MLB Player News

Cespedes is out of the lineup Sunday against the Rockies.

Cespedes returned to the Mets' lineup Friday, but was removed early Saturday due to was described as precautionary reasons. It's possible his sore quad is flaring up again, as this will mark his seventh game missed since originally sustaining the strain. In his stead, Michael Conforto will get the call in left field, while James Loney bats third in the batting order. Consider Cespedes day-to-day heading into Monday's series opener against the Yankees.

Miller went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Saturday's 6-3 victory over the Yankees.

The 26-year-old shortstop got the Rays' scoring started with a 423-foot solo shot to center in the first. Miller's homer totals have increased with each subsequent month this season and his 16 round-trippers on the season are easily a career high. He also has three straight two-hit efforts and a four-game hitting streak overall.

Belt went 1-for-1 with three walks and a run in Saturday's 5-3 victory over the Nationals.

The slugging first baseman has displayed some excellent plate discipline over the last week, drawing eight walks over the last five games while only whiffing twice. Belt has only homered once since June 20, however, and is hitting just .222 in July. While the current month has easily been his poorest of the season, Belt has a chance to quickly turn his fortunes at the plate around if he continues to exhibit the same patient eye of recent contests.

Blackmon went 2-for-4 with two doubles and scored twice in Saturday's victory over the Mets.

The center fielder followed up Friday's four-hit performance with another impressive game Saturday, notching his 20th and 21st doubles of the season. Last year, Blackmon hit a career-high 31 two-baggers and is now on pace to outperform that number in 2016. He's also on track to challenge last season's career-high 93 runs scored. Setting new personal records this season would be especially impressive considering he lost time to a stint on the DL back in April.

Cespedes was removed from Saturday's game following his fifth-inning at-bat for precautionary reasons, MLB.com's Anthony DiComo reports.

The reason for Cespedes' removal was not explicitly noted, but he missed a game earlier this week with a sore quad, so it's possible he felt some tightness in the area and was taken out of the game because of it. Cespedes' status for the Mets' next game Sunday will be revealed at some point on Sunday morning.

Dickerson (hip) is not in the lineup Saturday against the Reds, Bill Center of Padres.com reports.

Dickerson was lifted from Friday's game after a collision in the outfield with teammate Travis Jankowski left him with a concussion. While Dickerson was able to walk off the field under his own power, the Padres will exercise caution and hold Dickerson out for at least a day. San Diego will go with an outfield alignment of Jankowski in center, Alexei Amarista in left and Matt Kemp in right Saturday.

Vargas is not in Saturday's lineup against the White Sox, Brandon Warne of ColdOmahaMN reports.

Vargas is getting his second game off in Minnesota's last two as recent call-up Jorge Polanco fills in at DH, batting seventh. Currently in the midst of a six game-hit streak, Vargas has slashed .318/.407/.455 with three runs and four RBI during that span.

Ozuna clubbed his 18th home run of the season as part of a 2-for-4 effort in Friday's loss to the Cardinals.

It was the outfielder's first homer since way back on July 1 and prior to Friday's blast, he had batted .202/.262/.269 over his last 21 games. Ozuna has, however, hit in three straight, including the home run and a pair of doubles, and appears to be getting back in a groove at the plate. Even with the sluggish July, Ozuna is slashing .299/.350/.515 on the year with 18 home runs, 57 runs scored and 54 RBI.

Miller went 2-for-5 with a double, a triple and two runs in Friday's 5-1 victory over the Yankees.

The 26-year-old shortstop was making some impactful contact against Yankees starter Ivan Nova, with the three-bagger representing his fifth of the season overall. Miller has hit safely in four of the last five contests as well and has consecutive multi-hit efforts. While he's still hitting a rather middling .250, he's picked it up in the power department over the last several weeks, tallying 10 homers since June 11 while also posting 22 of his 37 RBI since June 1.

After leaving Friday's game following an outfield collision, Dickerson has been diagnosed with a right hip contusion.

While Dickerson did not make it out of the first inning in Friday's game, he does not appear to be dealing with a serious setback at first glance. It's not clear if the injury will force Dickerson to miss any further action, but that will become clear when the Padres release their lineup several hours prior to their next game Saturday.