MLB Player News

Brantley is not in the Indians' lineup Thursday, Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com reports.

It appears to be a mere day of rest. Brantley has restored the reliable floor he established before his injury-plagued 2016 season, hitting .296/.360/.432 with five home runs and seven stolen bases in 228 plate appearances. He'll give way to Daniel Robertson in left field.

Buxton went 3-for-3 with a double, a solo homer, a walk and two steals in Wednesday's loss to Seattle.

You certainly can't pin this loss on the young center fielder, who did everything he could to carry his offense from the eighth spot in the batting order. Unfortunately, such nights have been rare for Buxton -- over a 17-game stretch prior to Wednesday, he hit just .226/.255/.321 with a single homer, five RBI and four runs. Those are fantasy-team-killing numbers; with that in mind, it's best to stash him on the bench in most fantasy formats until he shows signs of hitting consistently.

Soler hit a two-out, walk-off grand slam one inning after his two-run homer tied the game in the ninth inning Sunday for Triple-A Omaha.

Since rejoining the Storm Chasers on June 5, Soler has just seven hits in 34 at-bats (.206). However, five of those connections have been home runs, and he's notched 12 RBI over the nine-game stretch. His MLB career is on hold for now, but that may change if Kansas City becomes active in the trade market before the July 31 deadline.

Ozuna went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in Wednesday's win over Oakland.

Ozuna hit a 411-foot shot to center off rookie starter Daniel Gossett in the second inning to get the Marlins on the board. He added an RBI groundout in the third and RBI double in the sixth to finish off an excellent day at the plate. His 17 long balls are good enough for ninth in the majors, while his .983 OPS ranks 10th. He's having a breakout season.

Cespedes is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Cubs.

Although the stud outfielder was removed from Tuesday's game early, he doesn't appear to be nursing an injury anymore. Wednesday's absence appears to just be an effort to ease him back into action, allowing Curtis Granderson to pick up a start in left field to replace him.

McCutchen went 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBI against Colorado on Tuesday.

Since moving to the sixth slot in the lineup May 26, McCutchen is batting .397/.480/.730 with five homers and 15 RBI in 75 plate appearances. Historically, the outfielder has put up some of his best monthly numbers in June (.313/.386/.516), though he hit just .202 last June. He's in a good spot right now and gives fantasy owners the option to either ride out his streak or perhaps sell high on his value.

Martinez went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Tuesday's loss to the Diamondbacks.

Martinez took Zack Greinke deep in the sixth inning. The 29-year-old's power pace has slowed somewhat after a ridiculous stretch right when he returned from a foot injury in mid-May, but Martinez is still one of the premier options across all of fantasy baseball in terms of racking up counting stats.

Stanton went 1-for-4 with a walk, a home run, two runs scored and two RBI in Tuesday's 8-1 win over the A's.

It's safe to say Stanton's wrist is no longer bothering him. The 27-year-old now has 17 homers and 44 RBI on the year, putting him on pace to set new career highs in both categories if he can avoid his usual lengthy DL stint.

Ozuna went 3-for-3 with a walk, a solo home run and a second run scored in Tuesday's 8-1 win over the A's.

He's now produced multi-hit efforts in 11 of his last 17 games, giving Ozuna a stellar .408/.432/.676 slash line over that stretch with five homers, 11 RBI and 14 runs. The 26-year-old now sports a career-best .971 OPS on the season, nearly 200 points better than his previous high.

Carpenter went a combined 4-for-8 with a double, a homer, a walk, three RBI and three runs in Tuesday's doubleheader against Milwaukee.

He's still hitting only .233, but Carpenter managed to extend his hitting streak from five to seven games in one day -- a stretch in which he's gone 11-for-28 (.393) with three homers and eight RBI. Before this run, he was lingering at a .209 batting average, so even this modest improvement is quite welcome. Carpenter's seemingly made a conscious decision to sacrifice contact for power over the past couple seasons, and this year hasn't been any different, except that the results have been worse. Much of that is attributable to a career-low .253 BABIP, though; his career mark is .324, which implies a lot of room for improvement in his batting average.