MLB Player News

The Indians have been pleased with catcher Carlos Santana's defensive progress, but they believe he has plenty of room to grow.

"He's had a hot start offensively," Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. told MLB.com. "I think he's still working behind the plate. I mean, he's still further ahead offensively than defensively, but he's doing the job, and he's taking more pride in his defense."

Santana said his communication with pitchers is also improving.

"In the years before, I tried to talk to them, but I was a little shy," Santana said. "But this year I feel comfortable, and the pitchers will come to me when I'm playing."

Part of the reason for his communication struggles has been his limited English, but it appears that's becoming less of a concern.

"That's been a big turnaround for him," Alomar said. "When it comes to getting everything better, from a catching point of view, and for the pitchers, you have to have good communication. His language has to get better in order for him to do that. That will open up a whole world of possibilities. If you restrict yourself with communicating, it's going to be hard for you to improve behind the plate. That's a big key for him, and he's doing much better with that."

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is not having a strong start, but he should see improvement.

Rizzo has displayed an odd change in skills, possibly brought on by adjustments to his swing. As our Chris Towers explained, Rizzo's strikeout and fly ball rates are up. Although this usually leads to lower batting averages on balls in play, Rizzo's .167 BABIP rate is among the league's worst this year. 

Rizzo's hitting will improve, but the strikeouts will limit his average. He could rebound to hit around .250 but might add enough power to offset the batting average decline. Fantasy owners shouldn't give up on him.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard has struggled against lefties this year but hit his second home run of the season Wednesday off left-hander Wandy Rodriguez as the Phillies fell to the Pirates, 5-3.

Howard is hitting .273/.293/.416 in 82 plate appearances. He'll try and extend his six-game hitting streak Thursday against the Pirates.

Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was scratched from Wednesday's lineup at Chicago White Sox because of right quadriceps soreness. Cabrera sustained the injury on a stolen-base attempt in the eighth inning Monday.

Mike Aviles started at shortstop in Cabrera's absence. Cabrera has hit safely in his last four games, batting .308 (4 for 13) with one double and two RBI.

Indians catcher Carlos Santana was scratched from Wednesday's lineup at Chicago White Sox because he's been under the weather the last two days. Lou Marson came off the disabled list to start at catcher for Cleveland.

Santana is batting .286 (6 for 21) with two home runs, three doubles and four RBI in his last five games. He is day to day.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt doubled and homered in Tuesday's win over San Francisco.

Goldschmidt had gone five days without an extra-base hit heading into Tuesday, his longest such streak of the season. He unloaded in a big way, adding three RBI and a run scored to his six total bases. He now owns a .329/.416/.566 batting line.

Our Eye on Baseball blogger Mike Axisa took a look at Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo's production, after ESPN.com reported the team has made alterations to his swing.

According to the report, Rizzo appears to be generating more of an uppercut on his swing, resulting in a big increase in fly balls and power, but also more weak pop-ups and strikeouts. The numbers bear that out, and Axisa's analysis is worth a look. Rizzo's strikeout rate, flyball rate and infield pop-up rate have increased this season, a possible side effect of the new approach that has led him to six home runs and 14 RBI in 18 games.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum hinted a few days ago that the team could consider sending Rizzo to Triple-A to work on some things, so Fantasy owners might want to keep an eye on this situation. 

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is one home run shy of tying a franchise record for most home runs by a left-handed hitter in April. Billy Williams (1970) and Henry Rodriguez (2000) share the record, which is seven home runs.

Alfonso Soriano holds the team record for most home runs in April with 10, which he set in 2011.

Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who was activated off the 15-day disabled list Monday, returned to the starting lineup for the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader at Colorado. Freeman, who had been sidelined by an oblique injury, started at first base for the first time since April 6.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt enters play Tuesday at San Francisco as one of two Arizona players to start all 19 games, joining Martin Prado. 

Goldschmidt is carrying a .324 average through the first few weeks of the season. Goldschmidt has failed to record a hit in just five games. He's managed six multi-hit games, including three in his last nine outings.