MLB Player News

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."

Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter should take advantage of his platoon splits in Week 5 (April 29-May 5), as the team is set to take on five right-handed starting pitchers.

Carpenter has an .830 on-base plus slugging percentage in his career against righties, a trend that has so far held up this season. Carpenter's OPS is .350 points higher against right-handers this season, a feature that has piqued our Scott White's interest. White considers Carpenter to be worth starting in Fantasy Week 5 in his Hit Parade column, as they get set for series against the Reds and Brewers.  

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper will undoubtedly set many franchise records before he is done, and he notched one of his first Thursday against the Reds. Harper slugged his eighth home run of the season, giving him the franchise mark for longballs in April. He went 2 for 3 in the game with a walk, while driving in one and scoring once on his solo home run. The Nationals won the game, 8-1.

Harper is batting .364 with an 1.113 on-base plus slugging percentage, and he has driven in 16 home runs in 22 games.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen went hitless for the fourth time in the last six games on Wednesday night against the Phillies. He went 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout in a 5-3 win.

McCutchen has gone just 3 for 22 in his last six contests and has seen his average drop from .273 to .234 during that span.

Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter went 3 for 4 with two runs atop the lineup in Tuesday's win over Washington.

With Jon Jay out, Carpenter was given leadoff duties and performed admirably. He doubled twice to go with a single to push his line to .276/.345/.461.

Even though we are nearing the end of the first month of the season, players have accumulated a small enough number of at-bats that a few hits could still make a huge difference to their stat line. Brandon Belt provides a classic example of this phenomenon.

Returning from a three-day absence from the Giants' starting lineup on Wednesday, Belt is primed to improve upon his modest start to the season. He is currently batting just .222, even though he has been smacking line drives at a high rate. Of the 16 liners he has smashed, only nine have become base hits. That number of line drives typically produces two or three additional hits, and if you add three hits (some of which could be for extra bases) to Belt's stat line, his average stands at .270 instead.

If you're thinking about dropping Belt, give him another chance. Not only did he deal with an illness early in the season, but he appears to have suffered from some bad luck at the plate as well.

After going 3 for 3 in a pair of appearances off the bench the last two days, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is back in the lineup Wednesday against Arizona, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Belt hit a walk-off RBI single Monday night and a game-tying two-run home run in the ninth inning Tuesday night. He's still hitting just .222/.261/.317, but the three hits rose his OPS a whopping 117 points from where it was April 19, his last start (.461 to .578).

Joaquin Arias moves back to the bench as a result.