MLB Player News

High-A Greensboro placed Sanford on its 7-day injured list June 10 due to an unspecified injury.

Though the nature of Sanford's injury isn't known, he was removed from his most recent appearance June 6 against Asheville after being hit by a pitch, per Anthony Murphy of Baseball America. One of the top lower-level prospects in the Pittsburgh farm system, Sanford has produced a .287/.425/.539 slash line with 10 home runs and 21 stolen bases across 223 plate appearances with Greensboro on the season.

Lindor (calf) is expected to play a simulated game Monday, Tim Britton of The Athletic reports.

The star shortstop played a full nine innings in the field Sunday in a rehab game with Triple-A Syracuse, going 0-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base and a run. He'll pick up some more at-bats Monday, then is likely to get a day off before potentially being activated from the injured list Wednesday. Even if Lindor needs a little more time beyond Wednesday to recover, he's tracking toward a return to the big-league lineup this week. Through his first 105 plate appearances this season prior to straining his left calf April 22, Lindor had a .226/.314/.335 slash line with two home runs, two steals, five RBI and 14 runs.

Dubon went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored in Sunday's loss to the Brewers.

Getting the start in left field and hitting leadoff, Dubon accounted for nearly half of Atlanta's hits in a 9-4 loss. The veteran utility player has regularly hit atop the order against left-handed pitching while Ronald Acuna (hamstring) has been on the shelf in June, and over 16 games this month Dubon sports a .305/.349/.542 slash line with two doubles, four homers, one steal, eight runs and 13 RBI.

Abrams went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, a double and an additional run scored in Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Rays.

After doubling and coming around to score in the fourth inning, Abrams took Nick Martinez deep in his next plate appearance for his 17th homer of the season. The shortstop extended his home-run streak to three consecutive games. While Abrams is batting just .261 in June, he is slashing .286/.367/.534 with 15 doubles, two triples, 17 homers, 57 RBI, 51 runs scored and 12 stolen bases across 76 games this season.

Tovar is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Pirates.

Tovar will be handed the afternoon off, ending a streak of six starts during which he went 5-for-22 (.227) with three runs and an RBI. With Tovar on the bench, Willi Castro will shift over to shortstop, opening up the keystone for Edouard Julien.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday that he expects Griffin (forearm) to play in minor-league rehab games by the end of the week, Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Griffin has been rehabbing in Florida since landing on the shelf May 31 due to a right forearm strain, but he's expected to head north to Pittsburgh for an evaluation early this week before linking up with a minor-league affiliate. Throwing at full strength and velocity seems to be the biggest concern for Griffin as he works his way back from the injury, and the rookie phenom appears to be making progress on that front. Per MLB.com, Pirates manager Don Kelly said Saturday that Griffin has extended his throwing distance to 150 feet and was clocked at 89 mph while throwing from third base to first.

De La Cruz (hamstring) is expected to be reinstated from the 10-day injured list ahead of Tuesday's game against the Brewers, Charlie Goldsmith of Fox 19 Now Cincinnati reports.

After playing on three consecutive days for Triple-A Louisville during his rehab assignment over the weekend, De La Cruz will be given a chance to rest Monday as the Reds open their three-game set with the Brewers, but he looks like he'll be available for the final two contests of the series. De La Cruz's return will bump Matt McLain back over to second base, where he'll have to compete for playing time with Spencer Steer and rookie Edwin Arroyo.

Mateo is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Brewers.

Mateo will head back to the bench after he had started at shortstop in three straight games, going 1-for-7 with a run scored. Though Atlanta will replace Mateo in the lineup with Ha-Seong Kim on Sunday, both players could find playing time at shortstop more difficult to come by when the team faces right-handed pitching. Mauricio Dubon may be the top choice to cover shortstop on those occasions, which will allow Mike Yastrzemski and Eli White to serve as Atlanta's primary options at the corner outfield spots while Ronald Acuna (hamstring) remains on the shelf.

Ortiz is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against Atlanta.

Ortiz had started at third base in each of the last three games while the Brewers went up against lefties, but he'll hit the bench Sunday while right-hander Bryce Elder toes the rubber for Atlanta. The 27-year-old looks as though he'll have to settle for the short side of a platoon with David Hamilton following the recent promotion of shortstop Cooper Pratt from Triple-A Nashville.

Turner went 2-for-5 with one RBI and three runs scored in Saturday's 15-3 win over the Mets.

Turner set the tone for a rout by the Phillies, scoring three runs in a game for the first time this season. The shortstop may be turning a corner after going 5-for-10 over his past two full games, excluding Thursday's contest in which he left after getting hit by a pitch in his only plate appearance. On the year, he's slashing .226/.278/.336 with seven homers, 22 RBI, 46 runs scored and 15 steals across 324 plate appearances.