MLB Player News

Smith is not in the lineup Thursday against the Orioles, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

Smith will sit after starting the past two games and going 1-for-7 with a walk and two strikeouts. Russell Martin is starting at catcher and hitting ninth in his stead in this one.

Hedges is not in Thursday's lineup against the Cubs.

He is hitting .071 with zero home runs in 28 at-bats this month. Austin Allen is starting behind the dish and hitting seventh.

Contreras is not in Thursday's lineup against the Padres.

He is hitting .316 with two home runs this month but is 0-for-11 over his last three games. Victor Caratini starts behind the dish and will hit fifth.

Grandal went 0-for-1 with two runs scored and four walks in Wednesday's win over the Marlins.

The 30-year-old was 4-for-9 with a double, a home run and three RBI through the first two games of the series, and the Marlins looked like they wanted no part of him Wednesday and instead pitched to Mike Moustakas, who delivered two homers. Grandal has exploded over the last nine games, going 12-for-34 (.353 average) with five home runs, two doubles, 11 runs scored and nine walks.

Barnhart is not in Wednesday's lineup against the Mariners.

He is hitting .150 with zero extra-base hits in 20 at-bats this month. Curt Casali will start behind the dish and hit ninth.

Realmuto went 1-for-3 with a walk and solo home run Tuesday against the Braves.

Realmuto took Max Fried deep in the first inning to record his 24th home run of the campaign. He's hit the ball of late, and this performance extended his hitting streak to seven games. In that span, he's smacked four home runs while recording nine RBI and seven runs scored. For the season, Realmuto is slashing .282/.333/.504 across 136 games.

Davis cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday, Andersen Pickard of MLBDailyDish.com reports.

Davis unsurprisingly went unclaimed on waivers, as he's 29 years old and has just 39 big-league plate appearances under his belt. He'll remain as organizational depth for the Cubs.

Stallings went 2-for-3 with a home run against the Giants on Monday.

He's seen the bulk of starts behind home plate over the past month, but mostly because of his defensive skills. General manager Neal Huntington has said that improving the catching position for 2020 is one of his main concerns, meaning that Stallings may not see another year-over-year bump in playing time. He's slashing .268/.339/.389 with five homers in 175 plate appearances.

Mejia (oblique) took batting practice Monday and could return next week, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Mejia swung the bat for the first time since suffering a right oblique strain Aug. 28. Manager Andy Green indicated that Mejia would take batting practice for a few more days before potentially playing in the instructional league. If all goes well, the 23-year-old could return to the Padres next week.

Grandal went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and two runs scored in Monday's 8-3 win over Miami.

After hitting just three homers in July and August combined, Grandal has already launched five in September and four in his last five games. The switch-hitting catcher is up to 26 long balls this season, one short of his career high set in 2016.