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Jose Ramirez 3B | CLE
Indians' Jose Ramirez: Flashes skills in win
Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a walk, a solo home run, a second run scored and a stolen base in Friday's 9-1 win over the Angels.
The 28-year-old has hit safely in seven straight games, batting .344 (11-for-32) over that stretch as he tries to push Cleveland into the wild-card picture. On the season, Ramirez is slashing .257/.341/.543 with 28 homers, 15 steals, 76 RBI and 79 runs through 111 contests.
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Yoan Moncada 3B | LAA
White Sox's Yoan Moncada: Belts 11th homer
Moncada went 1-for-3 with a walk and a two-run home run in Friday's 7-5 extra-innings win over the Rays.
He took Michael Wacha deep in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to seven games. Moncada's huge 2019 campaign is increasingly looking like an outlier, and the 26-year-old is batting only .255 with 11 homers, 51 RBI and 56 runs through 111 games this season. On the bright side, his .371 OBP would be a career high.
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Josh Donaldson 3B | MIL
Twins' Josh Donaldson: Swats two-run homer
Donaldson went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Friday's 10-2 loss to the Yankees.
The 35-year-old accounted for all of Minnesota's scoring when he took Yankees starter Nestor Cortes deep in the sixth inning. Donaldson is up to 17 homers, 51 RBI, 50 runs scored and 16 doubles while slashing .248/.350/.458 in 380 plate appearances. He's hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 10-for-34 (.294) in that span.
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DJ LeMahieu 2B | NYY
Yankees' DJ LeMahieu: Homers, scores three times in win
LeMahieu went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, a walk, and three total runs scored in Friday's 10-2 win over Minnesota.
LeMahieu was productive Friday and has reached base multiple times in 13 of 19 games in August. The infielder's two-hit effort raised his slash line to .272/.353/.373 with eight homers, 49 RBI, 60 runs scored and four stolen bases through 527 plate appearances. He continues to hit leadoff most of the time, and the Yankees' recent resurgence on offense should help the 33-year-old cross the plate a bit more often over the final stretch of the season.
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Emmanuel Rivera 3B | BAL
Royals' Emmanuel Rivera: Swats first homer
Rivera went 1-for-4 with a solo home run and a strikeout in Friday's 6-2 win over the Cubs.
Rivera had been out of the lineup in each of the last two games, but he blasted his first major-league home run in the fifth inning Friday. The 25-year-old has recorded hits in each of his last four appearances, but he has just two extra-base hits in 13 games since the start of August.
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Willians Astudillo 3B | MIA
Twins' Willians Astudillo: Good to go Friday
Astudillo (foot) is starting at first base and batting seventh Friday against the Yankees, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
Astudillo hasn't seen game action since Sunday when he exited after being hit by a pitch on the foot, but he'll rejoin the starting nine Friday. The 29-year-old should see increased work at first base all weekend with Miguel Sano potentially out until Tuesday while on the paternity list.
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Gio Urshela 3B | MIN
Yankees' Gio Urshela: Approaching rehab stint
Urshela (hamstring) may begin a rehab assignment Sunday or Tuesday, Max Goodman of SI.com reports.
Urshela has been out of action since July 31, as what was expected to be a short stay on the injured list took a turn for the worse when the infielder suffered a setback while participating in fielding drills Aug. 9. He recently received a PRP injection, which appears to have helped in his healing. If Boone's estimate for a rehab stint proves accurate, Urshela could possibly return to the big club by next weekend.
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Alex Bregman 3B | CHC
Astros' Alex Bregman: Resuming rehab assignment
Bregman (hamstring) will resume his rehab assignment Friday with Triple-A Sugar Land, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reports.
Bregman has been absent from the big-league roster for over two months while dealing with quadriceps and hamstring issues. He's played in seven rehab games but none since Aug. 7 after suffering an apparent setback. It remains unclear exactly how many more rehab games the Astros will want him to make before they clear him to return to the roster, but he's finally back on the right track.
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Josh Jung 3B | TEX
Rangers' Josh Jung: Advances to Triple-A
Jung was promoted to Triple-A Round Rock on Friday.
Jung's season didn't start until mid-June after he suffered a stress fracture in his foot back in March, but he's done everything he can to make up for lost time. In 43 games for Double-A Frisco, he's homered 10 times while hitting .308/.366/.544. It's possible he could already handle himself at the major-league level, but the rebuilding Rangers have little incentive to call him up before the end of the year. Whether or not he's in the mix for an Opening Day assignment next season may depend as much on whether the service-time rules are tweaked during the upcoming labor negotiations as on his performance down the stretch for Round Rock.
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Jordan Groshans 3B | ATL
Blue Jays' Jordan Groshans: Heating up at Double-A
Groshans is batting .318 (14-for-44) over his last 12 games for Double-A New Hampshire with a home run, six doubles and a 9:8 BB:K.
The 21-year-old has had trouble finding in-game power this summer, and his homer Wednesday was only his sixth in 66 games this season and first since June 25. Groshans has maintained good habits during that power drought though, and he's finally beginning to see better results. Toronto's No. 1 fantasy prospect should be viewed as the organization's third baseman of the future following the trade of Austin Martin and Cavan Biggio's washout 2021, and Groshans is putting himself in position to make his big-league debut sometime next season.