MLB Player News

Stewart is out of the lineup for Tuesday's contest with San Francisco.

Stewart is missing his fourth straight game in favor of Jacob Stallings who's getting his second major league start behind the dish. Stewart's fantasy value has degraded recently as he's batting only .188 since the start of June and now shares time at catcher with Erik Kratz and Stallings.

Vazquez is not in the lineup Tuesday against the White Sox, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports.

Vazquez has been showing signs of life at the plate of late, collecting a pair of multi-hit games over his last three starts, but he'll get the day off Tuesday. Sandy Leon will get the start behind the plate in his place and bat eighth against Chris Sale.

Casali is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Indians, Bill Chastain of MLB.com reports.

Casali is in the midst of an 0-for-14 slump over his last five games, as he's collected just two hits since June 6. Even still, he appears to remain the preferred option behind the plate most days, but he'll head to the bench in favor of Hank Conger on Tuesday.

Gomes went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored Monday against the Rays.

That's three straight games with at least one hit for Gomes after being moved down to eighth in the batting order. The catcher's 21-homer 2014 campaign still seems like a distant memory, though.

Contreras is expected to see the majority of starts over Miguel Montero and David Ross in the season ahead, Jesse Rogers of ESPN reports.

Montero will continue catching Jake Arrieta and Ross will continue with Jon Lester, but that leaves three regular starts for Contreras. The rookie went 1-for-4 during his first official start Monday against the Cardinals, although the lowly season averages of Montero (.202) and .Ross (.245) suggest that Contreras will have quite a leash to work with even if he goes through rookie speed bumps.

Contreras will start at catcher on Monday with John Lackey as starter, Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reports.

Contreras will make his first major league start ever on Monday against the Cardinals. The 24-year-old slashed .350/.439/.591 at the Triple-A level before being recently called up. He got his first big league homer when he pinch hit on Sunday.

Contreras appeared as a pinch-hitter and launched a two-run homer to center field in Sunday's win over the Pirates.

The Cubs' latest promising young prospect was called up Friday, but he waited until Sunday to see his first action at the plate and did not disappoint. Chicago is currently carrying three catchers on the roster, but manager Joe Maddon isn't scared to use players at multiple positions and will likely find a way to get Contreras' bat into the lineup one way or another. He has prior minor league experience at several positions and should make his first start in the field in short order.

Perez went 1-for-3 with a solo homer Sunday at the Athletics.

Perez's third homer of the year gave the Angels a two-run lead in the fifth inning of a game they'd win by shutout. He's only collected four hits in his last 35 at-bats, and he's now hitting just .188 on the season.

Grandal is out of the lineup Sunday against the Brewers, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports.

After starting three straight games behind the plate, Grandal will give way to backup A.J. Ellis for the afternoon contest. Ellis seems likely to draw a start Monday as well, as he typically catches ace Clayton Kershaw.

Vazquez went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in Saturday's 6-2 win over Seattle.

Vazquez has been slumping, entering Saturday's game on a 4-for-32 (.125), but had hits that contributed to runs in the fifth and sixth innings. He was given two days off and his work in the batting cage paid off for one game, but can he sustain it? Do the Red Sox have enough firepower to overcome a .220-hitting catcher? At what cost are his elite defensive skills? The question of whether or not Vazquez can hit enough to warrant being Boston's number one catcher will dog him and manager John Farrell all season.