MLB Player News

Merrifield is expected to join the Blue Jays on Thursday for a series in Minneapolis, but his vaccination status and ability to enter Canada for the team's next homestand remains unclear, Gregor Chisholm of The Toronto Star reports. "Obviously we know he wasn't there in Toronto, but totally up to him [whether he gets vaccinated] and I'm sure he's had conversations with his family and other people," Jays manager John Schneider said Wednesday. "We're leaving that decision up to him."

The former Royal missed a series in Toronto just before the All-Star break due to his inability to cross the border, but Merrifield made comments afterward suggesting he would get vaccinated if he were playing for a team in playoff contention. That's now the case after he was dealt to the Jays at the trade deadline, but it remains to be seen if he's changed his mind about getting vaccinated. Merrifield has a career-low .642 OPS through 95 games this season, but a move to a competitive team and having a more potent offense around him could spark his bat to life down the stretch.

Altuve went 4-for-4 with a double and a run scored in Wednesday's victory over the Red Sox.

Altuve scored on a heads up play in the first inning when Yordan Alvarez grounded out to short. Altuve would finish the day 4-for-4, his second four-hit game of the year. The veteran second baseman now has six hits in 13 at-bats to start August while striking out just once. In three games this month, Altuve has improved his batting average from .270 to .280.

Frazier went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base in Wednesday's 7-3 win over the Yankees.

The 30-year-old continues to turn his season around. Frazier has banged out multiple hits in four of the last five games, and since the beginning of July he's batting .330 (32-for-97). The prolonged hot streak has boosted his slash line on the year to .250/.311/.316 with three homers, seven steals, 27 RBI and 44 runs through 104 contests.

Castro went 3-for-4 in Wednesday's 4-1 loss to the Twins.

Castro had three of Detroit's four total hits on the day, so it's not surprising he wasn't able to rack up any counting stats given the lineup's overall futility. The utility man is now batting .284 this season, while the team as a whole is batting just .226. As one of the squad's most consistent hitters, Castro should continue to see regular playing time, especially with Spencer Torkelson down at Triple-A Toledo.

Andrus went 3-for-4 with a double in a loss to the Angels on Tuesday.

Andrus had one of only two extra-base hits for the Athletics in another low-scoring night for Oakland. The veteran shortstop now has a trio of three-hit tallies in the last seven games alone, and he's sporting a .346 average and .863 OPS across the 55 plate appearances covering his last 14 contests.

Massey's contract was selected from Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday, Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star reports.

Massey had a brief stint on the active roster in mid-July as a replacement player during the Royals' series in Toronto, and he went 3-for-8 with a strikeout over three games. He's starting at second base and batting seventh Wednesday against the Twins and should provide infield depth for Kansas City after Whit Merrifield was traded to the Blue Jays.

The Shortcode="annotation" data-id="306" data-text="Tigers" data-canon="Detroit Tigers" data-type="SPORTS_OBJECT_TEAM" data-league-abbreviation="MLB" data-team-abbreviation="DET">Tigers optioned Short to Triple-A Toledo on Wednesday.

Short's stay with the Tigers lasted just one day, with the 27-year-old going unused in Tuesday's 5-3 win over the Twins. He'll be replaced on the active roster by Daz Cameron, who was recalled from Toledo to bolster the Tigers' outfield depth after Robbie Grossman was shipped to Atlanta earlier this week.

Frazier went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs, an RBI and a stolen base in Tuesday's 8-6 win over the Yankees.

Frazier has been a solid source of batting average and steals dating back to the beginning of July, as he's hitting .323 while chipping in four stolen bases over a stretch of 26 games. After making each of his last three starts in the outfield, Frazier will be back at his natural second base position Wednesday while batting second in the series finale in New York.

Arraez isn't starting Wednesday against the Tigers.

Arraez has drawn three starts against left-handed pitchers over the last week but will head to the bench with southpaw Tyler Alexander on the mound Wednesday. Jose Miranda is serving as the designated hitter while Mark Contreras enters the lineup in right field.

Miller will start at first base and bat cleanup in Wednesday's game against the Diamondbacks.

He'll pick up his third consecutive start after going 1-for-8 with a home run, two RBI and an additional run in the first two contests of the series. Miller has typically been occupying a short-side platoon role at first base in recent weeks with Josh Naylor -- who is sitting Wednesday with lefty Tommy Henry on the hill for Arizona -- but manager Terry Francona could find room for both hitters to play more frequently against right-handers in the wake of top designated hitter Franmil Reyes being optioned to Triple-A Columbus.