MLB Player News

Stallings will start at catcher and bat eighth Tuesday in Cincinnati.

Since the beginning of July, Stallings has slashed .273/.333/.394 in 36 plate appearances. He's also started nine of the team's last 17 games, earning at least an equal timeshare behind the plate with Elias Diaz. Stallings offers little in the way of power or speed, but he does feature a career .303 batting average in 142 at-bats.

Smith isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Rockies.

Smith has collected five base knocks over his last three contests, including four extra-base hits. He'll take a seat for the second matchup of the series, opening the door for Russell Martin to handle the catching duties.

Contreras isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Cardinals.

Contreras is 2-for-13 with a double and an RBI over his last three contests, so he'll catch a breather Tuesday. Victor Caratini will handle the catching duties and back sixth in Contreras' stead.

Diaz isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against Cincinnati.

Diaz will head to the bench for the third time in the last four days. Jacob Stallings draws the start behind the dish and is set to hit eighth in Diaz's absence.

Hedges is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Orioles.

Francisco Mejia will handle catching duties in the series finale, but he seems to have fallen behind Hedges on the depth chart, given the usage of both backstops recently. Hedges had started four of the Padres' previous six games, and it looks like his superior defense could be the playing-time tiebreaker between the two when Mejia is in the midst of dry spells at the plate.

Barnhart is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against Pittsburgh.

Barnhart has gone 6-for-10 at the plate over his last three games. He'll get a rest in favor of Kyle Farmer on Tuesday.

Gomes drew walks in all four of his plate appearances during Monday's win over Atlanta and scored two runs.

His display of patience had a lot more to do with the fact that Gomes was hitting eighth in front of the pitcher than any skill on his part. On the season, the veteran catcher has a feeble .213/.317/.325 slash line, and he's fallen decidedly behind Kurt Suzuki on the Nats' depth chart.

Mejia is not starting Monday against the Orioles.

Mejia has started three of the past four games, going 2-for-12 (.167) with a trio of strikeouts over that stretch. Austin Hedges is starting at catcher and hitting eighth in Monday's series opener.

Manager David Bell said Sunday that Casali (knee) is "getting close" to resuming baseball activities, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Casali has been on the 10-day injured list since July 18 with the right knee issue and is expected to miss up to a month with the injury, per Sheldon. While the fact that Casali is progressing as anticipated suggests he's on track to return from the IL around mid-August, the Reds won't be able to pin down a target date for the backstop's return until he begins logging on-field work on a regular basis.

Realmuto went 1-for-4 with a grand slam Sunday against the Braves.

Realmuto extended his team's lead to six in the fifth inning with a grand slam over the fence in left field. He's now left the yard in three of his last four contests, putting him at 14 home runs over 99 games this season.