MLB Player News
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Justin Turner DH | CHC
Dodgers' Justin Turner: On track for Tuesday return
Turner (hamstring) is expected to come off the injured list before Tuesday's game against Arizona, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports.
Turner was placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to Aug. 29) on Sept. 1. The Dodgers have an off day Monday, so a Tuesday return would mark a minimum IL stay for the third baseman. While Turner's return is imminent, the team is likely to take a cautious approach to his playing time down the stretch given his recent history of hamstring injuries. "We certainly have some off-days looking out later to September, so there's the balance of not red-lighting him, but also you got to ramp him up to get ready for the postseason so he's sharp," manager Dave Roberts said. "We'll thread the needle with that."
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Daniel Vogelbach DH | TOR
Brewers' Daniel Vogelbach: Claimed by Milwaukee
Vogelbach was claimed by the Brewers on Thursday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.
The Brewers designated Justin Smoak for assignment in a corresponding move, so Vogelbach may be able to walk right into the strong side of a platoon at designated hitter. Vogelbach has a career .212/.342/.434 slash line and 111 wRC+ against righties, compared to a .142/.269/.271 line and 54 wRC+ against same-handed pitching. He is known as a horrible defensive first baseman, so most of his starts should come at DH.
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Andrew McCutchen DH | TEX
Phillies' Andrew McCutchen: Sitting Thursday
McCutchen is not in Thursday's lineup against the Nationals.
He has been swinging a hot bat, slashing .333/.362/.644 with four home runs, two steals and just three strikeouts over his last 10 games. Jay Bruce is starting in left field while J.T. Realmuto gets the start at designated hitter.
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Brad Miller DH | SD
Cardinals' Brad Miller: Clubs another homer
Miller went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk during Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Reds.
The veteran infielder entered the series with only two home runs through 18 games, but he apparently loves Great American Ball Park with three homers in the past two days. Miller has taken over the everyday role as the Cardinals' designated hitter with a .333/.464/.667 slash line and 19 RBI.
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Marcell Ozuna DH | PIT
Braves' Marcell Ozuna: Stays hot
Ozuna went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk, two RBI and a run scored Wednesday against the Red Sox.
One game after blasting three home runs, Ozuna stayed hot at the plate by slugging a solo home run Wednesday. He now has 12 long balls on the season. Besides his power production, Ozuna has collected at least one hit in 14 of his last 15 games, during which he's slugged eight home runs while also collecting 20 RBI and scoring 12 runs. Overall, he's maintained a .301/.390/.624 line across 154 plate appearances.
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Bryce Harper DH | PHI
Phillies' Bryce Harper: Racking up free passes
Harper went 1-for-2 with three walks and a stolen base Tuesday in the Phillies' 6-0 win over the Nationals.
Harper is batting 4-for-27 with no home runs over his last eight games, but he's been more of an asset in on-base percentage leagues during that stretch, racking up 10 walks against seven strikeouts. The fact that Harper has stayed healthy and remained active on the bases (5-for-5 on steal attempts) has allowed him to justify his draft-day cost, regardless of league format. He'll be in the lineup again for Wednesday's series finale, marking his 31st start in the Phillies' 32 games to date.
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Brandon Belt DH | TOR
Giants' Brandon Belt: Sitting out series finale
Belt is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Rockies.
After notching three hits in Tuesday's 23-5 romp to boost his season average to .337, Belt will take a seat in the series finale with a lefty (Kyle Freeland) on the bump for Colorado. Wilmer Flores will spell Belt at first base and bat cleanup.
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Brandon Belt DH | TOR
Giants' Brandon Belt: Joins team's hit parade
Belt went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a walk and three runs scored Tuesday in the Giants' 23-5 win over the Rockies.
Belt was one of five Giants to record three hits on a night where the team finished with 27, the most by a National League club since May 1999. He's now turned in six multi-hit efforts in his last nine starts to bring his season-long OPS up to 1.052, a top-10 mark among all players with at least 90 plate appearances.
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Marcell Ozuna DH | PIT
Braves' Marcell Ozuna: Blasts three homers at Fenway
Ozuna went 3-for-5 with three home runs and six RBI in Tuesday's 10-3 win over the Red Sox.
He took Ryan Weber deep in the first inning to give Atlanta an early lead, then clobbered Kyle Hart offerings in the seventh and eighth to help put the game out of reach. It was the first three-homer game of Ozuna's career, and he also became the first National League player in history with a three-homer performance in Fenway Park. On the season, Ozuna's slashing .295/.383/.605 -- with the latter two figures representing career highs if he can keep them up -- with 11 home runs and 29 RBI through 35 games.
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Alex Dickerson DH | ATL
Giants' Alex Dickerson: Historic effort in rout
Dickerson went 5-for-6 with three home runs, two doubles, five runs scored, six RBI and a walk in Tuesday's 23-5 destruction of the Rockies.
Dickerson entered the contest with four home runs in 97 plate appearances. He nearly doubled that total with Tuesday's momentous performance, falling a few feet short of tying the big-league record of four homers in a game when he crushed a 414-foot double in his final at-bat. Among multiple historic footnotes, Dickerson tied Willie Mays' franchise record of 16 total bases in one game and became the 15th major-leaguer in history to collect five extra-base hits in a contest. He also joined Kris Bryant and Matt Carpenter as the only big-leaguers to total three home runs and two doubles in one game. Finally, the five-hit game raised Dickerson's season average a full 40 points, from .221 to .261.