MLB Player News

Votto went 1-for-5 with a solo home run and two runs scored Tuesday against the Braves.

Votto's long awaited first home run of the season came in the fifth inning against Brandon McCarthy. He got off to a similarly slow start in 2016 before slugging .668 in the second half of the season, so there is precedent for Votto having excellent seasons after showing little out of the gate. A more notable concern is the low quality of the Reds' lineup surrounding him, as he has scored only four runs, with two coming Tuesday, despite a .351 on-base percentage.

Hague was released by the Mariners on Tuesday, Mike Curto of the Tacoma Rainiers radio network reports.

Hague was hitting just .226 with a .683 OPS through 17 games with Triple-A Tacoma this season, so the Mariners opted to cut him loose. The 32-year-old hasn't appeared in the majors since 2015, when he hit .250/.400/.333 in a brief 10-game stint with the Blue Jays. He'll look to latch on elsewhere as organizational depth at the corner infield spots.

Olson went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run in a win over the Rangers on Monday.

Just as notable as his solid stat line was the fact that Olson snapped a dubious 15-game streak with at least one strikeout. The young slugger has picked it up at the plate over the last six games, going 10-for-27 with two doubles, five RBI and four runs during that stretch.

Santana's .151/.301/.288 line through his first 93 plate appearances does not accurately reflect how he's hitting the ball, the Phillies' official site reports.

According to Statcast's expected batting average stat (which uses the Hit Probability of each batted ball), Santana deserves a batting average of .277. The 126-point gap between his actual and expected batting average is easily the largest in the majors, 28 points larger than the next most unlucky player (minimum 50 at-bats). His 51.6-percent hard-hit rate (according to Statcast) is ninth among qualified hitters, yet he's hitting just .233 on hard-hit balls, well below the league average of .512. Santana doesn't really need to do anything new to turn his lousy start around. He's already walking more than he's striking out, so once the batted balls start finding holes in the defense, his numbers should look quite good.

Ellis is slashing .210/.290/.452 with three home runs and 11 RBI across 69 plate appearances with High-A Visalia this season.

The batting average and on-base percentage aren't anything special for Ellis, but the third baseman's power has always been his main allure as a dynasty prospect. With nine extra-base hits already on his ledger, Ellis isn't disappointing on that front, and he's also displayed some early growth in terms of his plate approach. Ellis' strikeout rate sits at a manageable 13 percent, down more than eight points from the mark he posted at short-season Hillsboro in 2017.

Abreu went 4-for-5 with two home runs, three RBI and three runs scored in Monday's 10-4 win over the Mariners.

This was the 12th time in Abreu's career he's hit multiple homers in a game, and it pushed him past Matt Davidson for the team lead with six long balls this season. He's also tops the team in RBI (12), batting average (.308) and OPS (.949). In other words, he's right where he should be: the White Sox's most dangerous weapon with a bat in hand.

Bour is not in the lineup for Monday's game against the Dodgers, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports.

Despite reaching base three times and driving in a pair of runs Sunday, Bour will head to the bench for Monday's series opener against the Dodgers after starting six consecutive games. Miguel Rojas will start at first base and hit leadoff in his stead.

Blandino is not in the lineup for Monday's game against the Braves, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Blandino is in the midst of a modest three-game hitting streak, but he'll head to the bench for a breather after starting each of the previous four games at third base. Cliff Pennington will start at the hot corner and hit seventh in his stead Monday.

Bell collected a pinch-hit triple Sunday against the Phillies.

The triple, his first of the season, gives him three hits in his last 24 at-bats. Pittsburgh starts a six-game homestand Tuesday and Bell will face at least four right-handed starters, against whom the switch hitter holds a career slash line of .270/.346/.461.

Cron went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run in a win over the Twins on Sunday.

Cron completed a weekend decimation of Twins pitching with his third round tripper over the last two games, blasting a first-inning Phil Hughes offering into left center to give the Rays an early 2-0 lead. The 28-year-old accumulated nearly half of his 13 RBI on the season over the last pair of outings, as he also drove in four runs on the strength of two homers Saturday. Following a slow start to his Rays career over the first three games of 2018, Cron has come alive in April and has five two-hit tallies over the last six contests.