MLB Player News

Diaz started at third base and went 2-for-4 in Thursday's 8-2 loss to the Twins.

The start was Diaz's third straight, following a start at first base and his first-career start in left field. Manager AJ Hinch has had difficulty trying to find him regular at-bats, so this may be a concerted effort to get Diaz's bat going. The 28-year-old utility player has hit groundballs on 53.7 percent of his batted balls, 13 points higher than his rate as a regular with the Blue Jays last season and nearly 10 points higher than his career rate. Unless Houston has to deal with a starter's injury, Diaz will need to be content playing 2-to-3 times per week.

Correa is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Twins, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

The star shortstop will pick up a scheduled rest day with the Astros concluding their series in Minnesota with a day game after a night contest. Alex Bregman will shift over from third base to cover Correa's usual spot in the field, opening up a spot in the lineup for Aledmys Diaz.

Diaz started in left field and went 1-for-4 with an RBI in Wednesday's 6-2 loss to the Twins.

Manager AJ Hinch wanted to rest Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick, a pair of left-handed hitters, so the right-handed hitting Diaz was part of an all-righty lineup against Minnesota southpaw Martin Perez. It was the second straight day that Diaz has been in the starting lineup, his first back-to-back starts since the first two games of the season. The Astros' original plan was to have Diaz get ample time in the outfield, though the idea was scuttled during spring training, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.

Mondesi went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in a 3-2 victory against the Rays in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday.

While he only had one hit in the matinee, Mondesi is still hitting .342 (13-for-38) in the last nine games. During that stretch, he has four extra-base hits, including two homers. He only has four home runs this year, but thanks to six doubles and five triples, Mondesi is slugging .521 with a .286 batting average. He's been a strong fantasy asset early this year with 26 RBI, 17 runs and eight stolen bases as well.

Owings is not in the lineup for Game 2 of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Rays.

Owings will head to the bench after going 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts in the first game of Wednesday's twin bill. Jorge Soler is starting in right field and batting cleanup.

Adames is not in the lineup for Game 2 of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Royals, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Adames will head to the bench for the second half of Wednesday's twin bill after going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI in Game 1. Daniel Robertson is starting at shortstop and hitting sixth in his stead.

Franco's season line is up to .311/.393/.568 with 11 extra-base hits (six doubles, two triples, three home runs) and 10 RBI across 85 plate appearances at Low-A Bowling Green.

All three components of Franco's line have seen an appreciable boost over the last 10 games, a stretch during which he's hit .395 with three home runs, seven RBI, four walks, four steals and nine runs. The promising 18-year-old recently slugged all three of those round trippers over a two-game period against Fort Wayne. His slow start is now behind him, and Franco seems to be on his way to largely replicating the success he enjoyed in rookie ball at Princeton in 2018 (.351/.418/.587).

Bogaerts is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Athletics, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

Manager Alex Cora said Tuesday that Bogaerts would likely get the day off for the series finale, so the shortstop's absence from the lineup comes as little surprise. Tzu-Wei Lin will enter the starting nine in Bogaerts' stead and bat ninth.

Diaz started at first base in place of the slumping Yuli Gurriel and went 0-for-4 with an RBI in Tuesday's 11-0 win over the Twins.

Diaz's playing time has been inconsistent -- just six starts over the last 23 days -- which appears to have impacted his bat. He's hitting just .205 over 13 games. He has value for his versatility, which was on display Tuesday when he moved from first to second then to shortstop, but the bat needs to get going.

Crawford is slashing .289/.379/.411 across 103 plate appearances with Triple-A Tacoma so far in 2019.

The shortstop has seven extra-base hits (five doubles, two home runs) and two stolen bases with the Rainiers, and Greg Johns of MLB.com reports that he's been "very solid defensively." With respect to Crawford's 2019 big-league prospects, Johns also relays that Tim Beckham's own strong start (.286/.359/.533 over 117 plate appearances entering Tuesday's game against the Cubs) and valued clubhouse presence has given him a relatively secure hold on the starting shortstop job for the time being despite an MLB-high 11 errors. However, Beckham is capable of playing second or third base as well, so a 2019 path to the majors certainly appears to be there for Crawford, especially considering the team's previously stated commitment to give several of its top prospects a chance at the major-league level this season.