MLB Player News

Santana was 2-for-4 with a solo home run as Cleveland downed the Tigers on Friday night.

Batting lead off for the first time in his seven-year major league career, he made the move to the top spot in the order look good as he smacked his third home run in the top of the first inning. It's hard to say whether the move to that spot in the batting order will last - he generally displays good on base skills, but has very little speed - but if he remains there it is likely to reduce his RBI opportunities.

Santana will bat leadoff against the Tigers on Friday.

Friday's start is Santana's first atop the batting order in seven major league seasons. Manager Terry Francona flirted with the idea of having Santana lead off during spring training, but Santana has hit almost exclusively out of the five-hole to this point. It's uncertain if this will stick, but what Santana lacks in terms of speed he makes up for with on-base ability.

Colabello has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, Blue Jays play-by-play announcer Mike Wilner reports.

According to Wilner, Colabello tested positive for a performance enhancing substance called dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. With Colabello sidelined for such a significant portion of the season, Justin Smoak should be in line for the lion's share of the playing time at first base through the All-Star break, provided that Toronto does not look outside the organization for a replacement. The 32-year-old Colabello had gotten off to a tough start to the season before being suspensed, as he was slashing .069/.156/.069 with nine strikeouts in 29 at-bats.

Singleton went 4-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI during Thursday's loss to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Singleton, who had been hitting .139 prior to Thursday's game, raised his batting average 86 points with the four-hit performance. He's hitting .225 with three home runs and seven RBI through 11 games with Triple-A Fresno. The 24-year-old first baseman does not appear to be a threat to overtake Tyler White in Houston anytime soon, especially now that A.J. Reed has leapfrogged him on the organizational depth chart.

Colabello is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Orioles, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports.

Colabello has struggled immensely to start the season to the tune of a 2-for-26 stretch with seven strikeouts. Justin Smoak will draw the start in his stead at first base, batting sixth against Mike Wright. Colabello will likely continue to see more off days if he isn't able to turn it around quickly.

Due to the struggles of Colabello and Justin Smoak, manager John Gibbons said Edwin Encarnacion may begin to see more playing time at first base with someone else taking over the DH duties, the Toronto Sun reports.

Between Smoak and Colabello, the two first baseman are 3-for-37 with 18 strikeouts. Colabello went 1-for-3 on Sunday, leaving him with just two base hits in 25 at-bats for a batting average of .080. In 2015, the 32-year-old had the best season of his three-year career. Manager John Gibbons has said he's committed to giving the current situation time to work itself out, but if Colabello doesn't turn it around quickly, he won't have much to offer the big league team.

Colabello is not in the lineup for Monday's game against the Red Sox.

Colabello is 5-for-12 in his career against Monday's opposing starter, Clay Buchholz, but he is just 2-for-25 this season, so he will be held out Monday. Edwin Encarnacion will play first base Monday for the Blue Jays.

Hernandez went 2-for-5 with a double and three strikeouts in a game with Laguna of the Mexican League on Friday.

The 27-year-old has hit above .290 in three of his last four 500 at-bat seasons between High-A and Double-A ball. No longer playing for an affiliated team, his chances of reaching the majors are looking slim.

Santana was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer in Friday's 6-5 loss to the Mets.

The veteran slugger put the screws to an Addison Reed pitch in the ninth with two outs, making matters highly interesting until Jeurys Familia came on to get the final out after some struggles of his own. Santana has endured a rough start to the season, managing a .207/.294/.448 line through the first eight games. However, the considerable pop he carries in his bat figures to afford him plenty of playing time and opportunity to break out of his current slump.

Calhoun went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk Friday at the Twins.

Calhoun's first blast of the year gave the Angels a lead in the seventh inning in a game they'd go on to lose. He's been warming up lately as he's posted multiple hits in each of his last three contests with three of those hits going for extra bases. In addition, he's now hit safely in each of his last seven games.