thursday against the Reds.

Castillo started in the last seven games and hit .200 with a home run, a double, two runs and an RBI. Rodolfo Castro will start at shortstop while Josh VanMeter takes over at second base.

Grissom is hitting .294/.395/.392 with two homers, 20 RBI and five steals across 25 games for High-A Rome.

That 11:16 BB:K looks good on him, if not quite as incredible as the 11:5 mark he put up in 12 games after being promoted to Rome last year. A 2019 11th-round pick, Grissom looked very promising in the minors last year, producing a composite .319/.418/.464 line with seven homers, 16 steals and a 45:54 BB:K across 87 games. The 21-year-old is a big player at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, but despite seeing plenty of action at second and third base last year, he's mostly stayed at shortstop this season. Ultimately, he may profile as nothing more than a very good utility infielder, but with a frame that big, he certainly could grow into more power, which would help his case to become an everyday big leaguer down the line.

Marte is hitting a modest .252/.358/.417 with four homers, three steals and a 14:37 BB:K across 26 games for High-A Everett.

He's shown some signs of warming up lately, going 6-for-17 (.353) with a homer and a steal across the last four games, but Marte has run hot and cold for the entirety of the season's first month-plus. Before this stretch, he went 3-for-24 in a six-game span -- and before that, he went 8-for-19 over four games. The net is that while Marte's plate discipline has remained strong, his power production and consistency have been issues. After last season's 17 homers and 23 steals in (what was then) Low-A, much more was expected from Marte with the bat. He's had his struggles with the glove, too, with eight errors giving him an unpleasant .922 fielding percentage and making it look increasingly likely that he'll be moved off shortstop at some point. Marte should still be considered a high-end prospect, but it would be good to see more power from him, especially after he closed out 2021 with a lengthy homer drought.

Preciado is hitting just .178/.197/.247 with no homers, no steals and a 2:37 BB:K for Single-A Myrtle Beach.

A highly rated prospect entering the season after last year's impressive showing in rookie ball, Preciado has struck out in nearly half of his plate appearances (48.7 percent) this year. He had one good game May 4 against Salem, when he went 4-for-6 with two doubles and six RBI; unfortunately, that one game represents 30 percent of his hits and two-thirds of his RBI across 18 games in Single-A. The bright side for Preciado is that he's still a few days shy of his 19th birthday, so he has plenty of time to figure things out and tap into his considerable raw tools -- but given his ugly stats in 2022 and distance from the big leagues, fantasy managers can't be blamed for moving on to prospects with more immediate upside.

Strange-Gordon will start at shortstop and bat eighth in Thursday's game against the Mets, Matt Weyrich of NBC Sports Washington reports.

Strange-Gordon picks up his third start in a row while Alcides Escobar continues to deal with an infected nail on one of his index fingers. In the previous two contests, Strange-Gordon went 2-for-7 with an RBI.

Swanson went 0-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored during Wednesday's 5-3 win over the Red Sox.

Swanson drew a walk in the third inning and proceeded to steal second base before Matt Olson brought him home with an RBI double to center. While the shortstop is on pace for a career high in stolen bases with four steals through 32 games, overall he's struggled with the bat and is slashing just .226/.303/.671.

Arcia went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and an additional run scored during Wednesday's 5-3 win over the Red Sox.

Arcia started rallies in the third and seventh with singles, but he only came around to score once. However, in the bottom of the ninth with the score tied 3-3 and Ozzie Albies on first base, Arcia ripped two-run homer to left field for his first long ball of the season. The backup middle infielder has appeared in just two games since April 24, but he's 4-for-5 during those contests.