MLB Player News

Manager Buck Showalter said McCann (oblique) is on track to return from the 10-day injured list for Thursday's series opener against Atlanta and will likely be part of a near-even timeshare at catcher with Tomas Nido in the short term, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

Showalter said he initially expects McCann and Nido to alternate turns behind plate in an effort to ease McCann back into the mix, but that arrangement won't necessarily remain in place for the rest of the season. Before the playing time tilts more in McCann's favor, however, he'll likely need to show some improvement at the plate, as Nido has historically been the superior pitch framer of the two. McCann has a much better track record of offensive success than Nido, but the 32-year-old was sitting on a career-worst .543 OPS before he was placed on the IL on July 10 with a left oblique strain.

Barnes went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI in a 9-5 win over San Francisco on Tuesday.

Barnes came into the contest batting a paltry .160 on the campaign, but he contributed to a big offensive night for Los Angeles with his first multi-hit performance since May 13. The backup backstop collected his first extra-base hit in over a month with an RBI double in the eighth inning. Barnes has managed a .305 OBP thanks to a 14.2 percent walk rate, but he's otherwise endured a rough season at the plate.

Murphy went 2-for-3 with an RBI single, a double and a walk in a loss to the Angels on Tuesday.

Murphy drove in the only run of the night for the Athletics in the fifth inning with a single that plated Jonah Bride. The 27-year-old's two-bagger was his fifth extra-base hit over the last seven games, a span during which he's hitting just .250 but owns a 1.004 OPS.

Maldonado is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Red Sox, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Christian Vazquez, whom the Astros acquired from Boston on Monday, will step in behind the plate for his Houston debut Wednesday while opposing his former team. Though he's not expected to play quite as frequently for the Astros as he did with the Red Sox, Vazquez should still operate as his new team's clear No. 1 option behind the plate, resulting in Maldonado's role taking a significant hit. The defensive-minded Maldonado had already been a fringy option in leagues that start two catchers, as he's maintaining a .173 average to go with 10 home runs, 30 RBI and 26 runs over 79 games this season.

Barnhart went 1-for-3 with two RBI in Tuesday's 5-3 win over the Twins.

Barnhart appeared to lose hold of the primary catching job to Eric Haase shortly before the All-Star break, but the two seem to have moved into more of a timeshare lately. The Tigers will go with Barnhart behind the dish Wednesday for the third time in four games, while Haase is included in the lineup as the team's designated hitter as Miguel Cabrera gets a maintenance day.

Sanchez isn't starting Wednesday against Detroit.

Sanchez will get a day off after he went 2-for-8 with a strikeout over the last two games. Sandy Leon is starting behind the plate after his contract was selected Wednesday.

Leon's contract was selected by the Twins on Wednesday, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.

Leon was traded from the Guardians to the Twins on Tuesday, and he'll join Minnesota's active roster as part of a move after Caleb Hamilton was sent down. Leon appeared in nine major-league games for Cleveland earlier in the year and hit .133 with six walks and four strikeouts. He's starting behind the dish and batting eighth Wednesday but should serve mainly as catching depth behind Gary Sanchez.

Jansen went 1-for-4 with two RBI in Tuesday's 3-1 win over the Rays.

Jansen provided the pivotal hit of the night for the Blue Jays, with his two-run Texas Leaguer in the top of the ninth holding up as the difference in the victory. He'll be making his fourth consecutive start in Wednesday's series finale, handling catching duties while batting seventh.

Contreras will start at catcher and bat seventh in Wednesday's game against the Phillies.

Contreras will be making his fourth consecutive start Wednesday, though it comes with the caveat that Travis d'Arnaud isn't available while he recovers from a stomach bug. Even so, Contreras may have already supplanted d'Arnaud as Atlanta's preferred option behind the plate, given their wide gap in performance over the past month. Since July 1, Contreras has supplied an .861 OPS, while d'Arnaud owns a .473 mark over that stretch.

D'Arnaud is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Phillies due to a stomach bug, Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Since William Contreras was behind the plate for all nine innings of Tuesday's 13-1 win, Atlanta was likely planning on resting him for the day game after a night game, but he'll have to catch a second straight contest with d'Arnaud feeling under the weather. With a .190 average since the beginning of July, d'Arnaud was already beginning to lose out on playing time to Contreras, and the bout with the stomach bug certainly won't help his case for re-establishing himself as Atlanta's clear-cut No. 1 backstop.