MLB Player News

Caballero went 0-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored in Friday's 5-2 win over the Diamondbacks.

Caballero was in the lineup for the first time in a week, and he has picked up just one at-bat during that stretch of riding pine. The second baseman has again lost out on playing time to Kolten Wong, and it appears Dylan Moore has also passed Caballero on the depth chart. Nonetheless, Caballero offers some speed -- he has six steals over 14 contests in July, and he's up to 17 thefts on the year. He's added a middling .224/.351/.327 slash line over 202 plate appearances.

Lowe went 2-for-3 with a three-run home run and a stolen base in Friday's 4-3 victory over the Astros.

Lowe is beginning to tap into his power again after he endured a power outage in his first couple weeks back from the injured list. He has two homers in his last three games, bringing him up to 12 on the season. The second baseman stole a base after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning, his fifth steal this season, which sets him up to potentially establish a new career high (his best is seven) in the category before season's end.

Arroyo is not in the lineup Friday at San Francisco.

Justin Turner will make a second straight start at second base and might become more of a regular presence there for Boston down the stretch, although the return of Trevor Story (elbow) figures to shuffle the Boston infield once again. Arroyo has slashed just .247/.276/.379 in 193 plate appearances when healthy this season.

Minnesota activated Polanco (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Friday.

Polanco will be back in action with the Twins on Friday night against the Royals after slashing .333/.448/.500 over 29 plate appearances on a seven-game minor-league rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul. The 30-year-old infielder has battled multiple leg injuries this season, but he typically produces solid offensive numbers when his health cooperates. Polanco could find himself returning to a utility role however, with rookie Edouard Julien having thrived as Minnesota's starting second baseman in his absence.

Merrifield is batting leadoff Friday against the Angels, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

Normal leadoff man George Springer has been dropped to the fifth spot in the batting order amidst a slump. Merrifield has earned his ascension to the top of the order by putting up a .968 OPS with five home runs and two stolen bases in July.

Westburg is absent from the lineup for Friday's game versus the Yankees, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports.

Westburg had started each of the last three contests -- two against left-handed pitching -- but will take a seat for this one versus righty Gerrit Cole. Ramon Urias is at third base and Adam Frazier is at second.

Gimenez went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base in Thursday's 6-3 win over the White Sox.

It's the first multi-hit game for Gimenez since July 18 -- he'd gone just 4-for-26 (.154) in seven games prior to Thursday's contest. He opened the scoring against the White Sox with an RBI double in the first inning before adding a stolen base in the seventh, improving to 17-for-20 in steal attempts this year. While Gimenez has remained productive on the basepaths, he's had a fairly disappointing season at the plate after a breakout 2022 campaign. He's now slashing .244/.315/.389 with nine homers, 46 runs scored and 39 RBI across 394 plate appearances this season.

Gimenez went 0-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored in Wednesday's 8-3 win over the Royals.

Gimenez hit second in this contest, and he could have a chance to get more time in that spot following the trade that sent Amed Rosario to the Dodgers. It's been a productive July for Gimenez on the basepaths, as he's logged eight of his 16 steals over his last 20 contests despite slashing .240/.321/.453 for the month. Aside from an uptick in power, that's not all that different from his .241/.311/.385 slash line for the year, so he may need to be more consistent to stay in the No. 2 spot.

Drury (shoulder) fielded grounders and threw from third base Thursday, Sam Blum of The Athletic reports.

Worth remembering is that Drury's injury is to his left (non-throwing) shoulder, but he's still making nice progress as he continues to ramp up his rehab. He could continue with his workouts this week before potentially rejoining the Angels sometime next week.

Ibanez is absent from the lineup for the first game of Thursday's doubleheader against the Angels.

Ibanez had started seven of the last nine at second base, but he'll yield to Zack Short for this one. He figures to be in the lineup for the second contest.