MLB Player News

Soto went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and two walks during Friday's 8-3 win over the Royals.

Soto is up to 22 home runs on the season and is looking much more like himself at the plate in his first season with the Mets. The 26-year-old outfielder had a monster June, notching a 1.196 OPS, and has largely continued that into July. In the first 10 games of the month, he is slashing .323/.447/.452 with six RBI.

Chourio went 1-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored in Friday's 8-3 win over Washington.

Chourio extended his hitting streak to eight games and notched his 13th game of the season with multiple RBI. The dynamic center fielder remains a key cog in Milwaukee's lineup, and he's served as a five-category fantasy producer for the majority of the first half of the year. Across his last 27 games (109 at-bats), Chourio is hitting a healthy .275 with five home runs, 21 RBI, 23 runs scored and three stolen bases.

Hernandez will bat fifth and play right field in Friday's game against the Giants, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

As expected, Hernandez will return to the lineup for Friday's series opener against San Francisco. The outfielder missed four consecutive games after fouling a ball off his left foot Saturday.

Kepler (shin) will start in left field and bat sixth Friday against the Padres.

Kepler had to make an early exit from Wednesday's contest due to a bruised right shin, but after using the Phillies' day off Thursday to recover, the 32-year-old outfielder will remain in the starting nine.

Young is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Brewers, Bobby Blanco of MASNSports.com reports.

The absence ends a run of 22 straight starts for Young, who posted a .219/.287/.260 slash line with just three extra-base hits during that stretch. Alex Call is starting in center field and batting fifth Friday for Washington.

Carroll is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Angels.

Carroll started six consecutive games after being activated from the injured list July 5, and he'll get the night off Friday for rest purposes. During that six-game stretch, Carroll went 5-for-26 (.192) with a home run and 11 strikeouts. Lourdes Gurriel, Alek Thomas and Randal Grichuk will fill the outfield from left to right.

Nootbaar (ribs) is batting fifth and playing left field Friday against Atlanta.

Nootbaar was lifted from Thursday's game to get checked out for a rib injury, but he's back in the starting nine Friday. The 27-year-old is slashing .230/.334/.387 with 12 home runs in 380 plate appearances this season.

Payne is slashing .256/.368/.410 with six home runs, 22 steals, a 15.2 percent walk rate and a 28.1 percent strikeout rate in 52 games for Single-A Carolina.

Payne is in the midst of an eight-game hit streak, during which he's hitting .448 with two home runs, one double, one triple, four steals and more walks (eight) than strikeouts (six). He has presumably dealt with some minor injuries this season, as he missed two weeks at the end of June and one week in mid-May, but Payne has come on strong this summer. The speedy center fielder has been cutting down his strikeouts while getting to more power, and he could get bumped up to High-A Wisconsin before the end of the year.

Tatis went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a walk in Thursday's 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks.

Tatis started the comeback effort for the Padres with his third-inning homer to answer Arizona's two-run effort in the top half of that frame. Tatis is 10-for-33 (.303) with four extra-base hits and two stolen bases across nine games to begin July. For the season, the star outfielder is up to a .262/.358/.450 slash line with 16 homers, 41 RBI, 64 runs scored, 19 stolen bases, 13 doubles and two triples over 91 games. He's primarily served as San Diego's leadoff hitter and could threaten for his first 30-30 season with a strong second half.

Profar went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Thursday's 5-4 extra-innings loss to the Athletics.

Profar has hit safely in six of eight games since returning from his 80-game PED suspension. In that span, he's lifted three homers while going 8-for-34 (.235) at the plate. As expected, Profar has settled back in as Atlanta's primary left fielder, and he's delivering notable power. He's also struck out nine times since his return, though none of them came Thursday, so it shouldn't be too long until his timing is all the way back.