2022 Texas Rangers Spring Training Thread

[saddles]

I sure hope his new approach doesn't greatly dampen his power numbers.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I sure hope his new approach doesn't greatly dampen his power numbers.

Lower K's and higher OBP and I'm good.

 

[DT LUNA]

Lower K's and higher OBP and I'm good.

Same here but I am not comfortable he can or will repeat last year. Based on one year is not much to go on but certainly does not mean he will not repeat or exceed last season.

 

[saddles]

Lower K's and higher OBP and I'm good.

I just hope we don't see a similar change in him as we did with Gallo between 2019 and his time here in 2021. Gallo's strike out rate dropped about 6% and his walk rate went up, but his OPS went down about 117 points.

 

[saddles]

MLB Pipeline has Hans Crouse as the Phillies #6 prospect.

 

[DT LUNA]

I just hope we don't see a similar change in him as we did with Gallo between 2019 and his time here in 2021. Gallo's strike out rate dropped about 6% and his walk rate went up, but his OPS went down about 117 points.

He definitely has something to prove.

 

[DT LUNA]

Not worried but Semien needs to start hitting.

 

[saddles]

Perez goes 3 effective innings, but without a single strikeout.

 

[saddles]

Evan Carter is in the game.

 

[DT LUNA]

Perez goes 3 effective innings, but without a single strikeout.

I'll pull for him but not with a lot of expectations.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I'll pull for him but not with a lot of expectations.

I agree in pulling for him to do well but he was such a mental case before I was so glad to get rid of him.

 

[Kelleyman]

Rangers liking return for Gallo

The Yankees, it seems, are becoming rather proficient at developing middle infielders. Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza both cracked Keith Law’s top 100 prospects, while Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran, two of the four players the Yankees traded to Texas for Joey Gallo and Joely Rodríguez, are the talk of Rangers camp.

Smith, the Yankees’ second-round pick out of LSU in 2019, has only 127 plate appearances above A ball. Duran, a $10,000 sign out of the Dominican Republic, has not surpassed that level yet. Rangers manager Chris Woodward, however, does not rule out Smith, in particular, appearing in the majors this season.

The Rangers’ middle infield is set for the foreseeable future after the team’s free-agent signings of shortstop Corey Seager and second baseman Marcus Semien for a combined $500 million.

But third base currently is unsettled. Top prospect Josh Jung will miss most if not all of the season after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder. Andy Ibañez will get the first crack at the position, but needs to prove he is capable defensively.

“If for some reason (Ibañez is injured) or struggles, Josh Smith is an option. With what he showed here, he has raised a lot of eyebrows,” Woodward said.

Smith, a left-handed hitter, does not always impress in batting practice, but “then you get in a game and he hammers balls all over the place,” Woodward said, citing a recent double by Smith off White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet. The Rangers view Smith as a future option at second, short and third, and also plan to look at him in center field. Woodward compares his makeup to that of Seager and Semien, calling him “no nonsense” and “a gamer.”

Duran, meanwhile, is better defensively than Woodward had heard, demonstrating both natural ability and a high baseball IQ. He probably is best suited for third base and figures to start at Double A, a level below Smith.

Semien, for one, doesn’t see a surplus of infielders as a problem.

“Any talent you can acquire, you acquire. If I were a GM, that’s the attitude I have — get the best players you can possibly get,” Semien said. “Look at a lot of big-league lineups. A lot of guys were drafted as shortstops, came up as shortstops, figured it out from there.

“Look at our lineup, Brad Miller was drafted as a shortstop in 2011 in college, same as me (Miller was a second-rounder out of Clemson, Semien a sixth-rounder out of Cal). The best bats and best athletes can usually figure it out at the big-league level.”

The Rangers also like the other two players they acquired in the Gallo/Rodriguez trade — right-hander Glenn Otto, who made his major-league debut in the latter part of last season and had a 9.26 ERA in six starts; and infielder Trevor Hauver, a third-round pick in 2020 who shows offensive potential, but is limited defensively.

Via Ken Rosenthal

 

[Kelleyman]

So the Rangers bat have gone dry?

 

[True Rangers Fan]

MLB Pipeline has Hans Crouse as the Phillies #6 prospect.

Does that say more about Crouse or the Phils farm?

 

[saddles]

So the Rangers bat have gone dry?

Most of the hot guys left for minor league camp and the few that didn't went cold. I think we witnessed somewhat of a mirage while the other guys were still here.

 

[saddles]

Does that say more about Crouse or the Phils farm?

I am not sure. I think if he was still here that most would rank him somewhere between 6 and 10 for us. I think i would put him at 7 if he was still here.

 

[scotsman1948]

I am not sure. I think if he was still here that most would rank him somewhere between 6 and 10 for us. I think i would put him at 7 if he was still here.

with what we have right now i would think somewhere between 8 and 12

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I am not sure. I think if he was still here that most would rank him somewhere between 6 and 10 for us. I think i would put him at 7 if he was still here.

40.50 ERA this spring...

 

[saddles]

40.50 ERA this spring...

Yep, he had a rough time getting 2 outs in his one outing. Lol

 

[saddles]

From Jeff Wilson:

All of you roster gurus should put a circle around Saturday. That’s the first day Article XX(B) free agents can opt out of their minor-league deals.

Who’s an XX(B)/B-20 free agent? Any veteran player who finished last season but came to camp as a non-roster player. Matt Carpenter, Charlie Culberson, Jake Marisnick, Matt Moore and Greg Holland are the five in Rangers camp.

The new collective bargaining agreement made it so that those free agents have three outs: five days before Opening Day (there are games next Thursday, the day before the Rangers’ opener), May 1 and June 1.