MLB Player News

Ramirez went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI in Wednesday's win over the Royals.

Ramirez was a synonym of offense for the Indians during Wednesday's win, as he plated the team's four runs after going deep twice -- he launched a pair of two-run shots, his first two of the campaign, in the sixth and eighth innings. Ramirez has hit safely in each of his first five appearances this season and has recorded two multi-hit games to date.

Urshela is averaging 77.6 miles per hour on his throws from third base, a drop of nearly five mph from his 2020 average, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

The loss of velocity could be attributed to Urshela still attempting to regain full strength in his throwing shoulder after he required surgery in December to remove a bone spur. Urshela, who is off to a 4-for-18 start to the season, has noticed a similar decline in his Statcast metrics at the plate, with his average exit velocity, max exit velocity and hard-hit percentage all down from 2020. The small sample of data thus far makes it difficult to draw any major conclusions for Urshela's rest-of-season outlook, but the early returns aren't overly encouraging.

Moncada isn't starting Wednesday's game against the Mariners.

Moncada went 4-for-22 with a double, three runs and 12 strikeouts while starting the first six games of the season. Jake Lamb will start at third base Wednesday, batting second.

Madrigal went 1-for-3 with a single, a stolen base and a run scored in Tuesday's 10-4 win over the Mariners.

Madrigal reached base in the eighth after getting hit in the shoulder and promptly took second for his first steal of the young season. The former 2018 first-round pick only had two steals in 29 games last year, but hopefully this could be a sign that he'll be more active when on base to make up for his lack of run production so far at the plate.

Candelario went 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, an RBI and a run scored in Tuesday's 10-inning win over the Twins.

As he did last season, Candelario is quietly putting together good at-bats and plenty of hits. He's slashing .300/.364/.400 in the early going after recording a .297/.369/.503 line in 2020. Candelario might not jump off the page, but the 27-year-old is turning into a solid if not necessarily spectacular fantasy contributor.

Chapman, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in a loss to the Dodgers on Monday, is hitting just .133 (2-for-15) over his first five games.

The slick-fielding third baseman does have hits in back-to-back games, but that pair of singles serve as the only times that he's knocked the ball out of the infield, though he's also walked four times. Chapman similarly struggled during Cactus League play -- he hit just .179 with 12 strikeouts across 53 plate appearances -- but he at least laced five of his seven hits for extra bases (two doubles, three home runs).

LeMahieu went 1-for-3 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored in Monday's 7-0 win over the Orioles.

LeMahieu crossed the plate on Giancarlo Stanton's grand slam in the fifth inning, then knocked in a run of his own on a sixth-inning single. The veteran second baseman has a .474 OBP so far this season as the leadoff hitter in a strong Yankees lineup.

Rendon will sit Tuesday against Houston.

Rendon started the first four games of the season at third base, going 4-for-18 at the plate. The veteran will rest for Tuesday's afternoon contest, with Jose Rojas making his first career start in his absence.

Manager Rocco Baldelli said that Donaldson (hamstring) will run on a treadmill and take batting practice Tuesday, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Though the Twins placed Donaldson on the 10-day injured list last weekend, the fact that he hasn't been shut down from baseball activities offers hope that he'll be in line for an abbreviated absence. Donaldson's return from the IL won't be considered imminent until he's able to take part in full fielding and baserunning drills, but he seems to be trending in the right direction.

Madrigal batted leadoff in place of the injured Tim Anderson (hamstring) and went 0-for-4 with a walk in a 6-0 win over Seattle on Monday.

Anderson came up lame on his first at-bat Sunday and was unavailable for Monday's contest. As a result, the contact-making Madrigal moved from ninth to the top of the order, and he extended his on-base streak to four games, though he also went hitless for the first time this season.