MLB Player News

Bogaerts has made the most starts out of the leadoff spot through the Padres' first 10 Cactus League games and would appear to be the leading candidate to open the season atop the batting order, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Fernando Tatis (150) and Luis Arraez (11) made all but one start out of the leadoff spot for the Padres during the 2025 regular season, but San Diego will be breaking in a new table setter in 2026 with Arraez now in San Francisco and with first-year manager Craig Stammen planning to move Tatis down to the third or fourth spot. Bogaerts primarily slotted somewhere between fourth and sixth in the lineup last season, but as a high-contact hitter with good speed on the bases, he should make for a logical choice to lead off. However, with Bogaerts away from the team until at least March 12 while he participates in the World Baseball Classic, Stammen will experiment with other options atop the order during Cactus League play. Jake Cronenworth will bat leadoff in Monday's game against the Athletics and could represent the top fallback option to Bogaerts once the season gets underway.

Young went 1-for-2 with a two-run homer in Sunday's Cactus League game against the Rangers.

It had been a tough start to the spring for Young, who'd gone 0-for-8 with six strikeouts in his first four contests before launching a 442-foot homer off lefty Jacob Latz in the first inning Sunday. The 22-year-old Young continues to battle with top prospect Colt Emerson for the the final starting infield job. Young opened camp as the favorite, though his slow start may have closed the gap. Young appeared in 77 regular-season games as a rookie last year, batting .211 with a .607 OPS, four homers and one stolen base across 257 plate appearances.

De Vries (illness) will start at shortstop and bat seventh in Monday's Cactus League game against the Padres.

De Vries battled dehydration and stomach issues during Saturday's game against the Giants, but he needed just one day to recover before rejoining the Athletics' spring lineup. One of the top infield prospects in all of baseball, De Vries has held his own thus far in the spring, going 3-for-10 with a 1:2 BB:K and one stolen base over five games. He's likely to open the upcoming season at either Double-A Midland or Triple-A Sacramento but could earn his first big-league call-up at some point in the second half of 2026.

Winn didn't start Monday's spring training game versus the Marlins as initially anticipated due to right arm soreness, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said that Winn is "fine" and the soreness is a result of a "heavy" workload on the backfields Sunday. The plan is for Winn to return to action Thursday or Friday, though Marmol said he's willing to adjust plans if Winn wants to play Wednesday in an exhibition versus Team Nicaragua. Winn is 2-for-8 with a 3:2 BB:K and one stolen base in his first four Grapefruit League contests.

Seager (illness) will start at shortstop and bat third in Monday's Cactus League game versus the Guardians.

Seager was scratched from the Rangers' lineup Friday and wound up missing a couple additional days of action due to illness, but he's ready to roll for Monday's tilt. The veteran shortstop is 1-for-7 with a 1:2 BB:K in the early going this spring.

Lugo was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake on Sunday.

Lugo will head to the Triple-A level after batting .091 with a double, an RBI, and four strikeouts over 11 at-bats in five contests during spring training. The outfielder produced a .232 average with four home runs, nine RBI and nine runs scored over 69 at-bats in 31 contests with the Angels last season. He'll look to impress with Salt Lake in an attempt to get another crack with the major-league roster in 2026.

Cowles was claimed off waivers by the Cubs on Sunday.

Cowles will return to Cubs camp after being designated for assignment by Chicago on Feb. 15 and ultimately claimed by the Blue Jays a few days later. The infielder appeared in five spring-training games in his time with Toronto, going 0-for-9 with five strikeouts. Cowles played in 113 games with Triple-A Iowa in 2025, batting .238 with nine home runs, 44 RBI, 55 runs scored and 16 stolen bases over 421 at-bats. He'll likely open the 2026 campaign at Triple-A if he sticks around with the Cubs' organization.

Arias was scratched from Sunday's split-squad lineup against the Diamondbacks due to lower-back spasms, Tim Stebbins of MLB.com reports.

Arias was penciled in to start at shortstop and bat cleanup, but he'll instead get some time to rest. The 26-year-old has gone 2-for-9 with a double and five strikeouts through his first four spring training games and is expected to open the campaign as Cleveland's primary shortstop.

Kasevich went 1-for-1 with two walks, a run scored and two stolen bases in the Blue Jays' split-squad game against the Phillies on Saturday.

The 25-year-old took over for Andres Gimenez at shortstop in the top of the fourth and quickly made a nuisance of himself on the basepaths. Kasevich is a long shot to break camp on the big-league roster after an injury-plagued 2025, but a strong camp could put him in position to make his MLB debut sometime this season when Toronto needs infield depth. Through six games and 12 plate appearance so far this spring, Kasevich has gone 5-for-10 with a homer, two steals on two attempts, two walks and zero strikeouts.

Matthews went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a stolen base in Saturday's Grapefruit League game versus the Pirates.

Matthews has swung the bat well to start the spring, going 4-for-10 with a double and a stolen base in his first four Grapefruit League games. Matthews, a first-round pick in 2023, is primarily an infielder, though he's been getting more work in the outfield this spring in an effort to make the Opening Day roster as a utility piece. Matthews struggled in a brief major-league stint last season, batting just .167 with four homers across 47 plate appearances. However, he put up impressive numbers in 112 games with Triple-A Sugar Land, slashing .260/.371/.458 with 17 homers and 41 stolen bases across 498 plate appearances.