MLB Player News

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.

Calhoun is out of the lineup for the fourth straight game Wednesday in Colorado.

Calhoun sat against a righty for the first time this season Sunday and did so again Tuesday. Wednesday's benching is an expected one, as he's sat against nearly every lefty so far this year. Still, it's the third straight start for Jabari Blash, and Calhoun is hitting just .165/.193/.209 on the season, so it's possible a changing of the guard is taking place. The Angels currently project to face righties in their next several games, so it should become more clear within a few days whether this switch is a permanent one.

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.

Mountcastle (hand) is set to join Double-A Bowie on Thursday or Friday, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

Mountcastle has missed the entire season with a hairline fracture in his right hand but is nearly ready to return. He had a .222/.239/.366 line in 39 games for Bowie last season and will need to conquer that level before earning a promotion to Triple-A.

Calhoun is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Rockies.

Calhoun is struggling mightily this season, hitting just .167/.195/.211 with a 28 percent strikeout rate through 29 games, so he'll stick on the bench for a third straight game -- two of which have come against right-handed starters. The Angels may simply be allowing the outfielder to clear his head, so it's too early to say he's lost out on a full-time role, but he'll need to turn things around quickly if he wants to keep Jabari Blash or Chris Young from eating into his playing time. Blash is starting in right field and hitting seventh in his stead Tuesday.

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.

Guerrero went 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs and five RBI for Double-A New Hampshire in its 10-2 win over Portland on Monday.

Hours after showcasing his light-tower power while hitting an opposite-field home run off a tee in a segment for MLB Network, Guerrero kept slugging for the Double-A club, connecting on his fourth and fifth long balls of the season. It was the second multi-homer game of Guerrero's professional career, while the five RBI boosted his season total to an Eastern League-leading 35. Also pacing the circuit with a .398 average, Guerrero seems to have little left to prove in the minors, but service-time considerations could nonetheless delay the 19-year-old's promotion until the second half of the season, or even the 2019 campaign if the Blue Jays are well removed from playoff contention in the last couple months of the summer.