MLB Player News

Indians top hitter Michael Brantley was slotted in at designated hitter Saturday against the Yankees due to general leg soreness, per MLB.com. Terry Francona could place him in the same spot Sunday.

"I just think it'll do him some good," Francona said about the rest from playing in the outfield. "He's played a lot of baseball. It seems like he's on base two or three times a game, and he's stealing, going from first to third, running down everything in center field."

Brantley has not shown any dropoff at the plate recently. He is batting .400 in his last 35 at-bats.

Indians top hitter Michael Brantley is set to play Thursday in Cincinnati after his removal from the Wednesday game with an apparent leg injury.

Brantley went hitless against the Reds to end a 10-for-25 stretch.

The Tigers have given slugger Miguel Cabrera a rare day off for the Thursday game against the host Yankees. Don Kelly is set to man first base.

Cabrera has been in a mini-slump with one hit in his last 10 at-bats. His .523 slugging percentage is more than 100 points down from a year ago.

Emerging Twins rookie first baseman Kennys Vargas ran his hitting streak to begin his major league career to four games by playing the role of hero in a Tuesday night defeat of San Diego.

Vargas slammed a three-run homer in the sixth inning to provide the entire offense in the win. He is 6 for 18 with a .556 slugging percentage and has earned the cleanup spot for the Wednesday game against the Padres.

Chances are most mixed-league owners won't have reason to pick up Kennys Vargas this year. He plays the deepest position in Fantasy and wasn't a particularly high-profile prospect coming up through the Twins system.

But at 6-feet-5, 275 pounds, he looks every bit like a power hitter and made good on it with 17 home runs in only 356 at-bats at Double-A New Britain. And while he isn't exactly Joey Votto at the plate, he isn't a swing-at-everything type either. His flaws as a hitter aren't so evident that they preclude him from holding down an everyday job.

So why the lack of hype? Well, in addition to being big, he's slow. And not exactly agile. His shortcomings may confine him to a DH role long term, kind of like another big, slow, lumbering type who the Twins decided wasn't worth the trouble named David Ortiz. You think they'll make that mistake again?

Ortiz was actually Vargas' favorite player growing up, and now he's become a mentor of sorts. According to an MLB.com report from back in spring training, the two are in frequent contact, so the similarities between them go beyond just size.

Owners in AL-only leagues should have already added Vargas, and owners in mixed leauges will want to keep tabs on him as a possible Khris Davis-like sleeper for next year.

Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas was on the bench Sunday against the Athletics for the first time in 12 games in favor of Christian Colon. Manager Ned Yost explained Tuesday to MLB Network on how he plans to handle the playing time at third base moving forward.

"It's not a strict platoon," Yost said. "Right now, we're just looking for ways to improve the offense and score more runs."

Indians outfielder Michael Brantley went 2 for 6 with a walkoff home run in his team's 4-3 win over the Rangers Sunday.

Brantley led off the bottom of the 12th inning by slugging the game-ending home run, which gave him his fourth straight multihit performance but only his first home run of the second half. He has hit .322/.382/.516 with 16 home runs, 69 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 419 at-bats.

It appears that Chris Taylor has earned the starting shortstop job with the Mariners. He is set to make his third straight start Saturday at that position with Brad Miller sitting out again.

Taylor has six hits in his last 16 at-bats with two RBI. Miller, meanwhile, is 6 for 40 since July 7.

Newly acquired outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is in the lineup for the Red Sox for the first time Saturday, batting fourth and playing left field.

Cespedes was acquired from the Athletics in a trade deadline deal that sent Jon Lester to Oakland. He was hitting .256/.303/.464 in 399 at-bats with the A's prior to the trade.  

Indians outfielder and hitting machine Michael Brantley is apparently over his only slump of the season. He ripped three hits Friday night, including a first-inning double that set the lopsided win over Texas in motion.

Brantley, who is on pace to become the first Indian to pile up 200 hits in a season since Kenny Lofton achieved that distinction in 1996, has 10 hits in his last 26 at-bats.