MLB Player News

McNeil is not in the lineup Friday against the Nationals, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

McNeil started the past two games and will take a seat for Friday's contest. Jonathan Villar will start at third base while Kevin Pillar starts in left field with Dominic Smith (bereavement) away from the team.

Albies (knee) is starting at second base and leading off Friday in Colorado.

Amazingly Albies will end up missing only a few games after suffering what looked like a scary injury Tuesday, when he needed to be helped off the field after fouling a ball off his knee. This is doubly excellent news for his fantasy managers, as he will get to take advantage of a few games in Coors Field.

Hernandez could return from the COVID-19 list early next week, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

The 30-year-old has been inactive since August 26 but manager Alex Cora is hoping he will return sooner rather than later. Hernandez is one of a number of players the Red Sox expect to be reinstated from the COVID list in the coming week, including Xander Bogaerts and Christian Arroyo.

Torres is starting Friday versus the Orioles.

The shortstop was activated from the 10-day injured list Friday following a thumb injury. He's batting seventh as the Yankees face the Orioles ace John Means.

Torres (thumb) was activated from the 10-day injured list Friday.

Torres has been sidelined for nearly a month by a sprained left thumb, but he'll rejoin the big-league club after a three-game rehab stint with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 24-year-old exited Thursday's rehab game after being hit by a pitch on the left hand, though his removal was apparently precautionary since he's still returning from the injured list Friday as scheduled.

Miller went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run in Thursday's win over the Royals.

Miller blasted a three-run bomb off Mike Minor in the fifth inning, and that was all Cleveland would need to grab the lead and never look back. The infielder has homered in two of his last four contests and has gone 5-for-17 (.294) in that span.

Castro went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk during Thursday's loss to the A's.

Castro blasted a 440-footer against Frankie Montas in the fifth inning, marking his second long ball in as many games. The 27-year-old has now tallied three homers on the season and has a .238/.246/.397 slash line in 23 games since the start of August.

Torres (thumb) was removed from Thursday's rehab game after being struck by a pitch, per a video posted by writer Matt Bufano.

It's not immediately clear if Torres experienced some sort of setback with his sprained left thumb, but he did look at his left hand and shake it before immediately walking off the field. His status will be updated again when more information is available.

Estrada went 1-for-4 with a three-run homer Thursday in a 5-1 win over Milwaukee.

Estrada, fresh off a recall from Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday, drove a Devin Williams offering over the left field fence in the eighth inning to give the Giants a 5-1 cushion. It was the fourth homer of the year for Estrada, who could see a fair amount of playing time in the days ahead with Donovan Solano (COVID-19), Tommy La Stella (side) and Wilmer Flores (hamstring) currently unavailable. Solano and Flores are on the injured list while La Stella hasn't played since Sunday, opening the door for Estrada to step in at second base.

Albies (knee) is not in the starting lineup for Thursday's game against the Rockies.

A report earlier in the evening indicated Albies was expected to rejoin Atlanta's lineup Thursday night , but it turns out he is not ready for a full nine innings just yet. He may be able to pinch hit if needed, but it will be Ehire Adrianza manning second base when Thursday's contest gets underway.