MLB Player News

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton bashed two homers and finished with four RBI during a 6-4 victory over the Cubs on Sunday. Stanton, who also drew a walk and scored three times, finished 3 for 3 with a two-run homer in the first inning and a solo shot in the eighth.

It was the seventh time in his brief career he has hit multiple homers in a game and gave him three overall -- his season total -- in the past two outings. Stanton, last year's National League slugging leader (.608), waited 65 at-bats before hitting his first homer Saturday.

"It was just a matter of time," manager Mike Redmond said. "This guy is a special player. He's a game-changer."

Exactly one year after making his much-heralded major-league debut, Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper declined to reflect on his early accomplishments that have supported his billing as one of the most enticing prospects in history. Instead, the 20-year-old and reigning NL Rookie of the Year Award winner looked to the future.

"I haven't really thought about it. I'm the type of person that puts everything behind me and just looks ahead," he told MLB.com. "I live for that moment right then and there. Don't look back, try to get better every day, try to be the best that I can and play the game the right way."

No other Nationals player in history has registered as many homers (nine) or RBI (18) as Harper during the month of April. He also entered play Sunday with a .373 batting average, sparking talk that he could become the first 20-year-old since Al Kaline in 1955 to capture the batting title.

"I don't see why not," hitting coach Rick Eckstein said. "I don't always measure success by your batting average, but I measure it by other qualities. Everything that he shows -- he shows the ability and feel for the game and feel for his body in making adjustments."

Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter made it into the starting lineup Sunday against the Pirates after leaving Saturday's game with an oblique injury. Carpenter has been heating up at the plate, batting .500 (6 for 12) with one home run, one RBI and two doubles in his last three games.

"I felt good, so I'm back in there," Carpenter said, per MLB.com. "Obviously, I felt something [on Saturday], and it was an awkward swing. I was stretching the rest of the game, but I didn't think it was anything serious. I felt pretty good about it."

Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter said he was pulled from the ninth inning of Saturday's game against the Pirates because of an oblique injury, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"It tightened up on me a little bit," Carpenter said. "There in the ninth inning it was more of a precautionary move to make sure, to get me out of there in case I took a swing and it got worse. That's basically it."

Carpenter has been swinging a hot bat after ending a lengthy slump. He's hitting .500 (6 for 12) with one home run, one RBI and two doubles in his last three games after batting .108 (4 for 37) in his previous 10 games.

Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter was removed from Saturday's game against the Pirates after feeling some tightness in his left side. Carpenter felt his left side tighten up on him during his seventh-inning at-bat against reliever Tony Watson.

Carpenter, who was 1 for 4 with a run scored prior to leaving the game, was pulled as he came to bat in the ninth inning. He tried to downplay his injury following the loss.

"Obviously, I've had some history and got hurt with it last year," Carpenter told MLB.com. "I think that was the main thing. They knew that I've had that injury before and they wanted to make sure it wasn't too serious. It was more a precautionary move more than anything else. I went into the training room, checked it out and I think we're going to be fine."

Without much protection in the lineup, Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton has struggled to find a comfort level this season. His strikeout rate is 30.4 percent, his highest since he was a rookie, and he entered play Saturday without a home run before slugging one an estimated 472 feet.

For a player with Stanton's prodigious power, we knew it would not be long until he put one into the seats. Even so, there have been concerns about his approach, given how few hittable pitches he has been seeing. Stanton's line drive rate is 9.8 percent, an indication that he is struggling to square up the ball.

Stanton's career line-drive percentage is 18.0, so we think he will be able to make adjustments and get going. Stanton is the only threat in Miami's lineup, but he is also simply too talented to keep struggling like this no matter how pitchers are approaching him. Fantasy owners got a loud reminder of why they drafted Stanton Saturday, and they simply have to keep riding him until he pulls out of this. 

It took 65 at-bats, but Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton finally got his first home run of the season Saturday night against the Cubs.

Stanton unleashed a monster shot over the left field scoreboard in the first inning. He finished 1 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI in a 3-2 loss.

According to ESPN's hittrackeronline.com, Stanton's estimated 472-foot shot was the longest home run at Marlins Park, surpassing a 462-foot shot by Stanton May 21, 2012.

Stanton is starting to heat up and is hitting .312 (5 for 16) with four RBI in his last four games. He has seen is batting average go from .176 to .209 over that span.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy gave first baseman Brandon Belt a vote of confidence Saturday, telling the San Jose Mercury News that he is not in a platoon. But given Belt's history, it might be fair to ask if that is the best decision.

Despite being left handed, Belt has been consistently more productive against lefty pitching in his major-league career. Belt is batting .251 against righties and .274 against lefties in his career, and that split is .218 and .313 this season, respectively. We are dealing with small sample sizes and there are outliers on both ends for batting average on balls in play, but it has been an oddly consistent trend.

For most young left-handed hitters, holding your own against lefties is the toughest part of the transition to the majors. If Belt cannot figure out how to manage the larger part of the platoon split, it won't much matter whether his manager has confidence in him as an everyday player.

Belt is slowly turning things around, with six hits in his last four games, including his first home run, so we are not quite ready to give up on Belt. But he is not an everyday option in Fantasy, even if the Giants use him that way. 

Giants manager Bruce Bochy told the San Jose Mercury News Saturday that first baseman Brandon Belt is not in a platoon. Belt is hitting .278 in 60 plate appearances over his last 16 games played.

"He's our every-day first baseman and he's been swinging better," Bochy said. "He needs to start. We're not in a platoon here at first."

Belt is trying to turn things around after a slow start out the gate. He has recorded a hit in each of his last four games and is hitting .545 (6 for 11) with a home run and three RBI over that span.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper went 2 for 3 with a two-run homer and scored twice during a 6-3 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday. He launched his team-leading ninth home run of the season off Reds reliever Alfredo Simon in the fourth inning for his third straight outing with an extra-base hit.

Harper, who marked the one-year anniversary of his big-league promotion Saturday, has driven in 18 runs during the opening month to set the franchise record for most RBI in April. In addition, his RBI total ranks sixth in the National League.

"And if you know him, he probably (thinks) he's having an off-year right now," manager Davey Johnson said of Harper. "He expects lot of himself and that's a good trait."