MLB Player News

Grandal is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Reds.

The Brewers are off Thursday before kicking off a three-game series with the Cubs in Milwaukee this weekend, so Grandal will effectively get two straight days of rest before re-entering the starting nine. Manny Pina will fill in for Grandal behind the dish in Wednesday's contest.

Barnhart is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Brewers.

Barnhart will get his first day off of 2019 after going 4-for-13 with a pair of walks and a run scored in the Reds' first four contests. Curt Casali checks in behind the plate in Barnhart's stead.

Vazquez went 1-for-3 with his first stolen base of the season in Tuesday's 1-0 loss to the A's.

The Red Sox couldn't get anything going with their bats, but they were busy on the basepaths, with Andrew Benintendi and Eduardo Nunez also swiping bags off Josh Phegley. Vazquez doesn't offer much fantasy upside, but he does stand out for his baserunning in the barren catcher pool -- the 28-year-old went 11-for-14 on steal attempts in 179 games over the last two seasons.

Mejia will start at catcher and hit seventh in Tuesday's game against the Diamondbacks.

It's the second start of the season for the 23-year-old backstop, who went 0-for-4 in his only other appearance against the Giants on March 30. Austin Hedges has drawn most of the action and is swinging the bat well with four hits in 11 at-bats, so he's drawing the majority of the workload at the outset of the season. Mejia had a standout spring at the plate, however, with a 1.005 OPS over 48 at-bats, and he'll look to transfer that over to the regular season and make a case for more starts.

Hedges is not starting Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.

Despite the day off, Hedges still appears to be ahead of Francisco Mejia in the pecking order in San Diego. He's started four games to Mejia's two.

Barnes will head to the bench Tuesday against the Giants, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

The Dodgers have alternated games between Austin Barnes and Russell Martin behind the plate so far this season. Martin takes his turn Tuesday, but expect Barnes back in the lineup Wednesday if the pattern continues.

D'Arnaud (elbow) will begin a rehab assignment with High-A St. Lucie on Thursday, Matt Ehalt of The Bergen Record reports.

D'Arnaud is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery after missing nearly the entirety of 2018. It's not yet clear how long the team expects his rehab assignment to be.

Sanchez is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Tigers.

Sanchez will sit for the first time this season. Austin Romine gets the start behind the plate.

Ruiz is opening the year back with Double-A Tulsa, Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com reports.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, as Ruiz was a league-average hitter over a full season at Double-A last year, so many expected him to jump up to Triple-A. That promotion should come after a month or two back in the Texas League. Ruiz is advanced enough that it would not be surprising for him put up really impressive numbers in a repeat tour as one of the youngest players on this circuit.

Maldonado will start at catcher and bat eighth Tuesday against the Twins.

Like Salvador Perez (elbow) before him, Maldonado looks like he'll handle a heavy workload at catcher for the Royals. He has now settled in behind the dish in each of the Royals' first four games, with backup Cam Gallagher having yet to even enter a contest as a late-inning replacement or pinch hitter.