MLB Player News

Belt (heel) will run the bases Sunday and could get into game action by the end of next week, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Belt underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his right heel in October and then saw his recovery delayed first by COVID-19 in January and then by mononucleosis in February. He hasn't been officially ruled out for Opening Day, but the projected timeline would have him getting into game action with potentially less than a week until the regular season begins. A short stay on the injured list wouldn't be a surprise and could open up starts for Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf or Austin Slater.

Ozuna has gone 4-for-19 (.211) through 10 Grapefruit League games with a double, a home run and a 4:9 BB:K.

The strikeouts aren't ideal, but so far this spring Ozuna has been focused on getting in his reps and getting his timing down at the plate. The 30-year-old will hit in the heart of a potent Atlanta offense this season, and while he almost certainly won't match the 1.067 OPS he racked up in 2020, Ozuna could take a run at his second career 30-HR, 100-RBI campaign.

Choi (knee) is progressing well in his recovery but hasn't began participating in baseball activities, Neil Solondz of the Rays Radio Network reports.

The 29-year-old has been battling right knee soreness since early in camp and is unlikely to retake the field in the near future. Choi appears poised to open the season on the injured list since he's not taking part in baseball activities and with Opening Day less than two weeks away.

Canha is hitting .176 (3-for-17) with seven walks, a stolen base and one run across his first nine Cactus League games.

The veteran notched back-to-back one-single performances March 7 and 9, but he's just 1-for-7 over his subsequent four games and is still in search of his first extra-base hit this spring. However, the seven bases on balls do corroborate Canha's batting eye is as sharp as ever after he generated the two highest walk rates of his career the last two seasons (13.5 percent and 15.2 percent). Canha presumably still remains a candidate to lead off on occasion after being labeled as such early in spring training, with his respective .396 and .387 on-base percentages in 2019 and 2020 certainly helping make his case as a viable top-of-the-order option.

Solak went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and two runs scored in Wednesday's spring game against Arizona.

Solak homered for the second straight game and is now 4-for-9 over his last three games. That's the good news. The other side of Solak's spring is an increase in strikeouts. The Rangers' planned starter at second base, who struck out at an 18 percent clip in 2020, has whiffed 11 times in 26 Cactus League at-bats.

Blackmon went 0-for-1 with a run and one walk in Monday's spring loss to the Dodgers.

Blackmon led off the bottom of the second inning Monday with a walk before he was brought in by a Sam Hilliard double to score the first run of the game. The 34-year-old has gone just 2-for-18 with two runs, two walks and three strikeouts over eight spring games this year, but he'll serve as the Rockies' primary right fielder in 2021.

The Diamondbacks reassigned Beer to their minor-league camp Tuesday.

MLB's decision not to implement a universal designated hitter for the 2021 season likely ended any chance Beer had of cracking the Diamondbacks' Opening Day roster, since the 24-year-old doesn't profile as an ideal bench option due to his lack of defensive versatility. Beer is still one of the top hitters in Arizona's farm system, though his initial results upon coming over from Houston in a July 2019 trade weren't all that encouraging. Over his 24 games with Double-A Jacksonville in 2019, Beer slashed .205/.297/.318 (83 wRC+) across 101 plate appearances.

Alvarez did not appear in Monday's spring game against the Marlins because manager Dusty Baker wanted to avoid using him in back-to-back games, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Alvarez, who made his spring debut Sunday, has been dealing with sore knees, so the manager didn't want to expose him to back-to-back contests this early. It's unclear how long Alvarez will be under such restrictions or whether this was simply Baker exercising an overabundance of caution.

Ohtani went 2-for-3 with a pair of solo home runs in Monday's Cactus League loss to Cincinnati.

Two days after a rough outing on the mound, Ohtani was in the lineup at DH and reminded everyone of what he can do with the bat, drilling two opposite-field homers against Michael Lorenzen. While he has been up and down as a pitcher this spring, Ohtani has wowed at the plate, slashing .563/.556/1.125 with three homers and five RBI.

Miller's oblique injury is a relatively mild strain which won't necessarily rule him out for Opening Day, Scott Mitchell of TSN.ca reports.

Miller suffered the injury Saturday. He'll be reevaluated later in the week, at which point his timeline should become more clear. He's expected to be one of the Phillies' top bench players this season. If he's forced to miss the start of the campaign, that could be good news for one of the team's lesser utility options such as C.J. Chatham, Ronald Torreyes or Nick Maton.