MLB Player News

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco chose a good time to hit his first home run of 2013. He entered Tuesday's contest against the Braves in the ninth inning with his team trailing by one and launched a game-tying, solo shot off closer Craig Kimbrel.

Shin-Soo Choo would follow with a solo homer to give Cincinnati the 5-4 win.

Mesoraco is batting .237 with eight RBI through 20 games.

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco is not in the team's starting lineup Tuesday.

Mesoraco has received a large portion of playing time with Ryan Hanigan on the disabled list. Corky Miller will take his place behind the plate and bat eighth. In 58 at-bats, Mesoraco is hitting .224/.319/.293.

It's nice to see Royals catcher Salvador Perez stringing together hits. Many Fantasy owners took a big stake in Perez during the preseason and have yet to see the rewards, so for Perez to provide a promising batting average is encouraging.

While Perez is batting .338 (23 for 68) in his last 19 games, I still caution Fantasy owners to keep expectations in check. As I wrote in the preseason, I didn't believe in Perez's home run numbers early in his MLB career and I still don't. Perez was more of a gap hitter in the minors and his 13.1 percent home run to fly ball ratio last season, per FanGraphs.com, was definitely high for him. This season, Perez's HR/FB ratio is 5.6 percent, which is definitely closer to what can be expected.

Perez can be serviceable as a low-end starter in deep mixed leagues. But I'm not shocked by his lack of power through the first month of the season.

Yankees catcher Chris Stewart smacked his second home run of the season on Saturday afternoon during a 4-2 win over Oakland. Stewart went 1 for 3 and is batting .275.

Stewart went deep off starter Bartolo Colon in the third inning for a solo shot. He has homered twice in his last 10 games with four RBI over that span. Stewart has four RBI this year. He is the team's every-day catcher with Francisco Cervelli injured and Austin Romine not yet ready to see consistent starts. 

Royals catcher Salvador Perez is starting to heat up at the plate, posting two straight multi-hit games for the first time this season. However, he has struck out 19 times in 93 plate appearances after totalling just 27 strikeouts in 305 plate appearances last season.

Perez has hit .278/.290/.378 with a 19:1 K:BB ratio this season.

The Giants optioned catcher Hector Sanchez to Triple-A Fresno on Friday to clear a spot on the active roster for outfielder Francisco Peguero. In 11 games with San Francisco, Sanchez posted a .150 average while driving in just one run.

The Brewers will start Martin Maldonado at first base for the third straight game Tuesday against Pittsburgh, the club announced.

Maldonado has now started at first in four of the past six games. Tuesday marks his seventh start at the position in 2013. Maldonado has been iffy defensively, but Alex Gonzalez's struggles at the plate (.459 OPS) have made the move a necessity for Milwaukee. Maldonado is hitting .214/.267/.405 and a robust .250/.318/.550 in his last six games.

Yankees catcher Chris Stewart was a little underwhelming in his first weekend as New York's starting catcher. Stewart, who was given Monday off with Austin Romine making his first start, went just 1 for 7 in two games. 

Stewart struck out twice and singled for his only hit against Toronto pitching. He was 1 for 9 with two walks and three Ks in the series overall. Stewart is batting .267 for the year with a homer and one RBI. 

Brewers backup catcher Martin Maldonado connected for his first home run of the season Saturday against the Dodgers. Maldonado had a two-run homer off Matt Guerrier.

Maldonado, who has made five starts in 22 games, is batting .200 (7 for 35) with three doubles and six RBI in 11 games.

The Indians recalled catcher Yan Gomes from Triple-A Columbus Sunday after placing catcher Lou Marson on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right shoulder. Gomes hit .211 (4 for 19) in six games for Cleveland before his demotion Wednesday.