Rafeal Soriano is making the most of his chance to serve as the Yankees' closer, and he's enjoying what he refers to as “the moment,” when the game is on his shoulders.

The cliche many teams use going into the First-Year Player Draft is that they want to select the best player available. The Cubs want more.

What impresses Nationals hitting coach Rick Eckstein the most is that Steve Lombardozzi is mentally tough. He is a second baseman by trade, but he doesn't let playing different positions affect his hitting.

What Lucas Duda lacks in boisterous personality, he makes up for with his loud bat. In his first full season in the Major Leagues, Duda has earned the respect of his teammates by making his statements with his power.

Other than Joey Votto, the Reds haven't performed well at the plate. But with a solid rotation and Aroldis Chapman dominating out of the bullpen, Cincinnati is where it wants to be in the standings.

It's not a stretch to say this year's First-Year Player Draft will be one of the most important in Twins history.

Despite not having Ichiro Suzuki in the lineup Wednesday, the Mariners erupted for 21 runs. They were the first team to surpass the 20-run barrier this year, and jumped from 22nd to 14th in the big leagues in runs scored.

The First-Year Player Draft begins Monday night, so it's high time to take a crack at projecting the entire first round. There aren't many changes at the top, though there has been plenty of talk about players sliding.

Sometimes making an All-Star choice is obvious. Sometimes it's difficult. As All-Star voting continues to ramp up, with less than six weeks left until the 2012 Midsummer Classic, here is a look at a few cases where the choices might not be immediately evident.

Shortstop Carlos Correa should become the highest-drafted Puerto Rican high school player ever when he is taken in the First-Year Player Draft on Monday.

Tanner Vavra, the son of Twins batting coach Joe Vavra, went blind in his right eye from as a result of two childhood accidents. However, it hasn't slowed down the Valparaiso junior second baseman's on-field aspirations.

If Bryce Harper simply qualifies for a batting title this season, he'll have done something incredibly rare. Washington's 19-year-old outfielder is one of baseball's three percent — the estimated portion of position players who have made it to the Majors for at least one game as a teenager since 1901.

As much as the Astros plan to take advantage of having the No. 1 pick in the First-Year Player Draft, rookie general manager Jeff Luhnow hopes it's the last time he has to prepare to pick first.

Hall of Famer Johnny Bench was named the official 2012 spokesperson for the Play Sun Smart program, a joint effort by Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and the American Academy of Dermatology on Thursday.

The Dodgers became the last team in the Majors to lose three games in a row Wednesday night thanks to a 6-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. To make matters worse, Matt Kemp re-aggravated his left hamstring running the bases in the first inning.

The overnight mystery that was Ryan Raburn's replacement on the Tigers' 25-man roster turned out to have an anticlimactic ending.

The Rockies designated Jamie Moyer for assignment on Wednesday, putting the 49-year-old left-hander's baseball future in doubt.