MLB Player News

Barnhart is not in the lineup for Wednesday's matchup against the Rangers.

Barnhart had a solid showing Tuesday night, going 1-for-3 with a double and a RBI. He has started Cincinnati's last three games, so they'll give him the night off and put Ramon Cabrera behind the plate.

Stewart's knee has been responding well so far in his rehab assignment and he will continue to play nine innings every other day with Double-A Altoona, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Bill Brink reports.

He began the rehab assignment on Aug. 12, and likely won't rejoin the Pirates until rosters expand in September, at which point he might get one start per week for the big league club. Stewart is 2-for-14 with five walks in six games with Altoona.

Maldonado went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Tuesday's game against the Rockies.

The catcher hit a pair of doubles Tuesday to push his average back up above the Mendoza Line. After a lackluster first half in which he played the backup role to Jonathan Lucroy, Maldonado has shown improvement in recent weeks since getting the starting gig after Lucroy was traded. He already has more at-bats post All-Star break (69) than he did prior to the Midsummer Classic (66), and Maldonado's .261 second-half batting average is greatly improved from the .152 he posted in the first half of 2016.

Murphy, 25, is hitting .366 with two home runs and seven RBI over his last 10 games for Triple-A Albuquerque.

Murphy is having a stellar 2016 campaign, slashing .322/.352/.648 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI in 71 contests. Nick Hundley and Tony Wolters have been adequate behind the plate at the big league level, but Murphy could get called up in September if the Rockies need an extra power bat.

Stephenson (wrist) will have season-ending surgery.

An injury-riddled year ends on a disappointing note for Stephenson, one of Cincinnati's most valued prospects. In 39 games for Single-A Dayton, he hit .216 with three home runs and 16 RBI. Stephenson will likely ease back into baseball activities following the surgery, as he likely eyes another stint in Single-A to start the 2017 season.

Contreras is not in the lineup for Monday's game against the Padres.

As is typically the case whenever Jon Lester starts, David Ross will open the game behind the plate, and Contreras will come off the bench. Contreras is seeing more time off now than he was when he originally joined the Cubs in June, but he has remained effective with the bat, posting a .275/.351/.431 slash line this month.

D' Arnaud is not in the lineup for Sunday's series finale against the Giants, Matt Ehalt of The Record reports.

This should be considered regular rest for d' Arnaud, who sits more than the average catcher due to his mediocre play. He's been heating up a bit at the dish recently, collecting a hit in five of his last six games and batting .455/.520/.591 over that span.

Maldonado is not in the lineup Sunday for the second time in three days.

Maldonado has seen the majority of the starts behind the plate since Jonathan Lucroy's departure, but fellow backstop Manny Pina has hit the ball far better than Maldonado this month, and is starting to cut into Maldonado's playing time.

Rupp is out of the lineup for Sunday's matchup against the Cardinals.

Carlos Ruiz will start at catcher and bat fifth as Rupp gets the day off. Rupp will likely be back in the lineup when the Phillies return to action against the White Sox on Tuesday.

Contreras is out of the lineup Saturday against the Rockies.

With Mike Montgomery on the mound in a fill-in situation, the Cubs will deploy veteran catcher Miguel Montero to take control of the game behind the plate. Contreras has cooled off considerably after an unsustainably hot start, but he still has a .730 OPS since the start of July, which is pretty impressive for a rookie catcher.