MLB Player News

d'Arnaud went 3-for-5 with a double in Saturday's 2-0 victory over the Phillies.

The 29-year-old led off and posted his second consecutive multi-hit game, and third in the last five. He's slashed an outstanding .394/.459/.576 to date in 33 major league at-bats, though he's yet to provide a homer or RBI. However, he's certainly shown a propensity for getting on base so far, which is affording him a nice dose of playing time.

Lindor went 2-for-3 with two walks and a run scored in Friday's 4-2 victory over the Red Sox.

The Indians shortstop is enjoying a month for the ages, with Friday's effort bringing his May line to .382/.434/.513. He's done it all at the plate except for tripling, as he's managed four doubles, two homers, 10 RBI, six walks and four stolen bases. His plate discipline has been outstanding as well, with only nine strikeouts in 76 at-bats during the month. His outstanding multi-category production has made Lindor a fantasy superstar.

Ahmed is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Cardinals.

As good as Ahmed is defensively, he's been so bad offensively that it's negated his impact with the glove. The 26-year-old is now batting .188/.247/.297 on the season following an 0-for-3 showing Wednesday. Chris Owings will replace him at shortstop for Friday's game.

Crawford went 2-for-4 with his sixth home run of the season in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Padres.

Crawford appears to be heating up again with his second homer over his last three games. He can be a very streaky hitter, but he is currently on pace to repeat his excellent 2016 power numbers. His .257/.325/.444 slash line is nearly identical to his 2015 results (.256/.321/.462) which had him finishing as a top-three shortstop. Unlike last year, he is only a fringe top-10 shortstop due to the emergence of new talent at the position (Trevor Story, Aledmys Diaz and Eugenio Suarez to name a few).

The Angels acquired Jackson from the Phillies on Friday, Bill Shaikin of the LA Times reports.

The Angels were in need of shortstop depth in the minors with Gregorio Petit seeing regular action with the big club and two other shortstops -- Andrelton Simmons and Cliff Pennington -- on the disabled list, so they decided to pick up Jackson in exchange for cash. Jackson has 42 MLB games under his belt, but he will report to Triple-A Salt Lake and will likely need another injury to occur to see action with the Angels at any point soon.

The Phillies promoted Crawford to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Friday.

Crawford will get his first taste of Triple-A action after posting a .265/.398/.390 slash line with three home runs, eight doubles, and 13 RBI over 36 games with Double-A Reading. While he did not hit for much power, he posted an impressive on-base percentage, and backed that up with a 30:21 K:BB ratio. Crawford is the Phillies' best prospect and could see action with the big club before this season comes to an end.

Story went 3-for-5 with a two-run double and a solo homer in Thursday's 13-7 loss to St. Louis.

Anyone waiting for Story's "inevitable" drop-off should take a hard look at his .287 average and all those counting stats, then maybe reevaluate that pessimistic point of view. He's actually slugged eight of his 12 homers away from Coors Field, and that's got to be a scary prospect for the rest of the National League. The combination of his sky-high strikeout rate (yes, he did rack up another whiff again Thursday, his 58th this season) and similarly sky-high BABIP (.368) certainly does seem to foreshadow a fall-off in batting average, but then again, Story was always a high-strikeout, high-BABIP guy in the minors too. Former starting shortstop Jose Reyes may be returning from his suspension in the next couple weeks, but there's no doubt that (barring injury, of course) Story has displaced him for good.

Tejada has a .160/.179/.240 line since returning from a quadricep injury that had him benched until April 19.

Tejada hasn't found much rhythm since returning from injury last month, nor has he had many opportunities to do so. His appearances have primarily been as a pinch hitter, rather than starting in the middle infield. With Aledmys Diaz having a strong rookie season, hitting .376 with 14 doubles and six home runs, it's unlikely that Tejada will seeing more of the field anytime soon.

Diaz is batting second in Thursday's lineup against the Rockies.

Diaz hasn't missed a beat since making his major league debut this season, holding a .376/.403/.648 slash line with six home runs and 20 RBI, and it seems the Cardinals decided to reward him with a move up in the batting order. The shortstop's already-high value is boosted by this move, as he'll now be in line for more run-scoring opportunities hitting in front of Matt Holliday and Stephen Piscotty.

Lindor recorded his third consecutive three-hit game Wednesday, going 3-for-6 with his third homer of the year and an RBI groundout in a win over the Reds.

The Cincy fans can't be looking forward to another day of facing Lindor and the Indians, as he's rocked Reds pitching for nine hits (four for extra bases) in 17 at-bats as part of a major offensive onslaught over the first three games of this four-game home-and-home set. As expected, he's seen his power regress this year, but the hit tool and the speed certainly appear to be for real, and the defense is pretty darn sharp too.