MLB Player News

DeJong hit his third home run as part of a 3-for-4 game with two runs scored and three RBI.

That makes DeJong a scorching 5-for-7 with three homers and five RBI over his past two games. The shortstop is doing his best to make sure his 25-homer rookie campaign last year doesn't go down as a fluke. At this point, the only concern is that a whopping six of his nine outs made have been strikeouts, but fantasy owners will gladly stomach the whiffs for that kind of power at shortstop.

Pennington went 0-for-2 with two walks in Monday's win over the Cubs, getting a spot start in place of Jose Peraza.

It was interesting to see Pennington get slotted second on Monday as well. Peraza is off to an 0-for-12 start, which could bode for more starts for Pennington if he can continue to get on base.

Turner is starting at shortstop and occupying the leadoff spot Monday against the Braves.

With Adam Eaton getting his first breather of the season, Turner, who has been hitting fifth or sixth to start the season, will slide up to the top of the order. The speedster spent a lot of time as the Nationals' leadoff man in 2017 after Adam Eaton went down with a torn ACL, slashing .268/.289/.460 across 90 starts atop the lineup. Turner will likely jump up in the order when Eaton requires a maintenance day, and he could stick there on a more regular basis if he impresses manager Davey Martinez at the dish.

Turner went 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base in Sunday's 6-5 win over the Reds.

The steal was his first of the year. Turner has been hitting down in the order in the early going, slotting in fifth Sunday, and while that may end up costing him some opportunities to run wild on the basepaths, there's no guarantee he'll be stuck there all season. The shortstop has already drawn three walks through three games, and he seems intent on proving to manager Dave Martinez he has the OBP chops to hit at the top of the order.

Through the first four games of the season, Baez is 1-for-15 with a walk and four strikeouts.

The slow start includes an 0-for-7 game in Friday's 17-inning marathon against the Marlins. Baez batted .273 in each of the last two seasons, so he'll likely get going soon enough, though manager Joe Maddon could turn to veteran Ben Zobrist for some occasional starts at second base while the 25-year-old works his way out of this early slump.

Rojas is not in the lineup Sunday against the Cubs, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.

Rojas has recorded a base hit in each of the first three games of the year (all starts), and owns a .438 on-base percentage helped by three walks in Friday's 17-inning marathon. He'll get his first day off of the season Sunday afternoon, however, giving way to Yadiel Rivera at shortstop.

Turner went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, a walk and two runs scored Saturday against the Reds.

Turner contributed to a 13-7 rout with a solo shot off Luis Castillo to lead off the fourth inning. He batted sixth for the second straight game, though he came to the plate five times in the high-scoring affair.

Arcia is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Padres.

Arcia will head to the bench for Saturday's series finale after starting the team's first two games of the season, going 2-for-9 with one RBI. In his place, Eric Sogard will start at shortstop and hit sixth.

Seager is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Giants.

Seager will get the day off after going hitless (0-for-7) across the team's first two games of the season. Enrique Hernandez will start at shortstop and hit second in his stead. Seager should be back in the lineup for the series finale Sunday.

Crawford is not in the lineup Saturday against the Braves.

Crawford started the opening two games of the season at shortstop, scoring the game-winning run Friday in the 11th inning. He'll sit Saturday in favor of Scott Kingery, who made his major-league debut at third base the day before. New manager Gabe Kapler appears to want to rotate his players frequently, so it may take some time before it's clear how often Crawford will be playing.