MLB Player News

Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman left Sunday's spring game against the Yankees due to a left thumb contusion. He suffered the injury after a line drive hit his hand while playing first base.

Freeman entered play Sunday batting .353 (12 for 34) with one home run, two doubles and five RBI in 13 spring games.

Saturday's spring game against the Mets in Las Vegas turned out to be a productive afternoon for Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who parked two home runs in a 9-4 split-squad loss. It was the first homers of the spring for Rizzo, who is batting .417 (10 for 24) with an .833 slugging percentage in nine spring games.

"It's nice to connect with one and run around the bases, and feel what that feels like again," Rizzo said, per MLB.com. "I've just been pleased the last week or so with the progression at the plate and my approach. It's been a good progression and where I want to be at this time."

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu is planning to play through his ankle injury, according to MLB.com. 

Abreu stressed that the injury was nothing big, and that he wanted to play. "If I knew it was something worse than that, I probably would sit," Abreu said through a translator. "It's nothing but soreness." Abreu was able to play against the Dodgers Saturday night despite the injury.

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu has been battling ankle soreness the last few days, CSNChicago.com reports.

The issue doesn't seem serious, and Abreu should still be good to go once the regular season starts. He went 1 for 3 with a double in Friday's 2-2 tie with the Twins, giving him a .286/.310/.464 line through 28 spring at-bats.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard went 1 for 4 and hit his first home run of spring training ni Friday's 6-5 loss to the Pirates.

Howard entered the game just 6 for 30 with two doubles, three walks and 13 strikeouts, and while he did send his first ball over the outfield fence, he also struck out two more times. He has had trouble staying on the field the last two seasons.

The Angels reassigned second baseman Taylor Lindsey, pitcher Robert Carson, first baseman C.J. Cron, infielder Shawn O'Malley and catcher Anderson De La Rosa down to minor-league camp on Thursday.

Angels leadoff hitter and right fielder Kole Calhoun was not down long with a sore left hip. He was back in the lineup Wednesday against Milwaukee.

Calhoun earned a starting spot this season after batting .282 with a .462 slugging percentage in 195 at-bats in 2013.

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu went 3 for 4 with two RBI in his team's 7-6 win over the Rangers Tuesday.

Abreu had been slow to get going this spring, entering the game just 2 for 13 at the plate. He's now hitting .294/.333/.529 with one home run and six RBI in 17 at-bats.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is working on hitting to the opposite field, and thus far the results have been positive.

Entering Tuesday's spring game against the Braves, Howard has put the ball in play 13 times this spring. Nine times he hit to left or center field, per MLB.com. Only four times -- 30.8 percent -- has he pulled the baseball. Last year, according to Baseball-Reference.com, he pulled the baseball 40.3 percent of the time.

"I've never been a pull hitter. But my biggest problem was trying to pull the ball. Now I'm trying to work back to what my strength is," Howard said. "I'm trying to work the middle of the field. That's the goal. It's all about timing. It's all about rhythm."

It seems getting back to what Howard did best in the past could help him revive his career.

"He's much better when he uses the whole field," a longtime NL scout said. "When he came up, he was very good at going the other way. And it's really what made him into a top-flight player. Then he got very pull-happy. First, it makes him much easier to defend. And, secondly, it's affected his mindset. So he's getting back to his roots, basically. When he first came up, that's what he did a lot. He's getting back to that, which is good for him, and obviously good for the team."

Angels outfielder Kole Calhoun was held out of Tuesday's spring game because of a sore left hip. However, he should be back in the lineup Wednesday, per The Los Angeles Times.

Calhoun is batting .227 (5 for 22) with one RBI, four runs and six walks in eight spring games.