MLB Player News

Maile (hamstring) has gone 9-for-16 with two home runs, two doubles and four walks through the first six games of his rehab assignment at Triple-A Columbus.

After sustaining the left hamstring injury in the penultimate week of spring training, Maile missed out on the Guardians' Opening Day roster. He was cleared to return to action in the minors April 15 and has proven his health as a hitter, but the Guardians may still want him to log some more innings behind the plate before bringing him back from the 10-day injured list. Whenever he's activated, Maile will likely replace Bryan Lavastida as the top backup behind No. 1 catcher Austin Hedges.

Perez (hand) will serve as the Royals' designated hitter and will bat third in Sunday's game against the Mariners.

Perez will be limited to a non-defensive role for the series finale after he was hit in the left hand by a pitch in Saturday's 13-7 loss, though the 31-year-old was probably due for a day off behind the plate anyway after catching each of the previous three days. Assuming Perez's hand provides no complications while he swings the bat Sunday, he should be a fixture in the Kansas City lineup during the team's upcoming six-game week.

Murphy went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and two runs in a win over the Royals on Saturday.

The veteran backstop continued to rip the cover off the ball in Saturday's 13-run breakout, authoring his first multi-hit effort since his first start of the season. Murphy has made the most of his seven appearances thus far, producing a .421 average and 1.174 OPS across his first 24 plate appearances.

Bethancourt is out of the lineup for Sunday's game agains the Rangers.

After being added to the roster as a COVID-19 replacement April 15, Bethancourt made six consecutive starts, but he's since moved into more of a part-time role as the Athletics have gotten more players back from the injured list. He'll be on the bench for the second time in three games and is likely to see his opportunities grow scarcer from here on out.

The Twins scratched Jeffers from the lineup ahead of Sunday's game against the White Sox due to a left knee contusion, Megan Ryan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Though Jeffers is available off the bench, the Twins will likely plan to have fill-in starter Jose Godoy catch all nine innings while Minnesota's other backstop, Gary Sanchez, is out of the lineup for a fourth straight game with abdominal tightness. The Twins will hope to have at least one of Jeffers or Sanchez healthy enough to check back in behind the plate for Tuesday's series opener with the Tigers.

Stassi is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Orioles, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Stassi is receiving some routine maintenance after he went a combined 1-for-10 with a walk and a run scored while starting each of the past three games at catcher. Kurt Suzuki will replace Stassi at catcher in the series finale, forming a battery with southpaw starter Jose Suarez.

Kirk is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Astros.

After drawing two straight starts behind the plate, Kirk will cede catching duties to Zack Collins for the series finale. Kirk's dormant bat has began to wake up over his past four games; he's reached base at a .438 clip during that stretch.

Jeffers was scratched from the lineup for Sunday's game against the White Sox due to an unspecified issue, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.

Jose Godoy was added to the lineup as a replacement for Jeffers behind the plate. The Twins haven't indicated whether Jeffers will be available off the bench, but if not, Minnesota will be down both of its top two catchers. Gary Sanchez is out of the lineup for a fourth consecutive game while he battles abdominal tightness.

Hedges went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Saturday's 5-4 loss to the Yankees.

Hedges gave the Guardians a one-run lead in the eighth inning, but the Yankees pushed back to walk it off in the ninth. This was the catcher's first long ball of the year. He's slashing a meager .125/.200/.219 with three RBI and four runs scored through 37 plate appearances. Hedges remains a quality defensive catcher, but his offense does little to make a case for him to be rostered in many fantasy formats.

Plawecki (illness) is expected to return from the COVID-19 injured list at some point during the Red Sox's four-game series in Toronto that begins Monday, Christopher Smith of The Springfield Republican reports.

Since Plawecki is vaccinated, he's eligible to cross the border and join the Red Sox in Toronto, but he'll first have to complete his quarantine and resume testing negative for the virus. Whenever he's activated, Plawecki is expected to replace Connor Wong as the top backup to No. 1 catcher Christian Vazquez.