MLB Player News

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes (heel) came off the bench on Monday, and played the field for two innings in a 4-3 defeat to the Rangers.

Cespedes, who is recovering from a heel injury, flew out in each of his two at-bats, including in the ninth with a runner on second for the final out of the game. He is hitting .247/.325/.493 with four home runs and 13 RBI in 73 at-bats.

Mariners shortstop Brad Miller was dropped to ninth in the order prior to Monday's game against the Astros, MLB.com reports. Miller has three home runs and seven RBI over his first 72 at-bats, but is slashing .194/.237/.361 over that span.

As expected, Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was not in the starting lineup Monday against the Rangers after leaving Sunday's game with a heel injury. Brandon Moss started in left field in Cespedes' absence.

After three weeks of play, it's impossible to ignore the persistent struggles of Miguel Cabrera, With the end of April just over a week away, the Tigers' slugger has a .648 OPS that is even lower than the .729 mark he posted last September when he was dealing with a groin tear.

According to the PitchFX data on FanGraphs.com, Cabrera is seeing the highest percentage of pitches in the strike zone (51.4 percent) of his career, and he has not been taking advantage of it. Though he is swinging and missing at a rate in line with his recent norms, Cabrera has been taking strikes far more often than he does typically and even more often than the major league average.

The swing percentage data on BrooksBaseball.net shows that Cabrera was also not swinging much last September. Then again, there have been plenty of other times when Cabrera has been a more passive hitter (Aug. 2012, for example), and it hasn't always corresponded with subpar performance. It's not clear why Cabrera isn't swinging the bat or what impact that has on his current slump. However, given that this is the trend that is most out of line with what he usually does at the plate, Fantasy owners can take comfort in knowing that Cabrera has gone through stretches like this before, and he's always come out them as a more aggressive and more powerful hitter.

Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez was promoted from Triple-A Toledo to the major-league roster Monday, per MLive.com. 

Martinez has been on a tear at Triple-A, batting .308 with an .846 slugging percentage and 1.212 OPS in 17 games. He has one triple, three doubles, 10 home runs and 22 RBI. Martinez was averaging a home run every 6.5 at-bats with Toledo.

Athletics manager Bob Melvin told MLB Network Radio outfielder Yoenis Cespedes will not start Monday against the Rangers after leaving Sunday's game with a heel injury.

"He has a little bone bruise, but he's been in every inning of every game," Melvin said. "He'll get a day off tonight."

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was forced to leave early Sunday afternoon against the Astros with a bruised right heel, the team announced. 

Cespedes left the game in the seventh and was replaced by Craig Gentry. He finished 0 for 2 with a walk, lowering his batting average to .254 on the year. His status remains uncertain for Monday's series opener against the Rangers.

Indians outfielder Michael Brantley belted his third home run Sunday against the Blue Jays.

Brantley worked an incredible nine-pitch at-bat against Brandon Morrow in the second inning. After fouling off four straight pitches, Brantley managed to take a 94 mph fastball out to right for the solo shot. 

Brantley would double in his next at-bat, driving in another run. He would later walk, reaching base for the third time. 

He finished the game 2 for 3, with two runs scored and two RBI.

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes notched his first three-hit game of the season Friday night against the Astros.

Cespedes singled two runs in the opening frame off Jarred Cosart in the opening frame and went yard in the second off Paul Clemens. He went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and three RBI in an 11-3 victory. He is hitting .315/.523/.838 with four home runs and 13 RBI in 65 at-bats.

Left fielder Michael Brantley was pretty much the entire offense for the Indians in Detroit on Thursday. In the process, he snuck into third among the American League RBI leaders with 14.

Brantley drove a two-run single to right off Justin Verlander in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie and slammed a two-run homer in the seventh to chop the deficit to 6-5.

It was his first multi-hit game since April 6, but he still owns a respectable stat line of .275/.362/.392.