Omar Infante cleared for Opening Day despite battling elbow, shoulder problems all spring

By Drew SilvaMar 30, 2014, 4:32 PM EDT
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Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star has the update …

Infante also dealt with some right shoulder inflammation early on in camp, but tests were taken on his right arm and came back negative so the Royals will march forward. The 32-year-old second baseman signed a four-year, $30.25 million free agent contract with Kansas City in December after batting .318/.345/.450 with 10 home runs and 51 RBI in 118 games last season for the Tigers. He is expected to bat second this year in the Royals’ lineup, behind Norichika Aoki and in front of Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, and Alcides Escobar. It’s a pretty dangerous offense.

Watch: Christian Yelich continues to make a case for NL MVP repeat

Christian Yelich
AP Images
By Ashley VarelaApr 20, 2019, 9:26 PM EDT
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Christian Yelich simply can’t be stopped. The Brewers outfielder (and defending NL MVP) entered Saturday’s game with a league-leading 11 home runs after swatting two against the Dodgers on Friday night, then clubbed another two homers in the first six innings of Saturday’s game.

The first came on a 2-1 pitch from the Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu, who lobbed a changeup toward the bottom of the strike zone before it was lifted up and out to center field for a solo home run in the third inning.

While Chase Anderson and Alex Claudio held down the fort against the Dodgers’ lineup, Yelich prepared for his second blast in the sixth inning — this one a 421-foot double-decker on a first-pitch curveball from Ryu.

Yelich’s 13 home runs not only gave him a stronger grip on the league’s leaderboard, but helped him tie yet another franchise record, too. Per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, he’s tied with Prince Fielder for the most home runs hit by a Brewers player in a single month, and sits just one home run shy of tying Álex Rodríguez’s 2007 record for most home runs hit within any club’s first 22 games of the season.

It may be far too early to predict which players will finish first in the MVP races this fall, but there’s no denying Yelich has already set himself apart from the competition. Through Saturday’s performance, he’s batting .361/.459/.880 with a 1.329 OPS and MLB-best 31 RBI across 98 PA so far.