MLB Player News

DeJong went 1-for-3 with a solo homer Saturday against the Cubs.

DeJong launched his 11th bomb of the season off Jon Lester to break up a scoreless tie in the eighth inning of a losing effort. In less than two months in the majors, the rookie's shown exceptional power, as evidenced by a .558 slugging percentage while also offering a reasonable .279 batting average.

Pennington started at second base and went 2-for-3 with a double in Friday's loss to Boston.

With back-to-back southpaws on the mound, Pennington has seen two consecutive starts and produced two separate two-hit performances. The Angels are facing David Price - another lefty - Saturday, which likely places the 33-year-old into the lineup for a third consecutive game. While he is on the short side of a platoon at second base with Nick Franklin, Pennington could force himself into a larger role if he can outplay his competition at second base.

Anderson is not in the starting lineup Saturday against the Royals.

The 24-year-old hasn't gotten a day off since June, so he'll give way to Tyler Saladino at shortstop Saturday. Anderson is hitting just .226 over his last 53 at-bats and has seen his OPS dip to .631 over the past couple weeks, so the routine day off could be a good chance to clear his head as well.

Crawford is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Padres, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Crawford will sit for the first time since June 28 as Eduardo Nunez shifts over to short and Conor Gillaspie mans the hot corner. While Crawford has multiple hits in two of his last three games, he's still batting just .217/.254/.400 for the month of July. He's taken a dramatic step back against right-handed pitching this season, with his OPS against righties falling nearly 180 points from a year ago.

Baez is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Cardinals.

Baez will head to the bench for the second time since the All-Star break with Kris Bryant (finger) returning to third and Ben Zobrist and Addison Russell up the middle. With 11 hits (including two homers) in his last five starts, Baez has raised his average from .252 to .274, but given the Cubs' current roster construction, it seems likely that he will continue to sit at least once a week.

Joe Jordan, the Phillies' director of player development, said Crawford "fought some things health-wise during the first half of the summer," Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

It's unclear if Jordan is talking about the groin injury that put Crawford on the disabled list in mid-June, but that could have had some impact on his poor performance this year, especially if he had been trying to play through it for some time. Crawford is showing signs of turning his season around, having hit .288/.373/.652 with six home runs this month. His overall slash line still looks pretty terrible, so it may be possible to acquire him at a discount, given how far he dropped on most midseason prospect lists.

Mondesi (back) is expected to return to the lineup early next week for Triple-A Omaha, Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star reports

The Royals have taken it slow with Mondesi, who hasn't played since July 9, in part because this ailment is something the 22-year-old has dealt with before. After a disappointing, and short, MLB stint to open the year, Mondesi has been destroying Triple-A pitching with a .316 average and .892 OPS.

Owings is out of the lineup for Friday's game against Washington.

Owings receives his first day off since June 27 as Ketel Marte draws the start at shortstop during Friday's series opener. Throughout the course of the 2017 season, Owings is hitting .283/.316/.464 with 12 home runs and 50 RBI. He will likely return to the lineup Saturday as the club faces Tanner Roark.

Owings went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in Thursday's 12-2 win over the Reds.

In a game in which manager Torey Lovullo gave multiple key regulars the afternoon off, it was two of the Diamondbacks' lineup mainstays -- Owings and Paul Goldschmidt (0-for-5, four strikeouts) -- that were the only starters who failed to reach base. Owings' hitless showing came on the heels of an 0-for-5 effort the night before, but the lack of production over the last two contests won't jeopardize his everyday role. The 25-year-old continues to uphold a career-best .780 OPS, and Owings' ability to play multiple infield and outfield spots helps his case for sticking in the lineup over other regulars in instances where Lovullo wants to give his bench options some at-bats.

Bogaerts went 1-for-4 with a double in Thursday's 8-6 loss to the Blue Jays.

Bogaerts had missed the previous two games with a hand injury suffered when he was hit by a pitch July 6. He had gone 4-for-26 over seven games after getting plunked, so manager John Farrell gave him a two-game breather. Bogaerts was dropped to sixth in the batting order Thursday as part of a lineup adjustment the manager initiated to jolt the Red Sox out of a recent offensive funk.