MLB Player News

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera made it into the starting lineup Wednesday against the Twins despite aggravating a lingering abdominal injury during Tuesday's game. Cabrera has failed to record a hit in just one of 17 August games, batting .358 with a .776 slugging percentage and 1.203 OPS.

Mariners shortstop Brad Miller netted two singles, one RBI and one run in five at-bats Tuesday against the A's. It was his seventh multi-hit game in August.

Miller is batting .260 (20 for 77) with a .455 slugging percentage, .742 OPS, two home runs, three doubles, three triples, eight RBI and nine runs in 18 August games.

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera's final swing of Tuesday's 6-3 loss to the Twins might not have just cost the Tigers the game; it could also end up costing Cabrera time, as he appeared to suffer an injury.

"You could see it in his facial expression,'' manager Jim Leyland told MLive.com after the game.

Cabrera winced after striking out to end the game, and it appears as if he may have re-aggravated his lingering abdomen strain. He has been able to play through the injury, but has been forced to miss four games as a result. It is not yet clear whether he did injure his abdomen, or if it is a different, unrelated issue.

"It looked like it might be the area of the stomach," Leyland said. "Not sure if it was the groin, or up in the stomach area, but he was in some pain."

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he's contemplated moving Victor Martinez to third base and Miguel Cabrera to DH, according to MLive.com. Leyland said he initially pondered the idea when Cabrera was nursing a strained abdomen.

"Gene Lamont and I talked about it one night," Leyland said. "In fact, we even had (first-base coach) Rafael Belliard tell Victor that there's a slight, slight possibility this might happen."

Leyland said he would prefer to keep his current alignment, but Martinez has proven to be effective at first base when he's filled in for Prince Fielder.

"He’s got good hands, it’s just the matter of the quickness of the ball," Leyland said. "He takes ground balls all the time during batting practice, so, Victor can catch the ball."

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera hit his 40th home run in Sunday's win over Kansas City.

Cabrera finished 2 for 3 with the home run, a single, a walk, a run scored and three RBI. Cabrera raised his slash line to .360/.452/.689. All three lead the major leagues, as does his 120 RBI. His 40 home runs trail just Chris Davis's 45. 

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera his his 39th home run in Saturday's win over the Royals, a walk-off solo home run to lead off the ninth inning.

Cabrera finished 2 for 5 with a run scored and two RBI, including the winner. He is hitting .358/.450/.683 on the season -- all lead the league, and all would be career highs. His 203 OPS+ would be a career high by a stunning 24 points.

Indians outfielder Michael Brantley picked up three RBI Wednesday afternoon in Minnesota during an extra-inning win. Brantley went 2 for 5 in the game with a sacrifice fly RBI. 

The speedy outfielder scored a run and is batting .281. He's recorded at least one hit in nine of his last 10 games. He has six RBI over that stretch with one stolen base. 

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera belted a three-run homer during Wednesday's 6-4 win at Chicago. Cabrera now has 38 homers on the year. 

The slugger finished the game 1 for 5 with the three RBI. He has 114 RBI on the season to go with his .360 average and is leading the majors in both. 

Cabrera, who trails Chris Davis for the major league lead in home runs, has homered six times in his last eight games. 

If I wasn't already president of the Brad Miller Fan Club, the rookie's two-homer game Tuesday at Tampa Bay clinched it.

It was his second two-homer game since coming up from the minors June 28. Granted, he has only the four home runs total, but he's done plenty more as the Mariners' starting shortstop. Most notably, he's collected multiple hits in 15 of his 39 games, including five of his last nine for a .333 batting average during that stretch. Granted, he's had a few 0-fers mixed in, making his overall batting average an uninspiring .261, but in Head-to-Head leagues, his steady play makes it seem like it should be higher.

And it probably will be given his knack for hitting the ball where it's pitched. He hit .334 over his minor-league career. Favorable park or not, that's impressive. He also takes walks, splits gaps, steals bases ... he's a jack-of-all-trades type of player. And at shortstop, that can add up to some serious production.

He's now ahead of Starlin Castro and Asdrubal Cabrera at the position in my rest-of-season rankings, and I'd be comfortable starting him there even in shallower leagues.

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes hit his 19th home run in Tuesday's loss to Houston.

Cespedes finished 3 for 4 with the two-run blast. It was Cespedes's fourth home run in his last 13 games, and he owns a sharp .545 slugging percentage over that span. However, he still has 14 strikeouts in those 13 games and an on-base percentage of just .293.