MLB Player News

Contreras will serve as Atlanta's designated hitter and No. 7 batter in Sunday's game against the Dodgers.

Making his fourth start in five games, Contreras is benefiting Sunday from the absence of star outfielder Ronald Acuna, who is dealing with a right foot injury. Though doctors have ruled out a fracture, Acuna isn't able to put much pressure on the foot and could be headed to the 10-day injured list if he doesn't show meaningful improvement in the next few days. If that's the case, Contreras and Travis d'Arnaud would likely share work behind the plate and at DH over the upcoming week while the team's preferred DH, Marcell Ozuna, would be forced into the outfield as a replacement for Acuna.

Realmuto is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Padres.

He looks to be receiving some routine maintenance after catching in each of the Phillies' last eight games. Garrett Stubbs will check in behind the dish for Realmuto and form a battery with starting pitcher Kyle Gibson.

Ruiz is out of the lineup for Sunday's game at Texas, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.

Ruiz started the first two games of the series in Texas and will take a seat for the finale. Riley Adams will start behind the plate and bat ninth Sunday.

Knizner is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Cubs, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Knizner started five of the past six contests and will receive Sunday off after going 1-for-12 during that span. Ivan Herrera will work behind the dish in the series finale versus Chicago.

Perez is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rays, Kevin Gorman of TribLive.com reports.

Perez started the first two games of the series and will receive Sunday off after going 1-for-7 with a run. Tyler Heineman will start behind the plate for Pittsburgh in the series finale.

Diaz is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Twins, Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post reports.

Diaz started the past four games and will receive the day off for the series finale in Minnesota. Brian Serven will work behind the dish in his place.

Stallings is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Mets, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports.

Stallings started the first two games of the series and will receive a breather after going 1-for-7 with a run scored. Nick Fortes will work behind the plate in the series finale.

Nido is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Marlins.

Nido is on the bench for the second straight contest and is expected to see his opportunities take a steep hit moving forward after the Mets reinstated top backstop James McCann (wrist) from the 10-day injured list Friday. Before McCann's return, Nido had started in seven of the Mets' previous eight games while going 3-for-22 with a run and an RBI.

Smith went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Saturday's loss to Atlanta.

The backstop tied the score with his eighth-inning solo blast to left field, but Atlanta took the lead for good in the bottom of the frame. Smith has gone deep three times in his past five games to push his total to 11 homers on the campaign. Though his .260/.347/.462 season slash line isn't eye-popping, Smith ranks in the top 10 percent leaguewide in both xBA (.301) and xSLG (.587), per Statcast.

Realmuto went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, a walk, a stolen base and two total runs scored in Saturday's 4-2 win over the Padres.

Realmuto took Padres starter Blake Snell deep in the fifth inning to open the scoring. In the sixth, the catcher walked, stole second and scored again on an Alec Bohm double. Realmuto has homered twice in the last three games to rediscover his power touch, and five of his nine stolen bases this season have come in June. He's added a .237/.316/364 slash line with 28 RBI and 35 runs scored in 65 contests.