MLB Player News

Castro is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Guardians.

Castro started at third base in the team's last game Wednesday, with Jeimer Candelario serving as the DH and Miguel Cabrera getting the day off. Cabrera is returning Friday, so Candelario shifts back to the hot corner and Castro will hit the bench. The latter is batting a robust .292, but he'll need more regular playing time to really make a significant fantasy impact.

Ibanez will be on the bench Friday against the Astros.

Ibanez hits the bench for just the second time in the last 10 games. He's struggled significantly in the month of May, hitting just .081/.190/.081. Nathaniel Lowe and Brad Miller will handle the corner infield spots Friday.

Gimenez will sit Friday against the Tigers.

Gimenez had been in the lineup against three of the last four lefties the Guardians had faced, but he'll sit here against southpaw Tarik Skubal. Yu Chang will get the start at second base while Amed Rosario starts at shortstop.

Brujan will sit Friday against the Orioles, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.

He has been the primary beneficiary of Brandon Lowe's back injury, as he'd started five straight games prior to Friday's contest. Brujan's done very little with his 30 plate appearances this season, hitting .111/.200/.185, but his 10.0 percent strikeout rate is encouraging and he's attempted three steals, albeit with only one successful robbery. Isaac Paredes will be the second baseman Friday.

Altuve went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a run scored Thursday against the Rangers.

Altuve has eight extra-base hits in his last eight games, and he's maintained a .355 average with 10 RBI and 16 runs scored across 16 games in May. For the season, he owns a .286/.364/.571 line across 110 plate appearances.

Semien went 1-for-4 with a double and a stolen base in Thursday's 5-1 loss to the Astros.

The stolen base was Semien's third of the season and first in 28 contests. The second baseman and leadoff batter had his fourth hit in the last two games, but he's still batting just .175 with eight RBI through 36 games. For the optimists, Semien is batting .200 during the month of May, up from a .157 April.

Rosario went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base in Thursday's loss to the Reds.

It's been a tough start to the season for Rosario, but he's been better at the plate since getting a few days out of the lineup to manage wrist soreness earlier this month. Rosario has now hit safely in six of his last eight games. The steal was his first since April 16.

Frazier went 3-for-5 with two runs in a win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Frazier's third multi-hit effort over the last four games pushed his average to its highest point since April 21. Factoring in Wednesday's production, Frazier boasts a .370/.442/.522 slash line over his last 12 games.

Semien went 3-for-5 at the dish in Wednesday's 6-5 win over the Angels.

The three hits were a season high for Semien and exceeded his combined output (two) from his previous nine games combined. Semien's lowly .173 batting average is destined to climb from here, but the 31-year-old has yet to show any signs of bouncing back in the power department. With his move to Texas this offseason, Semien was already expected to see a downturn from the career-best 45 home runs he delivered with Toronto in 2021, but his decline as a power hitter has been even more severe than anticipated. He has yet to leave the yard through 35 games and has only seven extra-base hits (all doubles) over his 153 plate appearances. Per Statcast, Semien sits in the bottom-10 percentile of all hitters in terms of average exit velocity, barrel rate, expected slugging percentage and hard-hit percentage, so it's tough to count on him staging a major turnaround as a power hitter.

Lopez went 1-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored in Wednesday's 6-2 win over the White Sox.

Lopez has gone 5-for-11 with a double and a pair of stolen bases in the first four contests of a rare five-game series versus the Pale Hose. He's gotten off to a slow start in 2022, posting a .216/.304/.252 slash line with three RBI, 12 runs scored and three stolen bases in 36 games. His solid defense will keep him in the lineup at either second base or shortstop most days, but he'll often hit at the bottom of the order as he has for much of May.