MLB Player News

Santana went 1-for-4 with a three-run homer Thursday against the Giants.

The homer, a fourth-inning shot off Ty Blach, was Santana's sixth of the year and his third in the four-game series against San Francisco. Through May 2, Santana was having a very disappointing season, hitting just .151 with two homers and a .569 OPS. Since then, he's gone on a seven-game hitting streak, going 10-for-30 with four homers and 15 RBI over the span of a week, enough to drag his OPS up to .714. That number would certainly be disappointing should it not climb any higher by the end of the year, but the recent hot streak combined with encouraging batted-ball data during Santana's early slump gives reason to believe that the veteran will eventually live up to his draft price.

Freeman went 5-for-5 with a two-run home run Thursday against the Marlins.

Freeman only had one extra-base hit Thursday, but made it count by blasting his sixth home run of the season. He remains one of the most complete hitters in the league, ranking top 10 in the National League in batting average, runs and RBI while hitting .326/.424/.558.

Santana went 3-for-5 with a double and five RBI in Wednesday's win over the Giants.

Santana is finally starting to break out of his season-long slump, as he had a four-RBI game earlier in the week and is hitting 9-for-26 (.346) with three homers and 12 RBI amidst a six-game hitting streak. The 32-year-old has just a .189 BABIP, suggesting he's been suffering from a stroke of bad luck, so once that number starts to creep up the rest of his game should follow along with it, which seems to already be happening.

Rizzo went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, two runs scored and five RBI in Wednesday's 13-4 win over the Marlins.

Despite a .210/.282/.371 slash line on the season, Rizzo has been able to stay productive with 13 runs and 19 RBI in 25 games. He's hitting .355 (11-for-31) over his last seven contests with four of his five homers on the season, though, and the first baseman's batting average should climb quickly now that he's busted out of his slump.

Hiura started at second base for High-A Carolina on Tuesday for the first time this season.

Hiura was limited to DH duty only for the first month of the season after dealing with a sore elbow this spring and a shoulder injury in April, but it appears the Brewers are now comfortable with him seeing some action in the field. Hiura went 0-for-3 Tuesday, but he was on fire heading into that contest, hitting .440 (22-for-50) over his previous 11 games.

Hoskins is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Giants, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports.

The off day is just Hoskins' second of the season and his first in nearly a month. The young slugger is on a bit of a cold streak, hitting just .128/.261/.256 with a 34.8 percent strikeout rate over his last 10 games. Despite the slump, he's hitting an impressive .274/.423/.487, with a 19.5 percent walk rate that ranks third in the league among qualified hitters. Nick Williams will start in left field in his absence.

Bell went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI in Tuesday's win over the White Sox.

Playing in an American League park, Bell served as the DH on Tuesday and also reached via a walk and scored a pair of runs in the win. The 25-year-old has just two home runs on the year and his .366 slugging percentage is a full 100 points below last year's mark. Hitting in the heart of the order should provide Bell with his run-producing opportunities, but he'll also need to start leaving the yard more frequently to start paying more dividends for fantasy owners.

Bour went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and a pair of walks in Tuesday's loss to the Cubs.

Bour's shot got the Marlins on the board in the first inning, and they'd add another run in the opening frame before ultimately losing 4-3. The 29-year-old is hitting just .190 in May with seven strikeouts in as many games, but he does have three homers in the month to give him seven on the year, which puts him on pace to top last year's career-high 25.

Naylor has been splitting time between first base and left field this season for Double-A San Antonio.

He has logged 18 games at first base, 11 games in left field and two games as the Missions' designated hitter. The logic behind diversifying Naylor's defensive capabilities is obvious, as the only two position players that the team has committed significant long-term money to are first basemen by trade (Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers), so if Naylor wants to break through with this organization, it may have to come in the outfield. There is also the slight chance that the National League will add the designated hitter in the coming years, which would help his cause, but fantasy owners can't count on that happening. His four errors and .765 fielding percentage in 17 chances as a left fielder illustrate how much work he will need to put in to be acceptable in the outfield. The bigger story this season has been what Naylor is doing at the plate. He is hitting .363/.448/.621 with eight home runs and a 15:18 K:BB in 145 plate appearances -- success that even his most staunch backers couldn't have seen coming before the start of the season.

Santana went 1-for-4 with a homer and four RBI in Tuesday's blowout win over the Giants.

Santana hit a ball just far enough for a three-run shot in the fifth inning off Jeff Samardzija. Giants center fielder Gorkys Hernandez tracked it to the wall in dead center and had it in his glove briefly before it popped out and landed on the far side of the wall. It was a nice turn of luck for the veteran first baseman, who's still hitting just .171/.295/.358 despite Statcast numbers which suggest he deserves far better. The gap between his wOBA (.286) and expected wOBA (.385) is the 10th-largest among qualified hitters, which implies that all he has to do is keep hitting the way he's been hitting for him to return to being a capable fantasy contributor.