MLB Player News

D’Arnaud took a foul ball off the mask in last Friday’s game and subsequently sat out of Saturday and Sunday’s games. He was cleared of a possible concussion and returned to the lineup with a three-hit game. D’Arnaud’s time as Atlanta’s primary catcher might be coming to a close soon as the injured Sean Murphy is nearing a rehab assignment.

Buxton served as Minnesota’s primary offensive catalyst on Saturday night at T-Mobile Park, smacking a tie-breaking RBI double into the left-field corner off Seattle starter Bryce Miller in the fourth inning before walloping a three-run shot - his eighth round-tripper of the year - against reliever Trent Thornton a few frames later. The 30-year-old center fielder got off to an extremely frosty start at the dish this season, but he’s been on fire over the last few weeks, batting .389 (21-for-54) with five homers and two steals over his last 15 games. There will be ebbs and flows with Buxton over the next few months, but he should undoubtedly be rostered in all fantasy formats until further notice.

It’s been a trying first half for Rodríguez, who went hitless during Saturday’s losing effort despite a scalding a 102-mph line-drive off Twins starter Pablo López in the third inning that went for a lineout. The 23-year-old franchise cornerstone’s latest hitless performance drops his full-season batting average back down to a pedestrian .248 mark. The even more problematic development for fantasy purposes is that he’s gone deep just seven times this season, with nearly half of those coming over his last 30 games. He’s mired in an extended tailspin at the dish right now, batting .138 (8-for-58) with two homers and zero steals over his last 15 games.

We certainly hope you weren’t one of the fantasy managers that bailed on López during his persistent struggles earlier this month as he’s recorded at least nine strikeouts in back-to-back outings and has allowed just one earned run over 14 innings of work during that span, capitalizing on a pair of favorable road matchups against the Athletics and Mariners, respectively. The underlying expected stats pointed to some regression from a run-prevention standpoint, so we’re not totally surprised that he’s reverted to form after a handful of rough outings. He’ll aim to keep the momentum going when he squares off against the Astros on Friday in his penultimate start prior to the upcoming All-Star break.

Miller was simply outdueled by Twins ace Pablo López in this one as he gave up run-scoring hits to Jose Miranda and Byron Buxton in the second and fourth innings, respectively, which were enough to saddle him with a loss in a low-scoring affair at T-Mobile Park. He struck out six and only handed out one free pass. The 25-year-old righty has been pretty consistent this season for fantasy managers with a solid 3.88 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 91/28 K/BB ratio across 97 1/3 innings (17 starts). He’ll face the Orioles on Thursday in his next outing before wrapping up the first half with a road tilt against the Padres.

O’Hoppe’s eighth-inning blast -- his 12th round-tripper of the season -- came off Los Angeles reliever Logan Vest to open the frame. He finished 2-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts in the extra-inning affair. The 24-year-old’s promising, albeit injury-shortened, showing from last year has carried over into this season as he’s on pace to get pretty close to the lofty 30-homer mark, which is extremely rare for a modern-era backstop. He’s gone deep three times in his last six games and five times overall since June 1.

Rogers delivered a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the fourth inning before taking Angels starter Griffin Canning deep in his next at-bat. It was his sixth long ball of the season and lone extra-base hit for Detroit during an extra-inning marathon.

Rengifo continues to excel as an extremely versatile under-the-radar fantasy contributor as he’s recorded a strong .808 OPS with six homers and 21 stolen bases through 66 games. The 21 thefts are a new career-high mark by a considerable margin as he’s running at a rate we certainly weren’t projecting coming into the year. He’s got a real shot at reaching the 40-steal plateau, which is unreal considering he he’s never stolen more than six bases over a full season since 2019.

Canning surrendered six hits, including a two-run homer to light-hitting backstop Jake Rogers in the sixth inning, which put him on the hook for a potential loss until the Angels’ offense bailed him out in the late innings. He struck out four and also issued a pair of walks. The 28-year-old righty has shown some flashes of fantasy upside over the last few years, but hasn’t quite put it all together. He’ll bring a pedestrian 4.71 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 63/32 K/BB ratio across 93 2/3 innings (17 starts) into a challenging road matchup on Friday against the Cubs.

Olson gave up a pair of early runs in the third inning on a wild pitch and a run-scoring ground out from Willie Calhoun, but managed to escape the frame without any further damage. The 24-year-old righty went on to silence Los Angeles’ lineup, generating 15 swinging strikes — including 10 on his slider alone — into the middle innings before Detroit’s bullpen wound up surrendering a late lead. He’ll been on a roll lately, allowing two earned runs or fewer in three consecutive starts since June 17. He’ll bring a 3.32 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 81/26 K/BB ratio across 89 1/3 innings (16 starts) into a road matchup on Saturday against the Reds in his penultimate outing prior to the All-Star break.

Rojas got the Dodgers on the board in the second inning with an RBI single off of Spencer Howard that plated Andy Pages. He drove in Pages again with an RBI knock in the fourth inning then scored on an RBI single by Will Smith. The 35-year-old shortstop also drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, dropping an RBI single into center field that plated Chris Taylor. He finished his night with a sacrifice fly that capped off a seven-run uprising in the 11th. With his three-hit attack, Rojas is now hitting .297/.346/.446 with three homers, 18 RBI and three stolen bases on the season.