MLB Player News

Zavala will start at catcher and bat ninth in Sunday's game against the Athletics.

With top backstop Yasmani Grandal getting the day off, Zavala will enter the lineup for the fourth time in five games. With manager Pedro Grifol having shown an increased willingness to deploy Grandal at designated hitter of late, Zavala could continue to see more playing time than the typical No. 2 backstop. Zavala helped his case for earning more work by slugging two home runs in an 11-5 win over the Angels on Wednesday, but he's still holding down a weak .552 OPS on the season.

Grandal is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against Oakland.

Grandal started the last three games and will take a seat after he went 3-for-13 with two walks, two RBI and two runs. Seby Zavala will work behind the plate Sunday.

Wallach is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Diamondbacks.

After going 0-for-20 with nine strikeouts over his last eight games, Wallach appears to have lost hold of the Angels' No. 1 catching gig, a role he appeared to have poached from Matt Thaiss a couple weeks ago. Thaiss will pick up his fourth start behind the plate in five games in place of the slumping Wallach.

Thaiss will start at catcher and bat seventh in Sunday's game against the Diamondbacks.

After making just two starts in an eight-game stretch from June 18 through June 27, Thaiss has now stepped in behind the dish four times over the Angels' subsequent five games. At least for the time being, Thaiss appears to have reclaimed primary catching duties from Chad Wallach.

Raleigh is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rays.

Raleigh started the first two games of the series versus Tampa Bay, and he'll take a seat for the finale after going 1-for-7 with two walks, a run and five strikeouts. Tom Murphy will step in behind the plate to catch for Luis Castillo.

Moreno is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Angels.

Moreno appears to have wrested the Diamondbacks' primary catching duties away from Carson Kelly, but Arizona will still look to find ways to keep both backstops involved. After starting behind the plate in four of the previous six games, Moreno will give way to Kelly on Sunday as the Diamondbacks wrap up their three-game series in Anaheim.

Garver is out of the lineup for Sunday's game versus the Astros.

It's the second straight game on the bench for Garver, who posted a .237/.308/.356 slash line over 16 games in June. Josh Smith is batting ninth as the designated hitter Sunday.

Contreras is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Yankees, Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Contreras sat for Game 1 of Saturday's twin bill and is back out of the starting nine for Sunday's series finale. He's 2-for-12 in four games since he went 4-for-4 against the Cubs on June 25 in London. Andrew Knizner will step in behind the plate to catch for Jordan Montgomery.

Ruiz is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Phillies.

Ruiz had started at either designated hitter or catcher in each of the Nationals' last 10 games, so he was probably overdue for a day off. Riley Adams will get a turn behind the dish in place of Ruiz, who went 0-for-8 over the first two games of the series.

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

Fortes will take a seat for the series finale while Jacob Stallings gets a turn behind the plate. Though Fortes sports a 62-point edge in OPS over Stallings on the season, the difference isn't significant enough for Fortes to truly dominate the playing time at catcher despite being the Marlins' nominal No. 1 option.