MLB Player News

Some hitters to sit in Fantasy Week 10 (June 2-8) include A.J. Pierzynski, Adam Dunn, Yangervis Solarte, Andrelton Simmons, Marcell Ozuna and, yes, even Dee Gordon (at least at second base in certain formats).

Find out why in my latest Start and Sit Hitters column.

Diamondbacks shortstop Cliff Pennington was not in the team's starting lineup Friday.

Pennington was scratched from Wednesday's lineup due to a thumb injury. He's not the usual starter at short, so it's unclear whether Pennington is still hurt, or if he's available off the bench. He's hitting .257 in 70 at-bats. 

It's nice to finally see Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts go on a hot streak since Fantasy owners were losing a little faith in the 21-year-old infielder following a slow start. He's batting .355 with a .565 slugging percentage and .985 OPS in his last 16 games, which has given Red Sox manager John Farrell the opportunity to move him up to second in the batting order.

It's not surprising Bogaerts is doing his best work against fastballs. He's batting .333 with a .513 slugging percentage and .396 BABIP against fastballs this season, per BrooksBaseball.net. He's also doing well with offspeed pitches, batting .316 with a .429 BABIP. Though, he's having trouble with breaking pitches, batting .143 with a .261 BABIP. Perhaps it's not too shocking to see a young hitter struggle with major-league breaking pitches, but at least he's performing well against fastballs and offspeed pitches.

Bogaerts is a special talent and should be a standout Fantasy player one day. It's encouraging to see him batting second. He should see some good pitches hitting in front of Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. I did move him up in my rankings at shortstop and third base, and hopefully this is the start of his breakout run.

Red Sox infielder Xander Bogaerts picked up three hits Wednesday against the Braves.

Bogaerts reached in his first three plate appearances. He walked his first time up, added a double his second time up and singled his third time up. After striking out in his fourth at-bat, Bogaerts came back and hit another single. He finished the game 3 for 4, with one run scored and no RBI.

Bogaerts is hitting .287/.383/.414 in 181 at-bats.

Diamondbacks shortstop Cliff Pennington has been scratched from Wednesday's lineup due to a thumb injury, FOXSportsArizona.com reports.

Pennington hurt the thumb on his glove hand administering a tag on a slide Tuesday, and he'll get Wednesday off to recover. He has hit .257/.342/.343 with six RBI in 70 at-bats.

Diamondbacks shortstop Chris Owings went 1 for 4 with a walk and a solo home run in his team's 2-1 win over the Mets in the first half of Sunday's doubleheader.

Owings smacked his home run over the left-field fence in the top of the first inning, and he watched the winning run score on an error committed during a ground ball he hit in the ninth inning. Owings has hit .267/.313/.413 with three home runs and eight RBI in 150 at-bats.

As expected, Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts is in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rays.

Bogaerts exited play Saturday with a hamstring cramp, but he said after the game the crap disappeared once the trainers worked on his leg. He has hit .279/.370/.406 with three home runs and nine RBI in 165 at-bats.

Nationals infielder Zach Walters will be the odd man out when Adam LaRoche returns to action. Walters will be sent back down to Triple-A Syracuse prior to Sunday's game against the Pirates, MLB.com reports.

Walters batted .182 with three homers and four RBI in 33 at-bats for the Nationals.

Red Sox infielder Xander Bogaerts expects to play Sunday after exiting Saturday's game with a hamstring cramp, MassLive.com reports.

Bogaerts said that the trainers worked out his cramp after he was removed from Saturday's game, so he should be good to go for Sunday provided it doesn't return. He has hit .279/.370/.406 with three home runs and nine RBI in 165 at-bats.

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts was removed from Saturday's game against the Rays due to a cramp in his right hamstring, the team announced.

Bogaerts was 2 for 5 and scored a run before being removed in the bottom of the 11th. He appeared to injure the hamstring in the top of the 11th inning while striking out. Bogaerts has hit .279/.370/.406 with three home runs and nine RBI in 165 at-bats.