MLB Player News

Mateo is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Guardians.

Mateo appeared to have settled into an everyday role at the keystone around mid-June, but the Orioles may now be viewing him as more of a part-time player. He'll take a seat for the third time in five games, with Mateo's absence in the lineup opening up a starting spot in the infield for Ramon Urias.

Mountcastle is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Guardians.

Mountcastle appears to be getting a routine breather for the series opener versus the Guardians after he had started in each of Baltimore's last nine games while slashing .282/.310/.385 with seven RBI and six runs. With Mountcastle taking a seat, Ryan O'Hearn will pick up a start at first base.

The Mariners activated Polanco (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Monday.

Polanco was sidelined for just under a month with a right hamstring strain. He went 6-for-20 in six games between High-A Everett and Triple-A Tacoma during his rehab assignment, slugging three home runs over his final two contests. Polanco has slashed a disappointing .195/.293/.302 across 181 plate appearances for Seattle this season. He'll resume his role as the club's everyday second baseman.

The Mariners optioned Locklear to Triple-A Tacoma on Monday.

Locklear will cede his spot on the 26-man active roster to second baseman Jorge Polanco (hamstring), who was reinstated from the 10-day injured list in a corresponding move. The demotion doesn't come as a major surprise, as Locklear logged just three plate appearances while starting in only one of the Mariners' last six games following Ty France's return from the IL last Tuesday.

Loftin went 0-for-4 in Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Rangers.

Though Loftin didn't provide any noteworthy production Sunday, he occupied the leadoff spot for the Royals for the second time in four games. While Kansas City hasn't yet settled on a permanent option atop the batting order, manager Matt Quatraro seems to have at least temporarily pulled the plug on the slumping Maikel Garcia as the club's leadoff hitter. With Garcia batting seventh and eighth in the final two games of the series in Texas, both Loftin and Adam Frazier received looks in the leadoff spot, though Loftin's assignment Sunday might have been a byproduct of Frazier missing the game with a thumb sprain. Even if Loftin sets the table for Kansas City again Monday versus Marlins, he may not stick in the everyday lineup for long. Michael Massey (back) is nearing a return from the 10-day injured list and likely to take back a regular spot at second base.

Garcia went 1-for-3 with a base hit in Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Rangers.

Garcia had made each of his first 74 starts of the season as the Royals' leadoff hitter, but he was dropped down to seventh and eighth in the batting order over the final two games of the weekend in Texas. His slide down the lineup comes while he's mustered a .152/.221/.177 slash line over 20 games thus far in June. The Royals haven't yet settled on a replacement for Garcia atop the lineup, as both Adam Frazier (thumb) and Nick Loftin received turns in the leadoff spot to close out the weekend.

Jimenez (hamstring) will be in the lineup for Monday's contest against the Dodgers, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The White Sox haven't yet released their lineup for the series opener, but Jimenez has evidently received the green light to make a second consecutive start. Jimenez was noticeably gimpy while running the bases in Sunday's 11-2 loss to the Tigers in his first game back from a stint on the injured list due to a left hamstring strain. The apparent aggravation of the hamstring injury won't cause him to miss any starts, at least not yet. Certainly, Jimenez will remain a major injury risk as he attempts to play through some discomfort.

Rice went 2-for-3 in Sunday's loss to Atlanta.

Rice was one of two Yankees with multiple hits in the contest, and it was the first multi-hit effort of his career. The 25-year-old started at first base for the fifth time in six contests since being called up, and three of those games have been against left-handed starters, against whom he's gone just 1-for-9. Rice has otherwise held his own overall in going 5-for-17 with a 3:3 BB:K, but he'll likely begin yielding some starts against southpaws to J.D. Davis, whom the Yankees acquired Sunday.

Schuemann hit leadoff in both of the Athletics' games against the Twins over the weekend after Abraham Toro's (hamstring) placement on the injured list, going 0-for-8 with four strikeouts.

Schuemann, who went into Saturday's game having reached safely in four straight, may not be long for the top of the order given the results, although manager Mark Kotsay might exhibit some patience. Toro has put together a .240 average and .613 OPS as the leadoff hitter this season, so the standard he's set isn't extraordinarily high by any means. Nevertheless, there are several other candidates Kotsay could turn to for the role, so Schuemann, who's most frequently hit in the No. 7 and No. 9 spots this season, could soon shift back down the order.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Sunday that France (shoulder) experienced a slight setback while recently taking part in long-toss throwing, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. "At some point we'll get him stretched out and back out on the mound," Brown said. "It's been longer than expected."

France secured a rotation spot coming out of spring training but turned in a 7.46 ERA over five starts before the Astros optioned him to Triple-A Sugar Land in late April. The right-hander proceeded to make just one start in the minors before landing on Sugar Land's 7-day injured list May 7 with a right shoulder injury. Though he was cleared to resume throwing earlier this month after about a one-month shutdown period, France didn't advance to mound work before succumbing to a setback. Brown didn't go into much detail about the extent of France's setback, but the right-hander would appear to be unlikely to rejoin the Triple-A rotation until after the All-Star break.