MLB Player News

Naylor is not in the lineup Saturday against the Tigers.

Naylor will be on the bench for the fourth time in six games. He went 3-for-7 in the two games he appeared in during that stretch. If the catcher does not play Saturday, the 23-year-old will finish September with an 1.144 OPS and four home runs. Cam Gallagher will start behind the plate and bat ninth.

Rogers is not in the lineup Saturday against the Guardians.

Rogers will sit in the penultimate game of the season after going 2-for-4 against the Guardians on Friday. Barring an appearance off the bench, he will finish with a slash line of .297/.531/.849 and five home runs in September. Carson Kelly will start behind the plate and bat ninth.

Jeffers went 3-for-4 with a solo home run in Friday's 7-6 win over the Rockies.

The backstop followed a Trevor Larnach home run in the seventh with a homer of his own to tie the game for the Twins. The long ball was Jeffers' third in four games and 14th of the season, which matches a career high. It remains to be seen how the Twins plan to divvy up the playing time between Jeffers and Christian Vazquez once the playoffs begin next week, but both have been in the lineup two of the last three games, with each getting one start at DH.

Perez went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, three RBI and a run scored in Friday's 12-5 win over the Yankees.

Perez collected two hits and drove in two runs in the first inning alone to continue a red-hot September. The veteran catcher is closing out his season on a high note, hitting .319 with three homers, 21 RBI and seven runs scored over 72 at-bats this month.

Wells went 1-for-4 with a home run and four RBI in Friday's 12-5 loss against the Royals.

Wells launched a three-run shot in the fourth inning and later added an RBI groundout. His four home runs in the majors this season have all come in his last seven games to go along with nine RBI, five runs scored, and a .296 batting average over 27 at-bats.

Naylor went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, two RBI and two runs scored in Friday's 7-5 victory over the Tigers.

Naylor added to the Guardians' lead when he scorched a 404-foot home run off Joey Wentz in the second inning. The rookie catcher has caught fire in September, sporting a .333 batting average with four homers, four steals, 14 runs and 13 RBI over 51 at-bats. Naylor is slashing .244/.347/.482 with 11 homers, five steals, 33 runs and 32 RBI in 65 big-league games this year.

Smith went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run and an additional run scored in Friday's 6-2 win over the Giants.

Smith got the scoring started with his first-inning blast. The catcher has struggled a bit lately, going just 5-for-36 (.139) over his last 10 games, though he's still managed five RBI in that span. For the season, he's posted a .259/.357/.437 slash line with 19 long balls, 76 RBI, 79 runs scored, three stolen bases, 21 doubles and two triples over 125 games.

Manager Brandon Hyde said Rutschman (illness) will probably be available for Saturday's game against the Red Sox, Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun reports.

Rutschman was scratched from the lineup Friday because he was feeling under the weather the day after the Orioles clinched the AL East title. James McCann filled in at catcher and went 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts in Baltimore's sleepy 3-0 loss to Boston.

Bailey is out of the lineup Friday against the Dodgers.

Blake Sabol will catch and bat eighth for the Giants. Bailey has enjoyed some promising stretches this season, but the 24-year-old is slashing just .127/.172/.146 with 21 strikeouts in 58 plate appearances since the beginning of September.

The Giants optioned Bart to Triple-A Sacramento on Friday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Bart has spent most of this season in the minors and will now finish out the year there. Selected second overall in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Georgia Tech, the 26-year-old catcher owns a highly disappointing .219/.288/.335 career slash line in 503 major-league plate appearances. He could be a trade candidate this winter.