MLB Player News

Pena (neck) is batting seventh and playing shortstop Tuesday in Chicago, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

The neck stiffness that kept Pena out of Monday's game appears to have been minor. In 18 games since his last home run, Pena has slashed .194/.214/.239 with three doubles and four RBI.

Smith is on the bench for Tuesday's game against the Athletics.

Smith is on the bench for the fourth time in seven games, and he appears to have shifted into more of a super-utility role of late after previously seeing action as the Rangers' primary third baseman earlier this month. Ezequiel Duran has since taken over as the preferred option at the position, with his hot hitting and Smith's modest .576 OPS since the beginning of August likely being the primary factors.

Wendle is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Padres, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports.

The lefty-hitting Wendle will take a seat with southpaw Sean Manaea toeing the rubber for San Diego. Charles Leblanc will check in for Wendle at third base, while shortstop Miguel Rojas spells Wendle as the Marlins' leadoff man.

Berti is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Padres, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports.

Though his absence from the lineup is somewhat surprising with the left-handed Sean Manaea taking the hill for San Diego, the righty-hitting Berti looks like he'll still have a clear path to at least semi-regular playing time following his recent return from the injured list. In his four starts since being activated last week, Berti has gone 4-for-17 with two doubles and a stolen base, his 29th of the season. Despite missing nearly a month of game action, Berti still leads all of baseball in steals.

Williams will start at second base and bat ninth in Tuesday's game against the Padres, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports.

Williams will make his fourth start in five games Tuesday, but his inclusion in the lineup is likely a byproduct of southpaw Sean Manaea taking the hill for Miami. Even though his opportunities have picked up of late, the righty-hitting Williams may have a tough time finding regular starts against right-handed pitching following the recent returns of Jon Berti and Brian Anderson from the injured list.

Crawford went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI singles and a walk in a win over the Angels on Monday.

The veteran shortstop snapped a 1-1 tie with his third-inning knock, which drove home Jesse Winker, and he added another timely single in the ninth inning to cap off Seattle's wild six-run rally. Crawford now has three straight two-hit efforts and boasts an impressive .282 average and .370 on-base percentage over the 46 plate appearances covering his last 11 games.

Winn is hitting .268/.345/.453 with 10 homers and 18 steals through 61 games with Double-A Springfield.

He's had significant hot and cold stretches, and Winn is actually now in the midst of a cooler one, having gone just 2-for-15 over his last four games -- which comes on the heels of an 11-game stretch in which he hit .346 with a 1.077 OPS. But as they say, speed never slumps, and Winn has remained active on the basepaths even when his bat hasn't been as effective. He's up to 33 steals now across two levels of the minors this year, which combines well with his solid plate discipline, growing power and cannon arm at shortstop to make Winn an exciting prospect for a Cardinals team that's looking for a long-term answer at his position.

Double-A Erie placed Perez on its 7-day injured list Tuesday due to an unspecified issue.

After a rough 2021 campaign, the 22-year-old switch-hitting Perez had re-established himself as one of the Tigers' better prospects by finding success at both High-A West Michigan and at the Double-A level. Since joining Erie in mid-June, Perez has produced a .307/.374/.533 slash line with 20 extra-base hits and a tidy 13.5 percent strikeout rate across 171 plate appearances.

Grissom went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and two runs scored in Monday's 13-1 rout of the Mets.

The rookie hit eighth in the lineup but still carved out his share of the offensive eruption by Atlanta. Grissom, like Michael Harris before him, has provided a jolt of energy to the NL East squad since his promotion, going 9-for-21 (.429) through his first six big-league games with two doubles, two homers, four RBI, eight runs, a steal and a 3:5 BB:K -- not bad for a 21-year-old who had only 22 games of experience above High-A prior to making his MLB debut.

Swanson went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, a run scored, three RBI and a stolen base in Monday's 13-1 rout of the Mets.

Every Atlanta starter got at least one hit on the night, but Swanson tied Ronald Acuna for the team lead in both hits and RBI. The shortstop has six multi-hit performances through 14 games in August, batting .279 (17-for-61) with six runs and 10 RBI, but his counting stat production has been lagging a bit -- he has only one homer and one steal on the month so far, compared to 16 home runs and 15 stolen bases on the season.