MLB Player News

Nationals Manager Matt Williams said infielder Anthony Rendon was able to field some grounders and take some swings in the batting cage on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post's Chelsea Janes. 

Though he was able to get some work in, Williams said he's not ready to resume rehab games just yet. 

Rendon had a setback in early May when an oblique injury occurred while rehabbing his knee. 

"His legs are in decent shape, it's not like you're not playing all winter, but nonetheless there's some start-over feel there because you have to get going again," Williams said. "There's nothing like playing games. There's nothing like getting out there in competition, so that process is underway, and we'll get him to the point where he can go out and start playing some games and see where he's at."

Rendon's absence was felt early on in the season. However, the Nationals have become scorching hot of late, winning 10 of their last 12 games. They're now in first place of the NL East.

This recent surge should allow the Nationals to exercise caution with Rendon's injuries. 

Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez hit a solo home run in the fourth inning of Tuesday's loss to Minnesota. 

Alvarez went 2 for 5, improving his average to .227. He homered for the seventh time and drove in his 17th run. 

Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon is making progress in his return from knee and oblique injuries that have landed him on the disabled list. 

Manager Matt Williams said that Rendon is throwing and doing baseball activities, per the Washington Post. He's not ready to hit live pitching yet, however.  

Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu is down nearly 100 points on his batting average in the month of May after starting red hot with a .406 average.

Manager Walt Weiss said it's just the cycle of the season and LeMahieu thinks he'll break out soon, according to MLB.com.

"It's the same every year," LeMahieu said. "You go into every spring training like, 'I'm not going to get frustrated this year. I'm going to keep going with it. Then you get to that point and you can't help but get frustrated, especially when the team's not going well, it compounds it.

"But I still feel good at the plate. I think I've got a hot streak coming and our team has a hot streak coming."

Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado hit his seventh home run of the season in Saturday's 7-5 victory over the Dodgers. Arenado's two-run shot came in the top of the eighth inning, and snapped an eight-game homerless streak for the Gold Glove third baseman.

The home run was his only hit in four at-bats on Saturday as his batting average dropped to .289 on the season. He has hit safely in four straight games, however. 

Braves leadoff hitter Jace Peterson doesn't remember ever hitting a grand slam. Apparently, not even in little league, according to 680 The Fan.

Now he has one to remember forever. He sent one flying over the fence in right with the bases loaded in the second inning of his team's Saturday victory in Miami.

"Any time you can get the first one out of the way and it be a grand slam, it's awesome," Peterson said, per MLB.com.

The second baseman broke an 0-for-9 slide with the blast and added a single to improve his slash line to .276/.339/.333.

"He's a steady baseball player," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He just keeps getting better the more you run him out there."

Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez will not be the first baseman Saturday. He is out of the lineup against Cubs left-hander Jon Lester.

Corey Hart is set to man the position instead.

Alvarez has just one hit in 12 at-bats against lefties this season. But Hart is 1-for-13 against them in 2015.

Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez went 3 for 6 in Friday's 12-inning loss to the Cubs. 

Alvarez lifted his average to .218. He hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, his sixth of the year, producing his 16th RBI. 

With Kelly Johnson on the disabled list, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez opted to move Nick Markakis from the leadoff spot to the cleanup spot for Friday's contest against the Marlins, according to MLB.com. Jace Peterson was inserted to the top of the order.

Markakis is hitting .302 (38 for 126) with no homers and 10 RBI in 33 games this season.

Atlanta is an underdog (+119) at Miami, per VegasInsider.com.

After all the major roster changes Padres general manager A.J. Preller made this offseason, it will be interesting to see what, if any, mid-season moves he makes.

CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Jon Heyman is reporting that the Padres would be interested in Brewers shortstop Jean Segura if the team made him available, though that seems unlikely at this point. 

The Padres currently have Alexi Amarista installed as their regular shortstop, but he has not hit well this year and the team views him more as a utility-type player. And as we saw this past winter, with Preller, just about anything seems possible.