MLB 2023 | Yandy smashes 7th homer, Aledmis hitless on Thursday, Moncada's return must wait

Major League Baseball (MLB) and other Cuban Players News for the 2023 season. A compendium from several sources

Yandy Díaz (Photo: MLB)

April 27

Yandy Díaz went 3-for-5 with a solo homer on Thursday in the Rays' win over the White Sox.

Díaz's long-awaited power breakthrough appears to be finally happening as he took righty reliever Kendall Graveman deep in the seventh inning for his seventh round-tripper of the season. The first baseman is well on pace to crush his career-high of 14 homers in a season, which he hit in 2019. He needed 307 at-bats to do so that year, while he's already reached half that total in just 92 plate appearances so far this season. The 31-year-old on-base machine is slashing .315/.407/.576 with 21 runs scored, seven homers and 16 RBI across 108 plate appearances.

Aledmys Díaz went 0-for-3 with a HBP as the Athletics' third baseman Thursday in the loss to the Angels.

Díaz entered the day as one of four position players at -0.9 rWAR, the worst mark of the year to date. He's hitting .143/.217/.202 in 92 plate appearances and he hasn't been played very good defense, though part of the problem there is that he's seen a fair amount of time at short and he's obviously stretched there these days. Díaz will probably bounce back some offensively, but he'd be better utilized playing a limited role on a contender than what he's doing now.

Yoán Moncada is dealing with a disc issue in his back.

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told reporters Moncada won't start a minor league rehab assignment until later next week, at the earliest, but he's showing some improvement and isn't expected to require surgery. There isn't an exact timetable for his return, but fans shouldn't expect Moncada to return until sometime in mid-to-late May.

Yasmani Grandal went 1-for-4 on Thursday in his return to the White Sox' lineup.

Grandal wound up missing only one game due to back spasms. The 34-year-old veteran backstop holds a .785 OPS with two homers and seven RBI across 79 plate appearances over 21 games.

Dodgers' Miguel Vargas: Did not play on Thursday. Vargas was absent from the Dodgers' lineup for Thursday's game in Pittsburgh, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reported. Mookie Betts handled second base. Vargas is getting on base at a .372 clip thanks to 16 walks, but a .681 OPS and zero home runs have left something to be desired, although he did steal his first bag of the season Wednesday.

Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) threw a scoreless inning Thursday in a minor league rehab appearance for Triple-A Gwinnett.

Iglesias recorded one strikeout and needed just 12 pitches (eight strikes) to retire all three batters he faced in his rehab debut. The 33-year-old closer isn't too far off from rejoining Atlanta's bullpen.