MLB Player News

Stallings (neck) will begin a minor-league rehab assignment with Triple-A Indianapolis on Saturday, John Perrotto of DKPittsburghSports.com reports.

Stallings is dealing with a cervical neck strain. It's not clear when he's expected to return, but he won't have a major-league roster spot to come back to, as Elias Diaz is back as the backup catcher after missing an extended period due to illness.

Narvaez is not in the lineup Saturday against Texas.

Narvaez will sit after starting three straight. Tom Murphy will get the call in his absence.

Contreras is not starting Saturday against Arizona.

Contreras has carried a heavy workload for a catcher, starting 12 straight games prior to Saturday's contest. Taylor Davis will make his first start of the season in his absence.

Perez is out of the starting lineup Saturday against the Astros, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.

While Perez gets the day off, Kevin Plawecki will assume catching duties and bat eighth. The two have shared the workload fairly evenly in 2019, with Perez starting 17 games and Plawecki 12.

Hedges is not in the lineup Saturday against the Nationals.

The 26-year-old will receive the day off as Francisco Mejia will start at catcher and bat eighth. Mejia hasn't started in back-to-back games so far this season, so Hedges will probably return to the lineup Sunday.

McCann batted cleanup for a second straight game and went 2-for-4 with with two runs scored and a stolen base in Friday's 12-11 win over the Tigers.

It looks like having McCann hit out of the cleanup spot is more than a one-game thing for the catcher, who is 5-for-9 batting fourth. He might have had more chances for RBI had not Tim Anderson (two RBI) and Jose Abreu (five RBI) ahead of him done such a good job with men on base. Yonder Alonso had been batting cleanup but was dropped to seventh in the order Friday. McCann currently has a .944 OPS, 282 points higher than his career OPS.

Casali went 3-for-5 with a double and four RBI in Friday's 12-1 win over the Cardinals.

The Reds hit five homers in the game, but it was Casali who led the team in RBI thanks to a single in the fourth inning and a bases-loaded two-bagger in the ninth. The catcher is slashing a robust .306/.342/.444 through 16 games, but he's still looking for his first homer and had driven in only one run prior to Friday.

Gomes went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run in a 4-3 loss to the Padres on Friday.

Hopefully this three-hit performance means Gomes is breaking out of his slump. He came into the night just 2-for-21 (.095) in the last six games. With that dry spell, Gomes went from hitting .300 to .216. He is now batting .255 with two homers, eight RBI and five runs in 55 at-bats this season.

Sanchez isn't starting Friday's game against the Giants, Coley Harvey of ESPN.com reports.

Sanchez will get the night off after failing to record a base knock in each of his last three games (0-for-8). Austin Romine will draw the start behind the dish and bat sixth in Sanchez's place.

Barnhart is not in the lineup for Friday's game at St. Louis.

Barnhart will head to the bench after starting the last three games and going 1-for-10 with a solo home run and four strikeouts. Curt Casali will start behind the plate and bat seventh in his stead.