MLB Player News

Donaldson was put on the 10-day disabled list due to right shoulder inflammation, retroactive to April 11.

Donaldson has been dealing with throwing problems since the beginning of the season, when manager John Gibbons declared him as having a 'dead arm' following a batch of games where he was visibly struggling to get the ball to first base. The third baseman was briefly moved to the DH spot, but returned to his typical position against the White Sox on April 3 and has been playing the field since. Donaldson hasn't experienced any sort of setback or new injury to the shoulder, but without any noticeable improvement, Donaldson will be forced to spend some time in Florida going through a throwing program to correct the issue. In a corresponding move, Teoscar Hernandez was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo. Expect to see Yangervis Solarte earn a majority of the starts at the hot corner in Donaldson's absence.

Urshela (hamstring) will report to Triple-A Columbus for a minor-league rehab assignment.

Urshela recently played in an extended spring training contest earlier this week and appears to be on the verge of making an appearance in the minor leagues within the next couple days. Manager Terry Francona did mention Wednesday that Urshela was about 4-5 days away from playing with Columbus, so the infielder could spend a few days on the bench before returning to game action.

Lewis went 2-for-5 with one home run and one strikeout Thursday for Low-A Cedar Rapids.

The home run was his first of the year, and second in 23 career games in the Midwest League. While a .250 BABIP is suppressing his early season slash line, his 3:4 K:BB shows that he has a very good handle on the pitching at this level. He is also 1-for-1 on stolen-base attempts in the early going. Look for him to soon force a promotion to High-A.

Moncada went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Thursday's 4-0 loss to the Twins.

Moncada's fanned six times over the last two games and has multiple Ks in seven of 12 games played. He's made that silent walk back to the dugout 24 times over 57 plate appearances (42.1 K%). Offspeed stuff has bothered him since his first taste of the majors with Boston in 2016, however, manager Rick Renteria told Scott Merkin of MLB.com it's a physical thing more than any one pitch giving the leadoff hitter trouble. He feels Moncada is pulling his head during his swing. "He's not really seeing the ball into the zone as well as I would like him to," Renteria said. You can live with the high strikeout totals if he were doing other things, but the second baseman is 3-for-20 with men on base (2-for-17 RISP). His on-base ability, considered a forte along with his speed, sits at .298 while he hasn't attempted a steal yet.

Davis was optioned to Triple-A Fresno on Thursday, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic Houston reports.

Davis made the Opening Day roster as a reserve player and collected six hits in his 28 at-bats. He'll be sent back to the minors with starting first baseman Yulieski Gurriel (hand) set to return from the disabled list Friday. Davis will likely play every day at Fresno with the hopes of returning to the bigs before long.

Urshela (hamstring) played in an extended spring training game in Arizona on Thursday, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

Manager Terry Francona admitted that Urshela remains about 4-to-5 days out from going on a minor-league rehab assignment, though this marked the first time that the 26-year-old returned to game action since going down with a right hamstring strain near the end of spring training. Upon his return to the big leagues, it's expected that Urshela will be utilized out of a reserve role all around the infield.

Chapman went 2-for-6 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI in Wednesday's 16-6 rout of the Dodgers.

The 24-year-old's blistering start to the season continues. Chapman is now slashing .347/.418/.653 through 13 games with four homers and 11 RBI, and his 18.2 percent strikeout rate is a huge improvement on the 28.2 percent mark he managed as a rookie. His minor-league numbers suggest there will be whiffs and cold spells at the plate coming, but if he has taken a step forward with his plate discipline, Chapman could avoid being a liability in batting average while still supplying the big power numbers expected of him.

Bregman, who entered Wednesday's game on a 3-for-18 slide, went 4-for-6 with a home run, a double and two runs scored in a 9-8 loss to the Twins.

Bregman has been making contact all year, but wasn't getting balls to drop -- until Wednesday. "I felt good really all year, barreling up the baseball," Bregman told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. "[In the] first series in Texas, I hit a lot of balls at people and kind of started to chase some hits after that instead of chasing some good pitches to hit, and today I was just looking for some good pitches to hit and was fortunate enough to put some good swings on the ball." It was the first four-hit game of his career, and the homer was his first of the season. He had a similarly cold start in 2017 and managed to turn things around.

Donaldson is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against Baltimore, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Donaldson will spend the series finale on the bench for a standard maintenance day, his first of the 2018 season. In his place, Yangervis Solarte gets the nod at third base while batting third in the order.

Bregman went 1-for-3 with a walk and was picked off in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Twins.

Bregman led off the fifth with a single and was promptly picked off in yet another game where the Astros' offense was quiet and runs were dear. The 24-year-old third sacker is hitting just .186 over 12 games. He has similar batted-ball characteristics as last season, but has had little to show for it -- his .216 BABIP a testament to that. Struggling hitters tend to expand the strike zone, but his swing rate and swing rate outside the zone do not indicate he's chasing bad pitches. The quirks of BABIP should correct, but you'll need to be patient with Bregman.