MLB Player News

Maldonado is out of the lineup Sunday against the Pirates.

Maldonado will get a regular day of rest after catching five consecutive contests for the Brewers. Manny Pina will man the backstop in his stead.

Barnhart is out of the lineup Sunday against the Cardinals.

Barnhart returned to the lineup from a hand injury to start the first two games of the series, but he'll take a seat in favor of Ramon Cabrera behind the plate in Sunday's finale.

Contreras went 2-for-4 with a double in Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Giants.

After sitting out the previous two games in favor of veteran David Ross, Contreras was productive upon his return. The 24-year-old has a four-game hitting streak and has hit safely in six of his last seven overall. He's put together a solid rookie season as part of a platoon, slashing .274/.349/.466 over 208 at-bats.

Realmuto went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and a strikeout Friday against the Indians. It was his second consecutive three-hit performance.

While Realmuto's power numbers are significantly down from the first half of the season (just three homers and nine RBI for the month of August), he is still batting .291 since the All-Star break and has now gone 8-for-12 over the past three games.

Barnes was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday.

The 26-year-old has posted excellent numbers in the Pacific Coast League in recent seasons, but he has struggled in the big leagues in a small sample (63 plate appearances). He has an excellent approach, and what seems to be an above average hit tool, although that has yet to manifest itself against big league pitching. Primarily a catcher, Barnes also plays second base, third base and the outfield corners, so he will occupy a minor utility role for the Dodgers down the stretch.

Murphy was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque on Friday, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports.

Murphy kicked the door in at Albuquerque, slashing .327/.361/.647 with 19 homers in just 80 games (322 plate appearances). The 25-year-old does come with some injury concerns, having dealt with shoulder issues and more recently an oblique strain, but he will continue to play in a favorable hitting environment and could end up wrestling away a sizable chunk of the workload from Nick Hundley.

D'Arnaud is out of the lineup Friday against the Nationals.

D'Arnaud has started two consecutive games behind the dish, so he'll get the night off. He'll give way to Rene Rivera at catcher, who will hit ninth against A.J. Cole.

Plawecki was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on Thursday.

At one point a couple years ago, Plawecki was seen as a quality catching prospect with an above average hit tool. Now, after 401 big league plate appearances, he sports just a .210/.288/.283 slash line with four home runs. The Mets have obviously soured on him, but his standing on the 40-man roster made him an obvious September call-up candidate to provide catching depth down the stretch.

Contreras is not in the lineup Friday for the second day in a row.

Fellow catcher David Ross is getting two starts in a row, which has put Contreras on the bench on consecutive days. Expect both players, along with Miguel Montero, to continue sharing the catching duties the rest of the way.

Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Thursday's loss to Atlanta.

Making his first start since being recalled from Triple-A, Sanchez looked good again, continuing his positive results in a small MLB sample. He's now 7-for-21 (.333) with a pair of homers as a Padre -- and considering Sanchez's star turn with the bat in the minors this year (.324/.392/.636 in 55 games), there may be some sustainability to his performance if he can steal at-bats from Derek Norris. Considering Norris is hitting .185, that certainly doesn't seem inconceivable.