MLB Player News

Manager Terry Francona said that the plan is to activate Brantley (ankle) from the 10-day disabled list prior to Friday's game against Kansas City, The Athletic's Zack Meisel reports.

Brantley was able to play in a minor-league spring game without experiencing any setbacks Tuesday. The outfielder will likely be eased back into the lineup, as Francona has the outfield depth at his disposal to avoid giving the 30-year-old a big workload this early in the season. Brantley has dealt with a myriad of injuries over the past two years, which has limited him to 101 games since the start of 2016.

Ozuna went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Tuesday's 5-4 loss to the Brewers.

He slugged a mammoth 479-foot shot to left off Chase Anderson in the third with Tommy Pham aboard, making his first regular-season round tripper in a Cardinals uniform a memorable one. Ozuna has shrugged off an 0-for-8 start over his first two games to go 5-for-14 with a double, Tuesday's homer, four RBI and two runs over the subsequent three contests. As those numbers imply, the 27-year-old slugger has been hacking away, with the fact he's yet to draw a free pass after posting a career-high 9.4 percent walk rate last season a testament to his aggressiveness at the plate.

Ohtani is hitting eighth as the DH in Wednesday's lineup against the Indians, Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times reports.

For the second straight game, Ohtani will be utilized as the Angels' DH. During Tuesday's victory, he went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and a pair of runs scored. He will return to the mound against Oakland on Sunday.

McCutchen has hit third for the Giants while starting in right field for each of the team's first five games to begin the season.

He put together a .341/.431/.477 line with a homer and seven RBI during spring training, but has started the season with a quiet 2-for-20 start. Despite the addition of McCutchen and Evan Longoria this offseason, the Giants have opened the season in a five-game scoring slump, with just six runs on the ledger thus far.

Ohtani was in the lineup at designated hitter for the Angels on Wednesday and went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and two runs scored in a 13-2 romp over Cleveland.

As if there weren't enough intrigue surrounding the dual-threat sensation, Ohtani wasted no time adding to the hype with Wednesday's first-inning three-run blast off Josh Tomlin that capped a six-run opening frame for Los Angeles. The offensive breakout came on the heels of a strong first outing on the mound where he picked up the win against Oakland on Sunday. It remains to be seen if Ohtani can consistently put up performances like that in both of these roles at the major-league level, but so far he's giving fantasy owners every reason to dream about the possibilities.

Ohtani is serving as the Angels' DH and hitting eighth Tuesday against the Indians.

For the second time since the start of the season, Ohtani will be in the Angels' lineup as a hitter. In his first outing, Ohtani went 1-for-5 and struck out once.

Soler went 0-for-2 with an RBI in the Royals' 1-0 win over the Tigers on Tuesday.

With both teams getting quality pitching from their respective staffs and the cold weather in Detroit stifling offensive production, Soler's second-inning sacrifice fly proved to be the difference maker in the matinee affair. Soler is still looking for his first hit of the season and should have plenty of opportunity to get dialed in at the plate with the suspension of Jorge Bonifacio and injuries to Salvador Perez (knee) and Lucas Duda (hamstring) leaving the 26-year-old as one of the top power bats remaining in a weak lineup.

Ohtani will next take the mound Sunday against Oakland.

The Angels are clearly being cautious with their prized young starter. They're attempting to keep him on a similar schedule to that which he was on in Japan, where teams use a six-man rotation and have one day off every week, meaning that starters pitch every seven days. They may end up using the rest of their starters as normally as possible, which would mean J.C. Ramirez could start Saturday on four days' rest and jump Ohtani in the rotation. If Ohtani does remain on a schedule which sees him pitching every Sunday, he might have zero two-start weeks the entire season and will have a ceiling of 27 starts or so.

Belt is not in the lineup for Tuesday's home opener against the Mariners, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Buster Posey slides over to first base in Belt's place, with Nick Hundley receiving his first start behind the plate. The Giants face lefty Marco Gonzales on Tuesday, but there's no risk of Belt being platooned, as he started against the first three lefties the Giants faced this season. The move is likely a simple attempt to keep Posey's legs fresh while keeping his bat in the lineup and has little to do with Belt himself.

Vogelbach figures to be the Mariners' primary designated hitter while Nelson Cruz (ankle) is out, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

The burly first baseman has yet to get a hit in five regular-season at-bats, but he absolutely raked during spring training. He bashed seven homers and drove in 15 runs in Cactus League play, so he could be a cheap source of power for the next week if he can continue that hot streak. He may not see starts over the next couple games since the Mariners are playing in a National League park, however. Vogelbach's run of regular playing time seems likely to end around April 11 when Cruz is eligible to return to the lineup.