MLB Player News

Ozuna went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run in a win over the Padres on Monday.

With his fourth homer of June, Ozuna now has more than half of his round trippers on the season this month. The long ball was bound to come for the slugging outfielder, whose hard contact rate was often at a career-high figure throughout the first two months-plus of the season. Factoring in Monday's production, Ozuna now has five multi-hit outings in June, resulting in a .395 average for the month and a 22-point boost in his season average overall.

Ozuna went 2-for-4 with one RBI during Sunday's loss to the Reds.

The 27-year-old outfielder got the Cardinals into the scoring column during the third inning with an RBI single to left, scoring Matt Carpenter. Ozuna had a decent weekend series against Cincinnati, as he went 4-for-12 with two extra-base hits, two RBI and one walk. After a slow start to the season, he's batting .278 with six homers and 32 RBI across 59 games, although his WAR has dipped drastically so far this year in comparison to a season ago (5.8 in 2017 to 0.7 in 2018).

Miller was sent to the Brewers from the Rays in exchange for Ji-Man Choi and cash considerations Sunday.

Miller will head to Triple-A Colorado Springs after being dealt to Milwaukee. Through 48 games with the Rays this season, Miller is batting .256 with five homers and 21 RBI. He figures to be called up in the near future, with some of the Brewers' middle infielders struggling to produce at the dish so far this season.

Cespedes (hip, quadriceps) will travel to Florida this week to restart a rehab program, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic New York reports.

Cespedes was placed on the 10-day disabled list May 16 with a strained right hip flexor and was cleared to begin a rehab assignment Friday at Double-A Binghamton. The stint with the affiliate lasted just two games, however, as Cespedes was lifted from Saturday's contest with a tight right quad, an injury the veteran battled in 2016 and 2017. In light of Cespedes' setback, manager Mickey Callaway stated the outfielder will need to go through a full-blown rehabilitation stint prior to returning from the disabled list. The exact timetable for his return should become more clear once he progresses through various checkpoints in his rehab.

Pederson is out of the lineup Sunday against the Braves, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Unsurprisingly, the lefty-hitting Pederson will find his way to the bench with southpaw Sean Newcomb twirling for the Braves. In Pederson's stead, Enrique Hernandez will pick up a start in center field and bat cleanup.

Belt (appendicitis) will begin taking swings Monday, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Belt has been out since June 2 after undergoing an appendectomy. If he's able to take swings without any pain, it's reasonable to expect him to rejoin the Giants shortly thereafter. We should receive an update on his condition following Monday's workout.

Carpenter, who went 2-for-5 with a solo home run and two runs in a win over the Reds on Saturday, has five of his homers on the season over his past 18 games entering Sunday.

Carpenter began to awaken offensively a few games prior to that stretch, but he'd still come into a May 21 game against the Royals having left the yard on just three occasions over his first 162 plate appearances (40 games), despite a 44.7 hard-contact percentage. He's managed to boost that already impressive number even further to 54.5 percent over the aforementioned 18-game span, and just as important, he's increased his flyball rate 12.5 points to 56.6 percent. The combination of the two has helped lead to the power surge, and it's also boosted Carpenter's season slugging percentage from a middling .351 to .433.

Ozuna, who went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Saturday's win over the Reds, has already doubled his season homer total in the first eight games of June.

Ozuna actually began heating up May 21 with a 2-for-3 effort against the Royals, a game into which he'd limped with a .234 average. That figure has bumped up an impressive 47 points since that contest, but his power numbers finally started taking off in the early going this month. Ozuna had actually been making hard contact at a career-best rate for most of the season, but he'd also been hitting the ball on the ground at a slightly higher clip than prior years as well. The latter trend has been reduced during his early-June tear. Partly by boosting his already-impressive hard contact rate even further to 60.7 percent, he's already knocked three out of the yard over his first 33 plate appearances of the month heading into Sunday.

Turner (wrist) is not in the lineup Sunday against the Braves, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports.

After missing the past three games with a wrist injury, manager Dave Roberts stated Saturday that the third baseman would be back in the starting lineup Sunday. The skipper has apparently changed his mind and decided to withhold Turner from the lineup in the series finale. Turner will, however, be available to pinch hit and is expected to start Tuesday against the Rangers, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

McCutchen is not in the lineup Sunday against the Nationals, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.

McCutchen will be stationed on the bench in what appears to be a routine day of rest for the red-hot right fielder. McCutchen has notched multi-hit performances in five of his last six starts and is slashing an elite .364/.348/.705 over his past 10 games. Mac Williamson starts in right field Sunday with Hunter Pence manning the other corner-outfield spot.