MLB Player News

Horwitz is expected to join the Blue Jays in Oakland on Friday, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

He will presumably be added to the roster, although it's unclear what the corresponding transaction will be. Horwitz has been on fire of late at Triple-A Buffalo, going 16-for-36 with a pair of home runs. He's also played mostly second base over that stretch, and that could be a path to playing time for him with the big club if the Jays would prefer to use Davis Schneider more in left field. Horwitz could also fill in at first base if Vladimir Guerrero sees more time across the diamond at third.

Guerrero went 2-for-3 with a walk and a three-run home run in Thursday's win over the Orioles.

The first baseman opened the scoring by launching a cutter from Cade Povich over the right-field fence in the third inning. Guerrero has gone yard twice in the last four games, giving him seven homers on the year. Over the last 15 contests he's slashing .345/.433/.552.

Vaughn went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Thursday's 14-2 loss to the Red Sox.

Vaughn has hit safely in his last six games, going 8-for-23 (.348) in that span. He dealt with a sprained left ring finger to begin June, but it hasn't slowed him down since he was cleared to return. The first baseman is up to five homers on the year with 20 RBI, 17 runs scored, one stolen base and a .211/.275/.338 slash line through 233 plate appearances.

Smith went 3-for-5 with two RBI, one walk and one run scored in Thursday's 14-2 win over the White Sox.

Smith has three multi-hit efforts over his last six contests since getting a rest day last Thursday. He's also picked up at least one RBI in five of those six games. The 28-year-old is up to a .232/.321/.343 slash line with two home runs, 18 RBI, nine runs scored and no stolen bases over 112 plate appearances since he signed with Boston following his release from Tampa Bay at the start of May. Smith has settled into a strong-side platoon role at first base.

Davis is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Mariners.

Davis had started at first base in both of the Athletics' previous two matchups with right-handed pitchers, going 2-for-7 with a pair of singles. Though the Mariners are bringing another righty (Bryan Woo) to the hill for Thursday's series finale, Davis will cede his spot in the lineup to Tyler Soderstrom. The Athletics could elect to rotate Davis, Soderstrom and Aledmys Diaz at first base until one of the three begins performing well enough to take control of an everyday role.

Schanuel went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 3-2 win over the Padres.

Schanuel hit a leadoff homer in the first inning on Dylan Cease's fifth pitch of the game. Prior to Wednesday, Schanuel was stuck in an 0-for-18 rut, adding just one walk and one hit-by-pitch in that span. The first baseman hasn't done much this year with a .216/.287/.330 slash line, six homers, 19 RBI, 18 runs scored and no stolen bases over 218 plate appearances. While the 22-year-old hasn't hit well, he's yet to slip down the order from the leadoff spot he's occupied for much of the campaign.

Santana went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in a loss to the Yankees on Wednesday.

Santana's sixth-inning solo shot was a faint murmur of protest with New York up big, but it did put an end to opposing starter Carlos Rodon's run of retiring 16-straight batters. The long ball was just the second for the veteran slugger since he homered in three straight contests May 10-12. Santana has nine home runs overall on the campaign and is slashing .217/.302/.392 with 24 RBI, 19 runs and a stolen base.

Soderstrom is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Mariners.

Soderstrom appeared to have taken hold of a regular role at first base against right-handed pitching, but he's sitting Wednesday for the second straight game versus a righty (Logan Gilbert). J.D. Davis will receive another start at first base and bat sixth.

Casas (ribs) said Wednesday in an interview with NESN that he should be cleared to swing a bat before the end of the week.

Casas noted earlier this week that he's still experiencing some discomfort in his ribs when he rotates, but the 24-year-old expects to progress enough in the coming days to try swinging a bat. The first baseman still has several hurdles to clear in the recovery process before being ready for game action, but he said in his interview that he's hoping to be activated from the 60-day injured list "right around July 1."

Naylor went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run, a walk and a second run scored in Tuesday's 8-5 win over the Royals.

Naylor was part of the Guardians' comeback push -- his fourth-inning homer cut the deficit to 5-3. After being one of the team's hottest hitters in April, the first baseman has hit .178 with a .719 OPS since the start of May. Naylor's power is still coming through with 16 homers, a .500 slugging percentage and a .271 ISO. He hasn't had a pronounced issue with strikeouts either, fanning at just a 16.2 percent rate while walking at a career-best 10.3 percent clip. Naylor's .308 batting average last year was likely unsustainable, but he's a better overall hitter than he's been over the last month.