MLB Player News

Smith started at second base and homered twice Sunday for High-A Rancho Cucamonga against Inland Empire.

Rancho Cucamonga is carrying three catchers on the active roster right now, affording the club the luxury of moving Smith -- a first-round pick in 2016 -- to another position. Smith is now hitting .333/.421/.625 in 58 plate appearances.

Thaiss went 4-for-5 with his third homer of the season Sunday for High-A Inland Empire.

After a big spring training, Thaiss has started the minor-league season slowly, as his four-hit game finally brought his batting average over .200. He's now hitting .212/.333/.364 with 11 walks and 13 strikeouts in 78 plate appearances. His squad is full of slumping players right now, so Thaiss is getting pitched around frequently. The Angels' first-round pick in 2016, Thaiss is walking more and striking out more than he did last year.

Perez went 0-for-2 and drew his first walk of 2017 in Sunday's loss to the White Sox.

The early-season woes continued for the backup catcher Sunday, as he's now just 3-for-23 on the year. Tribe manager Terry Francona is committed to Yan Gomes as the team's routine backstop even though he didn't open the season in top form. Perez simply isn't receiving enough volume, and with no change coming in the foreseeable future, he's practically irrelevant outside of a punt play in daily formats.

Grandal went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Sunday's win over the Diamondbacks.

Sunday's homer was just the switch-hitting catcher's fifth extra-base hit of the season and first long ball since going deep twice in the season opener. That said, with a .250 batting average and three homers, fantasy owners should have little to complain about from the catcher position.

D'Arnaud (wrist) is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Nationals.

It was recently reported that d'Arnaud was still dealing with wrist pain, so he'll remain out of the lineup Sunday. With d'Arnaud out, the Mets will start Kevin Plawecki behind the dish. There's yet to be any indication that d'Arnaud will land on the DL, so consider him day-to-day for the time being.

Stubbs (hamstring) was activated Sunday from the 7-day disabled list at Double-A Corpus Christi, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports.

The 23-year-old appeared in only four games for Corpus Christi before succumbing to the hamstring injury, which kept him sidelined for two weeks. It shouldn't be a major setback in the development of Stubbs, who remains the Astros' top catching prospect.

Nicholas (knee) will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Round Rock on Monday, Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Nicholas has seemingly recovered from the knee surgery he required in early March, but after being sidelined for much of spring training, he may need multiple weeks worth of games to get his conditioning in order. Once he's activated from the disabled list, Nicholas will likely remain with Round Rock, as Jonathan Lucroy and Robinson Chirinos are the clear top two catchers in the organization.

Perez (neck) remains out of the lineup Sunday against the Rangers, Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star reports.

Perez is still battling some neck stiffness that resulted in him being scratched ahead of Saturday's game, so manager Ned Yost will give the backstop a second consecutive day off with the hope that it helps remedy the issue. According to Dodd, Yost noted that Perez was showing improvement Sunday, so it doesn't seem as though the Royals are concerned that Perez will require a trip to the disabled list.

Hedges is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Marlins.

The red-hot Hedges, who has hit a home run in three consecutive games, will head to the bench Sunday and be replaced by Luis Torrens. The young catcher should be back in the lineup Monday against the Diamondbacks.

Gomes is out of the lineup Sunday against the White Sox.

Gomes will likely have to wait until Tuesday's series opener against the Astros to try and extend his hitting streak to five games, as Roberto Perez will be behind the plate for Sunday's matinee. With Gomes beginning to wake up from his early-season slumber, it's beginning to look as though he's no longer at much risk of falling into a timeshare at catcher with Perez and may only sit out a couple times per week.