MLB Player News

Stewart, who batted .289/.320/.340 in 172 plate appearances in 2015, will again serve as Francisco Cervelli's backup behind the plate, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Fresh off signing a two-year contract, Stewart has hit for a decent average but offers little in the way of power or speed. His biggest contribution may actually come as starter Gerrit Cole's catcher. Cole went 12-4 with a 2.24 ERA when Stewart caught and 7-5 with a 3.59 under Cervelli's guidance.

Mesoraco (hip) is still on schedule with other Reds catchers, but the Reds still plan on going slow with him this spring.

"As much as he looks like he's on the same schedule as the other guys, as that pace picks up, we'll probably still be slowing him down a bit," Reds manager Bryan Price said on Sunday. "We're going to pump the brakes on Devin a bit and ease him back in." The article by Mark Sheldon speculates that Mesoraco will be held back a little during the front end of spring training games, so don't be alarmed when that happens.

Bethancourt says he is "100 percent" following offseason arthroscopic surgery in October to repair a torn meniscus, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Bethancourt's injury hadn't been officially reported during the time of surgery, but based on the backstop's optimism, it doesn't appear it will have a major effect on his 2016 season. In fact, walking up to the batter's box relatively pain-free could actually help the 24-year-old improve upon a less-than-stellar .200 batting average from a season ago. As it currently stands, Bethancourt appears to have an uphill battle for playing time in San Diego, as he'll have to compete with Derek Norris and Austin Hedges for reps behind the plate.

Manager Pete Mackanin said he is not yet ready to commit to anyone as his starting catcher, the Allentown Morning Call reports.

Rupp earned the majority of the playing time at catcher for the Phillies toward the end of last season. Things really picked up for him in August when he hit seven of his nine home runs and posted a 1.086 OPS in 66 plate appearances. He likely enters camp with a slight advantage over Carlos Ruiz for the starting job.

Grandal (shoulder) has healed from surgery and is under no limitations in spring training, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports.

If Grandal's shoulder is indeed 100 percent healthy, he could be positioned for a huge 2016. Before the first reports of his nagging shoulder problems in mid-August, Grandal had been hitting .285/.389/.489 with 15 home runs, making him one of the most valuable players on the Dodgers. In 96 plate appearances after the shoulder woes popped up, he hit a horrific .052/.229/.091. Whether or not Grandal is healthy throughout this season should at least be pretty obvious.

Gosewisch is "100 percent ready to go" for spring training after dealing with an ACL tear through most of the entire 2015 season, MLB.com reports.

Gosewisch appeared in just 38 games in 2015 due to the injury, but he hit just .211/.261/.281 before he went down. He'll compete for the backup catcher job, but it'll be a battle, as he'll have to beat out Chris Herrmann and Oscar Hernandez to make the team.

The Reds and Mesoraco (hip) are still optimistic that he'll be ready for Opening Day, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

The story contrasted Mesoraco's progress with that of teammates Homer Bailey and John Lamb, both of whom won't be ready for Opening Day.

Plawecki had sinus surgery in December, opening up his blocked right sinus, which doctors believe was the cause of the dizzy spells that plagued the catcher in the past, the NY Daily News reports.

Plawecki is already at the Mets' spring complex to prepare for his role as the team's backup catcher and possibly a small role at first base. If Travis d'Arnaud is sidelined again this season, then Plawecki will step in as the Mets' starting backstop.

D'Arnaud will see action at other positions during the spring in an attempt to increase his versatility and potentially find a way to get his bat in the lineup when Kevin Plawecki is behind the plate, the New York Post reports.

Those other positions are likely first base and left field, though d'Arnaud's main work will come behind the plate. D'Arnaud has suffered a variety of injuries while catching, so moving him out from behind the plate has been discussed for a while, but his bat plays much better as a catcher than at another position.

Plawecki will see action at first base during the spring in an attempt to increase his versatility and potentially find a way to get him in the lineup when Travis d'Arnaud is behind the plate, the NY Post reports.

Plawecki saw some time at first base in the minors, so playing the position won't be that foreign to him. It's unlikely he sees much time there, though he could possibly play against lefties when Lucas Duda sits and Wilmer Flores is deployed elsewhere in the infield.