MLB Player News

Machado will bat second Friday against the Cardinals.

Machado has been a staple in the three-hole for Baltimore this season, but this appears to be a measure manager Buck Showalter is taking to try to revive the star third baseman's bat. To this point, Machado is hitting just .214 on the season, a far cry from his career mark of .278. He'll look to get back on track against St. Louis right-hander Carlos Martinez in Friday's series opener.

Ramirez went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and two runs in Thursday's victory over the Dodgers.

The third baseman's effort Thursday raised his 2017 batting average seven points, while bumping his June average up nearly 40 points. However, Ramirez did get caught stealing again, making him just 6-for-10 this season, one year after successfully swiping 76 percent of his attempts. Owners expecting another 20-plus stolen-base campaign may be disappointed, as the 24-year-old is on pace to steal just 15 bags.

Escobar went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run in Thursday's win over the Mariners.

Escobar greeted Ariel Miranda with a homer in the first, and he notched a pair of singles in subsequent at-bats. The 28-year-old has been on quite a run to begin June, recording six multi-hit games (including four with three or more hits) and three homers so far this month. He's raised his average from .210 to .295 since the calendar flipped from May.

Plouffe was designated for assignment by the Athletics on Thursday, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports.

No surprise here, as the Athletics opted to cast the struggling veteran off the 40-man roster in order to bring top prospect Matt Chapman up to the big leagues. Plouffe only batted .214 this season, although he's not too far removed from some quality big-league innings, so it wouldn't be too surprising to see him land another MLB job relatively soon.

Chapman was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Thursday, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports.

As anticipated, the Athletics will call up one of their top prospects to provide a jolt to their offense. Chapman has a .333 ISO with the Sounds this season, although he also struck out 31 percent of the time. With Trevor Plouffe being designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for him, it seems like Chapman will get a full audition to be Oakland's primary third baseman.

Plouffe is expected to be designated for assignment Thursday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.

The Athletics need a 40-man roster spot cleared to allow Matt Chapman to head to the big leagues, and given Plouffe's disappointing .214/.276/.357 slash line on the season, he is a pretty clear candidate to get the boot. He's unlikely to accept a minor-league assignment given his relatively recent success in the big leagues, so he very well could find a new home fairly soon once he's officially exposed to waivers.

Segura (ankle) probably will play at least one rehab game at Triple-A Tacoma over the upcoming weekend, Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune reports. This probably puts him on track to return on the Mariners' next homestand against the Tigers, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

It's good news for the speedy infielder, and fantasy players in weekly lineups could slide Segura back in with confidence for their next deadline lock as long as he makes it through the weekend OK.

Segura (ankle) performed running and agility work Wednesday but doesn't look likely to return before early next week, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

Manager Scott Servais had originally expressed hope that his newly-minted shortstop would be ready to play in at least one game during the coming weekend series versus the Rangers, yet he now concedes he might not meet that goal. Segura also took full batting practice Wednesday and reported feeling fine after his agility drills, but it appears increasingly likely the Mariners will err on the side of caution with respect to his return.

Chapman is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Nashville ahead of Thursday's game against the Yankees, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Chapman is set to join the Athletics now that he can no longer gain super-two arbitration status. The 24-year-old is slashing .259/.350/.592 with 16 homers and 30 RBI through 48 games (203 plate appearances) for Nashville this season. With Trevor Plouffe struggling at the dish (.215), Chapman could be in line for playing time at the hot corner when Ryon Healy serves as the designated hitter.

Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Wednesday's loss to the Dodgers.

At the time, his ninth homer of the year tied the game at 2-2 in the seventh inning, but the Indians' bullpen promptly imploded in the eighth. With this effort, Ramirez emphatically put an end to a three-game skid in which he'd gone 0-for-11. His inability to match up to last season's batting average and base stealing has put a bit of a damper on his fantasy value, but Ramirez has seen an uptick in power, as he's already just two short of last year's career-high 11 homers.