MLB Player News

Vientos is not in the lineup Thursday versus the Rays.

Vientos slugged a two-run homer Wednesday in his season debut with the Mets, building on his blistering start to the year at Triple-A Syracuse, but he'll head to the bench for Thursday's series finale at Citi Field. Daniel Vogelbach will serve as New York's designated hitter.

Reyes signed a minor-league contract with the Nationals on Thursday, Talk Nats reports.

Reyes was released by the Royals a week ago but has quickly latched on in another organization. The 27-year-old batted just .186/.231/.288 with a 36.9 percent strikeout rate during his time in Kansas City but figures to get another shot soon on a rebuilding Nats club.

Soler went 1-for-3 with a walk, a two-run home run and a second run scored in Wednesday's 4-3 win over the Nationals.

He crushed a MacKenzie Gore fastball to center field in the fourth inning to put the Marlins in the lead for good. Soler has gone yard in back-to-back games and has launched six of his 11 homers on the season over the last 12 contests, a stretch in which the 31-year-old is slashing .326/.404/.739 with 14 RBI.

Vientos went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run against the Rays in an extra-inning win Wednesday.

Vientos was called up from Triple-A Syracuse prior to the contest and provided a big spark in his first major-league game of the campaign, putting the Mets on the board with a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh inning. The long ball was the second of his big-league career, as he went deep once over 36 at-bats with the Mets last season. Vientos was dominating in the minors this year prior to his call-up, slashing .333/.416/.688 with 11 doubles, 13 homers and 37 RBI over 166 plate appearances.

Morel went 3-for-5 with a solo home run, a walk and two total runs scored in Wednesday's 7-6 loss to the Astros.

This was Morel's first three-hit effort of the season, and he's hit safely in all eight games he's played so far. The 23-year-old is making loud contact too, with five homers and two doubles through 36 plate appearances. He's slashing .371/.389/.857 with 10 RBI, nine runs scored and a stolen base.

Harper went 1-for-4 with one run scored and one steal in Wednesday's loss to San Francisco.

Harper and Nick Castellanos pulled off a double steal in the fourth inning. Harper stole a career-high 21 bases back in 2016. Despite the late start to 2023, Harper could push for 15 or so steals again, as he already has two in 13 games.

Winker is out of the lineup Wednesday versus the Cardinals.

Winker was on the bench Tuesday with the Cardinals throwing left-hander Jordan Montgomery and he'll remain there Wednesday with young southpaw Matthew Liberatore set to toe the slab. William Contreras is taking a turn as the DH and Victor Caratini is catching.

The Nationals will place Meneses on the paternity list Wednesday, Bobby Blanco of MASNSports.com reports.

Meneses will miss at least one and as many as three games to be with his wife as she gives birth to the couple's child. Utility man Jake Alu will be called up from Triple-A Rochester to take Meneses' spot on the 26-man active roster.

Vogelbach is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Rays.

He'll remain on the bench for the fourth game in a row, with each of the lefty-hitting Vogelbach's absences coming against left-handed pitching. Vogelbach has held a strong-side platoon role at designated hitter for most of the season, but he could face a threat for work against right-handed pitching with the Mets bringing aboard power-hitting corner infielder Mark Vientos from Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday.

Baker, 26, leads all Triple-A hitters with 14 home runs and has a .302/.436/.669 slash line in 39 games for Memphis.

The rule for players like Baker who will provide zero or negative defensive value is that they need to hit a lot at every level on their path to the majors, and Baker failed in that respect last year at Triple-A, slashing .228/.288/.394 in 124 games. However, he's been so good this season that he can't be completely written off as a Quadruple-A hitter. His 40 percent hard-hit rate and 11.6 percent soft-hit rate are excellent marks, and his 0.80 BB/K is the best ratio of his career. Even so, Baker is stuck behind Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez and Alec Burleson on the organizational depth chart at first base and designated hitter for now.