MLB Player News

Hernandez is out of the lineup Saturday against the Padres.

Hernandez started five of the past six games, slotting in at a different position in each game. He'll likely continue to have an increased workload the rest of the way with Corey Seager out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Semien went 1-for-4 with an RBI single, a walk and a run in a win over the Orioles on Friday.

Semien gave the Athletics some breathing room with an eighth-inning single that plated Jonathan Lucroy. It was the shortstop's first RBI since April 23, an eight-game drought that represented his longest such stretch of the season. Despite the recent lack of timely hitting, Semien has remained productive, reaching safely in 10 of his last 12 games.

Merrifield is out of the lineup against Detroit on Saturday, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports.

Merrifield will receive a typical day off following nine straight starts while Ryan Goins draws the assignment at second base. Expect to see Merrifield back in the lineup for Sunday's series finale.

Torres went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run in Friday's 7-6 win over Cleveland.

The blast was the first of his big-league career, making him the youngest Yankee to homer since John Ellis in 1969. Torres now has an impressive .333/.367/.467 slash line through his first 13 MLB games.

Marte is not in the lineup Friday against the Astros.

Despite his 2-for-3 showing Thursday, Marte is hitting just .190 over the past seven games. As such, he'll head to the bench for a night off Friday, allowing Chris Owings to pick up a start at the keystone in his stead.

Albies went 2-for-6 with a three-run home run in Thursday's 11-0 rout of the Mets.

The evolution of Albies into a feared power hitter has been nothing short of extraordinary. Coming into 2017, the switch hitter had only seven homers in 293 career minor-league games, but he swatted 15 in 154 games between Triple-A Gwinnett and the majors last year and now has 10 in 30 games to begin the 2018 campaign. He'll eventually slow down on that front -- his 20.8 percent HR/FB rate seems unsustainable -- but adding even double-digit homers to his offensive profile makes the 21-year-old a legitimate five-category fantasy asset, and he's headed for a lot more than merely double digits.

Marte went 2-for-3 with a walk, RBI, run and a stolen base in the Diamondbacks' 5-2 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday.

Marte was the Diamondbacks' most productive hitter on the afternoon, but he'll probably need to cluster together several solid performances before recapturing his old role as the club's No. 2 hitter, which has fallen to Nick Ahmed of late. A career-worst .250 BABIP has contributed to Marte's sickly .224 average, but with his groundball rate sitting at 62.4 percent, it's difficult to see the 24-year-old's batting line climbing significantly until he adjusts his approach at the plate. Perhaps more troubling than Marte's low average and lack of power is that he hasn't been active as a base stealer, despite ranking in the 86th percentile in sprint speed in 2018, per Baseball Savant. The stolen base Marte collected Thursday was just his fourth (on five attempts) across 379 plate appearances with the DIamondbacks the last two seasons.

Solarte went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs scored in the second game of a doubleheader Thursday against the Indians.

Solarte had a huge day at the plate, going a combined 8-for-10 with two home runs, seven RBI and four runs scored. The performances raised his average from .238 to .287 and accounted for nearly one-third of his runs driven for the season. After hitting an uninspiring .218 through 87 at-bats, Solarte has turned it on with four multi-hit games across his past six games.

Ngoepe was designated for assignment Thursday Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Just hours after being optioned down to Triple-A, Ngoepe is now without a spot on the 40-man roster after the Blue Jays made a flurry of moves between games in Thursday's doubleheader. Reliever Luis Santos had his contract selected and he will take Ngoepe's spot. Ngoepe had seen inconsistent playing time in the weeks leading up to his demotion and he had just one hit in 18 at-bats. He'll now be subject to waivers, but could return to the Blue Jays' organization if he goes unclaimed.

Giavotella revealed Wednesday via his personal Twitter account that he was released by the Marlins.

After failing to win a reserve infield spot with the Marlins while attending spring training as a non-roster invitee, Giavotella was assigned to Triple-A New Orleans to begin the season. He appeared in 10 games in the Pacific Coast League, hitting .214 across 28 at-bats before being cut loose to make room for JT Riddle (shoulder), who was optioned to New Orleans after being activated from the 10-day disabled list. Giavotella will try to latch on with another organization as infield depth in the high minors.