MLB Player News

Rendon went 2-for-4 with a bases-loaded walk and a two-run home run in Friday's 7-2 win over the Mets.

After going 2-for-18 over his previous six games, Rendon has now produced back-to-back two-hit nights to push his OPS back up to .905. The 27-year-old remains on pace for a career year, and with 43 RBI through 62 games he's on course to break the 100-RBI mark for the first time.

Machado will bat second Friday against the Cardinals.

Machado has been a staple in the three-hole for Baltimore this season, but this appears to be a measure manager Buck Showalter is taking to try to revive the star third baseman's bat. To this point, Machado is hitting just .214 on the season, a far cry from his career mark of .278. He'll look to get back on track against St. Louis right-hander Carlos Martinez in Friday's series opener.

Reynolds was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on Friday.

The Mets placed both Matt Harvey and Juan Lagares on the DL on Friday, freeing up a pair of spots on the 25-man roster. Those will be filled by Reynolds and Brandon Nimmo, who will also come up from Las Vegas. Reynolds struggled with the Mets earlier this season, going just 4-for-22 at the plate with one home run and one RBI.

LeMahieu went 4-for-5 with two RBI and three runs during Thursday's win over San Francisco.

The second baseman is beginning to heat up with an .805 OPS, 12 RBI and nine runs through his past 12 games. It's especially encouraging because nine of the 12 contests were on the road, and Thursday's game was the first of seven straight at Coors Field for the Rockies. LeMahieu remains a solid option at the keystone going forward.

Arenado went 3-for-5 with three doubles, four RBI and two runs during Thursday's win over San Francisco.

Arenado hit all three doubles deep, so it was a bit unlucky that he didn't leave the yard with at least one of them. Still, he's now up to a .333/.371/.596 slash line in June with two homers, seven doubles, 16 RBI and nine runs through 14 games.

Ramirez went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and two runs in Thursday's victory over the Dodgers.

The third baseman's effort Thursday raised his 2017 batting average seven points, while bumping his June average up nearly 40 points. However, Ramirez did get caught stealing again, making him just 6-for-10 this season, one year after successfully swiping 76 percent of his attempts. Owners expecting another 20-plus stolen-base campaign may be disappointed, as the 24-year-old is on pace to steal just 15 bags.

Escobar went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run in Thursday's win over the Mariners.

Escobar greeted Ariel Miranda with a homer in the first, and he notched a pair of singles in subsequent at-bats. The 28-year-old has been on quite a run to begin June, recording six multi-hit games (including four with three or more hits) and three homers so far this month. He's raised his average from .210 to .295 since the calendar flipped from May.

Plouffe was designated for assignment by the Athletics on Thursday, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports.

No surprise here, as the Athletics opted to cast the struggling veteran off the 40-man roster in order to bring top prospect Matt Chapman up to the big leagues. Plouffe only batted .214 this season, although he's not too far removed from some quality big-league innings, so it wouldn't be too surprising to see him land another MLB job relatively soon.

Chapman was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Thursday, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports.

As anticipated, the Athletics will call up one of their top prospects to provide a jolt to their offense. Chapman has a .333 ISO with the Sounds this season, although he also struck out 31 percent of the time. With Trevor Plouffe being designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for him, it seems like Chapman will get a full audition to be Oakland's primary third baseman.

Plouffe is expected to be designated for assignment Thursday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.

The Athletics need a 40-man roster spot cleared to allow Matt Chapman to head to the big leagues, and given Plouffe's disappointing .214/.276/.357 slash line on the season, he is a pretty clear candidate to get the boot. He's unlikely to accept a minor-league assignment given his relatively recent success in the big leagues, so he very well could find a new home fairly soon once he's officially exposed to waivers.