ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers placed catcher Kyle Higashioka on the 10-day injured list with a mild left intercostal strain and recalled right-hander Caleb Boushley from Triple-A Round Rock for their game against the Athletics.

The move for Higashioka is retroactive to when he sat out a 7-1 loss to the A’s with sore ribs. The Rangers selected Tucker Barnhart from Round Rock before that game and he was in the lineup at catcher for the series finale.

Higashioka, who signed a two-year deal with Texas in December, is hitting .254 with a homer and eight RBIs in 17 games.

Boushley allowed five runs in three appearances covering 7 2/3 innings for Texas earlier this season.

The Kansas City Royals optioned Noah Cameron back to Triple-A Omaha after the left-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his big league debut against the Rays in Tampa Bay.

Cameron was called upon to make a spot start for staff ace Cole Ragans, who has been dealing with a sore groin. He did not allow a hit until Curtis Mead’s one-out single down the left-field line in the seventh. Royals manager Matt Quatraro promptly took him out of the game, and the Kansas City relief corps finished off the 3-0 victory over the Rays.

“You can’t put it into words,” said Cameron, who grew up rooting for the Royals in St. Joseph, Missouri, about an hour’s drive north of their home at Kauffman Stadium. “It is something I’ve always dreamed about, especially with this team. And it is just crazy. Not what you would expect, but I’m glad to get out of there with what happened. You just can’t make it up.”

No pitcher has thrown a no-hitter for Kansas City since Bret Saberhagen on Aug. 26, 1991, a span of 5,244 games that represents the third-longest active no-hit drought in the majors. Only the Guardians and Blue Jays have gone longer.

“I thought he was going to do it,” Quatraro said. “The pitch count was really manageable. ... We know he throws strikes, and he was challenging guys. He had a good mix. Just really impressive.”

Kansas City delivered three defensive gems to help Cameron’s bid. In the first inning, Hunter Renfroe’s leaping catch against the right-field wall robbed Yandy Diaz of extra bases. Maikel Garcia stabbed Mead’s hard-hit grounder in the second to start a double play. And in the third, Bobby Witt Jr. snagged Jose Caballero’s grounder in the hole and threw him out at first.

The 25-year-old Cameron wound up throwing 79 pitches, allowing that one hit with five walks and three strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. He’s the first player to throw that many hitless frames in his big league debut since the Blue Jays’ Nick Kingham, who got two outs in the seventh inning against the Cardinals on April 29, 2018.

The splendid start by Cameron shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. He is widely considered among the organization’s top five prospects, and he was 2-0 with a 3.22 ERA over his first five starts for Omaha this season.

In corresponding roster moves, the Royals selected right-hander Taylor Clarke from Omaha to provide some additional depth in the bullpen, and they transferred right-hander James McArthur to the 60-day injured list.

The opening month of the minor league season is officially in the books and the next wave of potential future fantasy superstars is starting to take shape with a trio of shortstop prospects — Leo De Vries, Jesús Made and Konnor Griffin — making headlines in the lower minors. There’s going to be plenty of time to chronicle their exploits in Rotoworld’s electronic pages in the coming months. However, this weeks’ column focuses on a handful of hitting prospects that are poised to make significant jumps in our next dynasty rankings update including Bryce Rainer, Eduardo Tait, C.J. Kayfus, Arjun Nimmala and Slade Caldwell.

Bryce Rainer, SS, Tigers

Rainer has been overshadowed by early-season exploits from De Vries, Made and Griffin in the lower minors, but he’s putting together an extremely impressive professional debut, even if the raw surface stats don’t exactly leap off the page. The 19-year-old was selected 11th overall in the 2024 MLB Draft and is hitting .205/.340/.410 with two homers and a pair of steals through 12 games for Low-A Lakeland. There’s reason for optimism if we take a deeper look under the hood. According to Baseball America’s Eli Ben-Porat, Rainer has displayed an impressive blend of elite exit velocity, including a 114-mph batted ball during spring training, and better than anticipated swing decisions and contact skills. He's a below-average runner, and the hit tool questions are going to persist, but it’s easy to project him as Detroit’s long-term answer at shortstop with the ability to make an impact for fantasy purposes as a power-oriented contributor. He’s going to be one of the biggest risers in the dynasty landscape by the time midseason updates come around.

Eduardo Tait, C, Phillies

Here’s an oversimplification: Catchers are weird from a developmental standpoint. There are so many variables to consider when rostering backstops in dynasty formats, but Tait is making some waves in the lower minors with an astonishing six round-trippers through 18 games at Low-A Clearwater, which is tied with Blue Jays shortstop Arjun Nimmala (we’ll get to him in a moment) for the most in the entire minors among players in their age-19 season or younger. There’s absolutely some work to be done from a swing decision standpoint since he’s still striking out 20 percent of the time in the lowest rung of full-season ball. However, it’s an extremely encouraging sign that he’s starting to get to his massive raw power more frequently in games. Per Baseball America, Tait recorded a stellar 103 mph 90th percentile average exit velocity last year in a 28-game cameo at Low-A after demolishing the Rookie-level Florida Complex League. He’s extremely far from the big leagues, but the 18-year-old prodigy is positioning himself as one of the better fantasy prospects at the position for dynasty purposes.

C.J. Kayfus, 1B, Guardians

Kayfus didn’t waste any time following a promotion to the doorstep of the majors earlier this week, going 2-for-5 with a solo homer on Wednesday night in his first contest for Triple-A Columbus. The 23-year-old left-handed slugger compiled a robust .364/.475/.591 triple-slash line with nine extra-base hits over 18 games at Double-A Akron to earn a lightning-quick call to Triple-A. The 23-year-old first baseman was a third-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft and is starting to display more pull-side power than he did over the last couple year after putting in some extensive offseason work on his body.

“He put a lot of time in this offseason on the physical side,” Guardians vice president of player development Stephen Osterer told MLB.com last week. “I think we saw that transfer into some of his movements in his swing, and then the idea is to continue to impact the ball, and he's already done that. We're seeing a really locked in version of him, in a great physical spot, and obviously off to a hot start.”

The early-season results are further evidence that the offseason work to add additional thump is paying dividends for Kayfus, who could potentially arrive in Cleveland at some point later this year. He’s put himself in the top-20 range at first base for dynasty purposes and has the potential to rise even higher if he continues adding over-the-fence power.

Arjun Nimmala, SS, Blue Jays

It’s not a knock on Nimmala at all that he’s a notch below the Walcott, De Vries, Made and Griffin quartet from a pure upside standpoint for dynasty purposes. The 19-year-old phenom, who was selected 20th overall in the 2023 MLB Draft, went deep in three straight games last week and is up to five round-trippers in 20 games for High-A Vancouver, which is tied with Phillies backstop Eduardo Tait for the most of any player in the minors their age-19 campaign or younger. He recorded his second three-hit performance of the season on Wednesday and is batting .294/.362/.541 with 11 extra-base hits through 20 games. The fact that he’s cutting back on the strikeouts is an extremely encouraging development after whiffing roughly 30 percent of the time last year at the same level. He projects as a power-oriented shortstop, which gives him a chance to make a serious fantasy impact down the road, especially if he continues to add strength as he matures physically.

Slade Caldwell, OF, Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks have quietly been one of, if not the best, offenses in baseball over the past two seasons and they have some help coming on the horizon with Jordan Lawlar, Demetrio Crisantes, Ryan Waldschmidt and LuJames Groover looking like impactful hitters. The 29th pick from the 2024 MLB Draft, Caldwell looks like the real X-factor in Arizona’s system, hitting .308/.511/.554 with 11 extra-base hits and four steals through 20 games for Low-A Visalia. The 18-year-old outfielder is a bit on the shorter side but still manages to hit for a decent amount of power to the pull side thanks to an extremely quick and compact swing. He's an above-average runner, which is going to translate to lofty stolen base totals, and he has a chance to be a legitimate five-category impact fantasy contributor down the road. There aren’t really any holes in his game if he’s going to continue barreling everything once he reaches the upper minors. He’s not flashy, but he’s the type of prospect that could make a significant fantasy impact down the road.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds optioned struggling closer Alexis Diaz to Triple-A hoping he can regain the form that helped him earn 37 saves and an NL All-Star appearance in 2023.

“We decided to let him try to figure out, get right in Triple-A,” manager Terry Francona said. “The consistency just isn’t there. It’s difficult to hear that, I’m sure. We don’t want that to derail him either.”

Diaz has more home runs (four) and walks (five) allowed than strikeouts (three) in six innings pitched since coming off the injured list on April 15.

His earned run average ballooned to 12.00 after he gave up three consecutive home runs in the ninth inning of a 6-0 loss to the Cardinals in the first game of a doubleheader.

Diaz began the season on the 15-day IL with a left hamstring strain. He had 28 saves last season, but also walked 31 and allowed six homers in 56 1/3 innings.

“We told him, ‘Hey, we’re not giving up on you. Just want you to be more consistent,’” Francona said. “We need him to help us win.”

The Reds recalled hard-throwing rookie right-hander Luis Mey from Triple-A.

With Diaz on the IL, Emilio Pagán assumed the closer role. He’s tied for fourth in the NL with eight saves. His 11 perfect relief outings are the most for a Reds reliever through 15 appearances since John Franco in 1987.