MLB Player News

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado produced an RBI double Tuesday against the Rays. It was his third double and sixth RBI.

Machado has hit safely in six of his last seven games, batting .310 (9 for 29) with one home run, two doubles and five RBI. He hit just .192 (5 for 26) with one double and one RBI in his first six games.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria homered for the second straight game Tuesday at Baltimore. Longoria is batting .273 (6 for 22) with two home runs, three runs, four RBI and five walks during the first seven games of the team's current road trip.

The Nationals are pretty much taken care of at every position around the infield, so top prospect Anthony Rendon is trying to make himself as versatile as possible. Baseball America's No. 30 prospect is also lighting up Double-A Harrisburg to start his second professional season.

Rendon is batting .311 through his first 13 games, with a .467 on-base percentage and .533 slugging percentage, while appearing at three infield positions so far. He has six extra-base hits, and has also walked 11 times to just eight strikeouts.

Rendon is tasting Double-A for the second time and enjoying it much more than he did in his first go last season. The 23-year-old could fight his way to Triple-A this season, but the Nationals have no obvious place for him in their infield right now. He remains a decent long-term Fantasy keeper option, but unless a hole opens up for his hot bat, he is unlikely to be much help prior to roster expansion in September. 

The Rays have juggled their lineup the past few days, moving third baseman Evan Longoria from the cleanup spot to third and then back to fourth in the order Tuesday, in an attempt to jumpstart his bat, and subsequently, their offense.

Longoria is batting .300, but has just one extra-base hit in his first 40 at-bats. As a result of his surprisingly light bat, Longoria has just four RBI. Fantasy owners have to be frustrated about Longoria's slow start because he was drafted to be one of the premier run producers. The best advice we can give to Fantasy owners worried about Longoria's empty average so far this season comes to us courtesy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, emblazoned in big, bold letters: "DON'T PANIC".

Longoria is batting .353 with runners on base through the first 12 games, but has yet to sock an extra-base hit in those situations. For his career, Longoria has been a much better batter with runner's on base, increasing his batting average from .259 with the bases empty to .296. And his extra-base hit woes have never been an issue, as he has one extra-base hit every 7.6 at-bats, compared to once ever 8.0 at-bats overall

Longoria's RBI total has been down over the past two years, after posting back-to-back 100-RBI seasons in 2009-2010. But his per-game production has remained top-notch in that span, leaving little reason for Fantasy owners to think this is a meaningful trend. All-Star talents generally don't turn into slap hitters overnight at the age of 27. Don't be surprised if Longoria posts a few multi-RBI games in the next few days to assuage your fears. 

The Rays moved third baseman Evan Longoria down in the order to the cleanup spot Tuesday in Baltimore, MLB.com reports. Manager Joe Maddon continues to tinker with the lineup after Longoria had hit third in the previous four games. 

Longoria, batting .300, hit his first home run -- and extra-base hit of any kind -- Monday in Boston. He has four RBI after 40 at-bats with 11 strikeouts. 

He's gone 2 for 13 (.154) batting third in the order and 10 for 27 (.370) in the cleanup spot. 

Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez is one of the most dropped players in Fantasy (with some people, based on the e-mails I've been getting, opting for Trevor Plouffe and Chris Johnson), and from what I can tell, it's only because he's 3 for 41 to begin the season.

Well, what did you expect? He began last season 1 for 24. He hit .143 over an early 33-game stretch and .214 over a later 33-game stretch. Yeah, he finished with 30 home runs, and he likely will again, but in between, he'll endure some crippling cold streaks. And until he stops striking out every third at-bat, that doesn't figure to change.

But again, none of this should come as a shock to you. You knew exactly what you were getting when you drafted Alaverez. By dropping him now, you only realize your losses, absorbing all of the bad without sticking around for the good.

In Head-to-Head leagues, I can understand you not wanting to live and die by him every week. I question why you drafted him in the first place, but whatever. Lesson learned. But in Rotisserie leagues, you kind of have to let the season run its course. Rest assured, the home runs are coming.

Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe hit his second home run of the season Monday during an 8-2 win over the Angels. He went deep in the fourth inning for a solo shot off starter Joe Blanton. 

Plouffe finished the game 2 for 4 and added his third double. Batting .256, Plouffe recorded just his second multi-hit game of the year. He has four RBI. 

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria finally produced his first extra-base hit of the season Monday at Boston. Longoria tied the game at one in the fourth inning with his first homer of the season.

It ended Longoria's longest season-opening stretch without a homer at 11 games and was just the fifth homer by the Rays. But Longoria has reached base in every game this season. He's batting .300 (12 for 40) with four RBI.

There's one thing quite evident about Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez's poor start -- he's not making much contact. Alvarez has struck out 15 times in 11 games and Fantasy owners are fed up, dumping Alvarez onto waivers.

While it's frustrating to watch Alvarez mired in another cold streak, I don't think Fantasy owners should be dropping the 26-year-old infielder. You are going to have to deal with a high strikeout rate from Alvarez, but you are dropping him when he has a .086 batting average. How much worse can it really get? You have already lived through the horror. You are going to miss reaping all the rewards.

I'm confident a positive market correction is due because Alvarez has a 22.5 swinging strike percentage, which is well above his career average (13.6 percent), according to FanGraphs.com. His plate discipline numbers are all out of whack and Alvarez should eventually come back to his career norms, so there's plenty of room to improve here.

If anything, take Alvarez out of active lineups, but I can't condone dropping a potential 30-homer bat just yet.

Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez had another quiet night at the plate Saturday against the Reds. He went 0 for 2 with a strikeout and a walk in the 3-1 win.

Alvarez is batting .086 with 15 strikeouts in 35 at-bats.