MLB Player News

Smith (hamstring) will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo on Thursday, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Smith is slated to play back-to-back full games before being evaluated for a potential return. The utility player landed on the 10-day injured list last week with left hamstring inflammation, but he avoided a strain and is tracking toward a minimum stay on the IL.

Loftin is absent from the lineup for Thursday's game in Toronto.

Loftin had made eight consecutive starts, but he will retreat to the bench for Thursday's series finale. Josh Rojas will occupy the hot corner for the Royals in the rubber match.

The Royals recalled Rojas from Triple-A Omaha on Thursday.

Rojas has posted just a .556 OPS across 80 plate appearances in the majors this season, but he'll get the call to rejoin the big club to make up for the loss of Michael Massey (concussion). Rojas will likely serve primarily as bench depth while Tyler Tolbert receives the majority of starts at second base going forward.

Follow-up imagining on Mead's fractured left wrist came back clean Monday, and the infielder has been cleared to begin mobility exercises and progress toward strength work, MLB.com reports.

Mead has been able to transition out of the cast he was wearing to protect his injured hand and is now donning a splint. Though he's not yet ready to take part in full baseball activities, ditching the cast at least represents a step forward in the recovery process. The 25-year-old would still appear to have a chance at making it back from the injured list around mid-to-late September.

Lee went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 7-4 loss to the Athletics.

Lee has homered four times over his last 10 games, going 10-for-37 (.271) at the dish in that span. The infielder has just one multi-hit effort, but the uptick in power is a positive after he slugged .385 in his first 25 games coming out of the All-Star break. He's batting .247 with a .736 OPS, 21 homers, 70 RBI, 59 runs scored, 21 doubles, three triples and seven stolen bases through 128 contests this year.

White went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in Wednesday's 7-4 win over the Twins.

White has gone 8-for-21 (.381) over his last five games, adding four RBI and three runs in that span. The infielder is seeing regular playing time of late as he continues to split time between first and third base. He's batting .269 with a .631 OPS, two home runs, eight RBI, 15 runs scored, four doubles and no stolen bases through the first 35 games of his big-league career.

Vargas went 2-for-3 with two walks, one RBI, one stolen base and two runs scored in Wednesday's 10-4 win over the Rangers.

Vargas has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, and five of those performances have included multiple hits. He's also shown great plate discipline in that span with a 16:8 BB:K. The infielder has enjoyed a breakout year, batting .251 with an .861 OPS, 29 home runs, 13 steals, 76 RBI, 91 runs scored, 30 doubles and one triple across 131 contests. He hit leadoff Wednesday, and while the experiment went well, it's unclear if that will be a change that sticks the next time the White Sox face a southpaw.

Encarnacion-Strand went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and one run scored in Wednesday's 8-7 win over the Cardinals.

Encarnacion-Strand supplied an RBI single to open the scoring as part of the Orioles' five-run first inning, and he plated the winning run on a double in the ninth. That's back-to-back multi-hit efforts for the infielder to open Baltimore's series in St. Louis, though he went 0-for-15 across his five games before that. Overall, he's batting .264 with an .820 OPS, seven home runs, six doubles, 27 RBI, 11 runs scored and a stolen base across 114 plate appearances this year.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Wednesday that Keys will begin playing some left field at Triple-A Buffalo, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.

To this point, Keys has played only first and third base in pro ball, but showing he can handle left field would give the 23-year-old an additional path to playing time in the majors. Keys has been red hot at the plate for Buffalo in August, slashing .351/.463/.675.

Mayo is out of the lineup for Wednesday's tilt in St. Louis.

Mayo had started four straight and 10 of the past 11 contests for the Orioles, but he'll take a seat Wednesday. Pete Alonso will occupy the designated-hitter slot, Samuel Basallo will play first base, and Carlos Narvaez will start behind the plate.