MLB Player News

Smith is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Royals, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Smith started the first two games of the series in Kansas City and will take a seat for the finale after going 1-for-9 with a triple and a run. Austin Barnes will step in behind the plate to catch for Tony Gonsolin.

Jansen is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Red Sox.

Jansen will get a breather in the series finale after he started behind the dish in four of the Blue Jays' past five games. Alejandro Kirk is getting the nod at catcher and will form a battery with starting pitcher Kevin Gausman.

Murphy is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Marlins.

Atlanta's top backstop will sit out the series finale in what appears to be a routine maintenance day. Travis d'Arnaud will check in behind the dish in place of Murphy, who went 3-for-6 with a home run, a double, a walk, four RBI and two additional runs while starting at catcher in the first two games of the series.

Vazquez is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Orioles.

The Twins and Orioles are wrapping up their series with a day game that begins at 12:05 p.m. ET, so Vazquez will get a breather after catching all nine innings of Saturday's 1-0 win. Ryan Jeffers will check in behind the dish Sunday.

Alvarez went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Giants.

The Mets' first three runs all came on third-inning solo shots, and it was Alvarez who kicked off the barrage. The rookie catcher snapped a 15-game power drought with the blast, a stretch in which he batted a woeful .111 (5-for-45) with only one RBI, and on the season Alvarez's slash line has swooned to .217/.273/.467, albeit with 13 homers in 59 games.

Moreno went 3-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored in Saturday's 3-1 win over the Angels.

Moreno logged his second consecutive multi-hit effort and picked up his first steal since May 29. The catcher didn't have a great June, batting just .190 over 19 contests, but he's off to a better start in July. For the season, he's maintained a .271/.308/.350 slash line with two home runs, four steals, 26 RBI and 16 runs scored across 64 games.

Wallach isn't in the Angels' lineup Saturday against Arizona, Sarah Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Wallach put together a five-game hitting streak in mid-June, but he's now 0-for-20 with nine strikeouts across his last eight games. Matt Thaiss will start behind the dish Saturday for the Angels and bat sixth.

Rogers isn't in the Tigers' lineup Saturday against the Rockies.

Rogers has recorded a hit in five of his last six games, going 6-for-16 with a homer, two RBI and five runs scored in that span. He'll take a seat Saturday while Eric Haase starts behind the plate and bats ninth.

Diaz will sit Saturday against the Tigers, Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post reports.

Diaz will miss out on a start at Coors Field, a venue where he's hit .328/.362/.563 this season. Austin Wynns gets the nod behind the plate.

Contreras will sit Saturday against the Pirates.

Contreras finds himself on the bench for the second time in three games, which follows a stretch in which he started seven out of eight games behind the plate. His OPS has trended down each month this season, going from .779 in April to .746 in May and finally .710 in June, though producing in line with that latter mark for the rest of the season would still be perfectly acceptable for a backstop. Victor Caratini starts behind the plate Saturday.