MLB Player News

Manager Aaron Boone admitted Thursday that Voit and Greg Bird are likely battling for one roster spot this spring, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports. "It's tough for me to envision us having two first basemen, especially when I feel like [DJ] LeMahieu would be that guy that gets backup reps there," Boone said.

Voit has some limited experience playing the corner outfield, but since he likely ranks as nothing more than an emergency option there, defense doesn't look like it will be a factor in the job battle between him and Bird. Instead, the competition will be decided based on how the two perform at the dish, with Voit's excellence after his late-August callup in 2018 presumably giving him the early edge over Bird, who has disappointed in his opportunities at the big-league level the past three seasons while also struggling with injuries. A healthy Bird has at least made things interesting this spring with a .400 average and four extra-base hits through his first seven contests, so Voit may need to keep pace to emerge as the victor. He's been able to do that so far, sporting a .308 average of his own with two home runs entering play Thursday.

Freeman went 1-for-1 with a walk and a grand slam in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Tigers.

Amazingly, the first baseman has yet to hit a grand slam in the regular season among his 189 career homers. Freeman is now slashing .308/.357/.846 through his first 13 spring at-bats with two home runs.

White (hamstring) resumed batting practice Wednesday but does not yet have a firm timetable for a return to game action, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

White has performed well whenever he's been healthy enough to suit up this spring, hitting .364 (4-for-11) with a pair of doubles. However, the Mariners have emphasized the importance of patience to White in allowing the soft-tissue injury to heal, advice the promising prospect has heeded. White is likely to have a chance to return to Cactus League action prior to the end of spring and then start the season at Double-A Arkansas, and manager Scott Servais will remain an interested observer. "Evan has gotten a lot stronger and is driving the ball better," Servais said. "He's always hit the ball hard, but I think the fact he's getting the ball in the air more consistently, it played out at the end of last season for him when he hit a bunch of home runs and had a nice run the last month and a half. He'll get back in there in the next few days. I'm really looking for him to have that next step forward in his minor-league season this year, wherever that's at."

Blandino (knee) will not be ready for the start of the season, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports. "We would love to have him ready," manager David Bell said. "I know he would love to be ready. It's just not realistic right now. As much as he's disappointed by that, he's come such a long way, I think he knows he has to be smart about it."

Blandino, who had surgery to reconstruct a torn ACL and MCL in July of 2018, is recovering slower than expected. While he's been able to field grounders and participate in batting practice, the outfielder still isn't ready for game action. As such, Blandino won't be able to get enough at-bats in before the start of the season, leaving him to open the year in the minors or on the injured list.

Goldschmidt, who went 1-for-2 with a walk in Tuesday's 2-1 Grapefruit League loss to the Phillies, is hitting .364 over his first 15 spring plate appearances.

The veteran slugger overcame a slow start in 2018 to put together a second consecutive 30-homer season for the Diamondbacks, which also ranked as his third in the last four campaigns overall. Still only 31 years old, Goldschmidt is expected to muster a similar caliber of production in St. Louis, although the change in home park could make it more challenging for him to match the long-ball numbers he's generated in recent years. Another aspect of Goldschmidt's game to monitor will be what was once above-average stolen-base production -- after notching a combined 53 thefts in the 2015-16 seasons, he's seen his numbers in that category drop in each of the last two campaigns.

Diaz (general soreness) went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in a 9-2 Grapefruit League loss to the Twins on Tuesday.

Apparently refreshed after taking a couple of days off to shake off some typical spring soreness, Diaz responded with a sixth-inning home run off Trevor Hildenberger. It was the infielder's first blast of spring and third hit over 15 at-bats. Diaz once again manned the hot corner Tuesday in the ongoing absence of Matt Duffy (hamstring), but he's slated to spend plenty of time at first base once the regular season gets underway. Diaz raised expectations during his second major-league stint with the Indians in 2018, slashing .312/.375/.422 across 120 plate appearances.

Bell belted a three-run homer against Baltimore on Tuesday, his first of the spring.

He hit 12 homers in 2018 after collecting 26 home runs in 2017. Although Bell never hit more than 17 homers in parts of seven minor-league seasons, the Bucs are counting on him to boost his power numbers in 2019. Even though the 26-year-old batted just .261 last season, he still finished with a .357 on-base percentage. With little competition at first base (Jose Osuna and Francisco Cervelli), Bell will get every chance to prove that his 2017 campaign wasn't a fluke.

Calhoun went 3-for-3 with a solo homer and an additional run scored in Tuesday's win over the Cubs.

Calhoun poked a pair of singles in his first two trips to the plate Tuesday, coming around to score his second time on base thanks to a Mike Trout homer. In his third at-bat, Calhoun took Rowan Wick deep to center field for his first Cactus League homer. The outfielder doubled his hit total this spring with Tuesday's three-hit effort; he's now 6-for-15 (.400) with a trio of extra-base hits through six games.

Dixon went 1-for-2 with a solo homer Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

Dixon struck out in his first at-bat before connecting for his second homer of spring in his next trip to the plate. The 27-year-old, who is competing for a spot on the Tigers' Opening Day roster as a reserve infielder, is now slashing .294/.350/.647 through eight games this spring.

Alonso went 2-for-3 with a double and a solo home run in Monday's split-squad game against the Astros.

Both extra-base hits came in two-strikes counts, an impressive display from the 24-year-old. Alonso could well begin the season in the minors due to service-time considerations, but after slugging 36 homers in 132 games between Double-A and Triple-A last season, his bat seems more than ready for a new challenge -- and his blistering .412/.474/.882 start to the spring, including two homers and two doubles in 17 at-bats, doesn't hurt his case. Even if he cools his heels at Triple-A Syracuse for a few weeks, Alonso seems like he could be the answer at first base for the Mets, both in the long term and for the bulk of 2019.