MLB Player News

Pederson went 2-for-4 with a solo homer Saturday against the Nationals.

The Dodgers shifted around their lineup Saturday, moving Chris Taylor to second base, which gave Pederson a rare spot in the starting lineup. He took advantage of the opportunity, hitting his first home run of the season, coming off Stephen Strasburg in the second inning. Due to a lack of playing time, Pederson is only a viable option in exceptionally deep leagues despite his name value.

Carpenter will hit atop the order and play third base against the Reds on Saturday.

This marks the first time all season that Carpenter will serve as the leadoff hitter for manager Mike Matheny. He has typically been utilized out of the three hole, but was second in the order for Friday's series opener. Over 18 appearances in 2018, Carpenter is hitting just .177/.329/.323 with two home runs and 10 RBI.

McCutchen went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run to help the Giants to an 8-1 victory over the Angels on Friday.

It's been a slow start for the first-year Giant, who is still slashing just .213/.280/.373 despite getting his third long ball of the year. McCutchen has shown a propensity for bouncing back after rough starts in the past, so it's still too early to be reading much into the early-season struggles of a hitter who has a .290 average and an .863 OPS over the last decade. Cutch ended up slashing .279/.363/.486 after a similarly slow start last year.

Turner (wrist) progressed to hitting off a tee and played light catch Friday, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

Turner started taking dry swings earlier this week and the progression to the tee indicates he has avoided a setback thus far. The 33-year-old has no official timetable for his return, but rejoining the Dodgers sometime in mid-May still seems possible.

Belt is out of the lineup Friday against the Angels, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

With southpaw Andrew Heaney taking the hill for Los Angeles, Belt will head to the bench for a night off. Buster Posey will move to first base to replace him, allowing Nick Hundley to log a start behind the dish.

Blackmon is batting third Friday against the Cubs, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports.

Blackmon has acted as the Rockies' leadoff hitter for much of the past few seasons, but he was moved to the three-hole recently to fill in for the suspended Nolan Arenado. With Arenado returning to the lineup Friday, manager Bud Black apparently liked what he saw from "Chuck Nasty" in the third spot in the order and will keep him there for now. This could be the start of a more longstanding change, which could result in more RBI opportunities for Blackmon, though his number of runs scored could take a dip now that he's not atop the order.

Belt went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in the Giants' 3-1 defeat to the Diamondbacks on Thursday.

Belt was the only Giant to get to Zack Greinke with his second-inning solo blast representing his team's only run of the contest. After a relatively quiet start to the season, it was Belt's second straight game with a long ball and he's now got a solid .255/.361/.471 slash line this season.

Belt went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Wednesday's extra-inning win over Arizona.

Belt came through in the clutch, taking Diamondbacks closer Brad Boxberger deep in the top of the 10th inning to give the Giants enough of a cushion to come away with the victory. The 30-year-old has been as advertised early on, providing excellent on-base skills (.368 on-base percentage) to go along with modest power (two homers in 47 at-bats).

Cespedes went 2-for-5 with a grand slam and a pair of runs scored in Wednesday's win over the Nationals.

The grand slam put the cap on a nine-run eighth inning, as the Mets turned a 4-2 deficit into an 11-5 win. The 32-year-old had been struggling mightily to open up the season, but he's now logged consecutive multi-hit games to help raise his average over the Mendoza Line. Strikeouts remain a bit of an issue, as he whiffed twice more Wednesday to bring his strikeout rate up to 38.7 percent, but this performance could be what he needed to finally start turning a corner.

Turner (wrist) has advanced to dry swinging, Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA.com reports.

Turner continues to progress slowly but surely in his rehab program. He still hasn't hit actual pitches, but it seems like his wrist is reacting fine to the increased activity. The third baseman still seems to be a few weeks away from returning.