The 2023 Texas Rangers Spring Training Thread

[DTC]

@saddles are you going to make a prediction thread later for the 2023 season? Lol

 

[saddles]

We shall see how DH LF and CF play out. If guys stink it up others deserve a chance. But guys like Leody have had shots. I hope he gets to play at some point but the leash is a two way street.
The young guys should get more rope but it is not limitless
I think Smith looks like he has improved. He certainly is a spark plug when on base

Leody has had plenty of rope.

There are guys who won't get much rope at all though. Guys like Ornelas, Crim, Harris, Bradford, Kent, as well as some of the next wave of pitching like Ryan Garcia most likely won't get much of a chance here.

Then there are guys who got a little and showed they deserved more, but won't get it. Dunning and Otto come to mind as far as getting a chance to be starting pitchers. Huff comes to mind.

I am glad Smith has had a great spring, but you never know about ST numbers. My hope for him is based on what he has a history of doing against his peers all through the minor leagues. Josh had a fantastic ST last year, albeit a much shorter one. In only 10 at bats he put up significantly better numbers than this spring. He even had 2 HR last spring in those 10 at bats.

 

[saddles]

@saddles are you going to make a prediction thread later for the 2023 season? Lol

Yeah, I guess I had better get busy on that. You have anything new you want me to include?

 

[Kelleyman]

Leody has had plenty of rope.

There are guys who won't get much rope at all though. Guys like Ornelas, Crim, Harris, Bradford, Kent, as well as some of the next wave of pitching like Ryan Garcia most likely won't get much of a chance here.

Then there are guys who got a little and showed they deserved more, but won't get it. Dunning and Otto come to mind as far as getting a chance to be starting pitchers. Huff comes to mind.

I am glad Smith has had a great spring, but you never know about ST numbers. My hope for him is based on what he has a history of doing against his peers all through the minor leagues. Josh had a fantastic ST last year, albeit a much shorter one. In only 10 at bats he put up significantly better numbers than this spring. He even had 2 HR last spring in those 10 at bats.

You seem unhopeful. Even with a new manager

 

[saddles]

You seem unhopeful. Even with a new manager

Overall, I am not unhopeful. But, I did give the rebuild a grade of "C-" the other day.

There will be opportunities to recover from the shortcomings of the rebuild.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[Kelleyman]

Josh at 3B

 

[jta4437]

Based on Spring Training Numbers and who's actually playing well and also getting ABs (30+), this is what I think we might see, and other than maybe Smith in CF and Duran at DH, not a lot of shockers here, I would think)

C- Heim (27 ABs, 5BB, .834 OPS) - can easily be a lot worse, but difficult to be a lot better at catcher
1B- Lowe (37, 6, .932) - If he hits I can forgive his glove
2B- Semien (43, 2, .684) - Worst numbers but clearly is going to play... hell if his OPS was OPS at the end of April it would be a huge improvement over 2022
3B- Jung (38, 3, 1.135) - Big things hopefully coming
SS- Seager (38, 4, 1.340) - Big bounceback???
LF- Grossman (really didn't want this, but oh well; 34, 8, 1.106)
CF- Smith (32, 6, .930) - Swap with Grossman if Grossman's defense is better, not sure
RF- Garcia (35, 8, .990) - Bombi is Bombi
DH- Duran (43, 2, .867) - Doubles machine

I think you'll see a lot of mixing and matching with some guys, but hopefully we see quite a bit of these guys... well except Grossman but if he's hitting then I'll tolerate it

 

[Kelleyman]

Overall, I am not unhopeful. But, I did give the rebuild a grade of "C-" the other day.

There will be opportunities to recover from the shortcomings of the rebuild.

So listening to other podcasts. Others think Rangers did not get the bat needed in LF. They still like the Angels ahead of us

 

[saddles]

Josh at 3B

He is going to be everywhere this season.

 

[saddles]

So listening to other podcasts. Others think Rangers did not get the bat needed in LF. They still like the Angels ahead of us

Yeah, most of those guys, like Newberg, really wanted a blockbuster trade both for LF and for a pitcher. Ironically, almost all of them were happy with Leody being given the CF job. Their opinions of Taveras and Smith are completely reversed from mine. Lol. Time will tell which bias was correct.

 

[saddles]

The Baseball America new Top 300 Draft Prospects list is out. While the actual list is behind their paywall, they did have the following available for all to read.

Entering the year, it seemed like there was a clear top two leading the draft, with Louisiana State outfielder Dylan Crews and Tennessee righthander Chase Dollander. That top two now seems more like a top four, as LSU righthander Paul Skenes has looked like the best pitcher in the class and Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford has gone toe-to-toe with Crews in terms of both performance and overall tool set.

An excellent top tier of college prospects has the 2023 class shaping up as one of the strongest we’ve seen in recent years, with high-upside prep hitters like Max Clark and Walker Jenkins following closely behind and adding to the impact potential of the group.

The top 10 is rounded out by Mississippi shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, Grand Canyon shortstop Jacob Wilson, Texas Christian third baseman Brayden Taylor and Florida righthander Hurston Waldrep.

 

[saddles]

From Jeff Wilson:

Eovaldi (side) and Gray (back) both had some hiccups this spring. In Eovaldi’s case, he might be on a limited pitch count his first time out during the regular season.

They are throwing on the same day because of the Tuesday off day, and will have to be split up before the season begins. The guess is that left-handers Martin Perez and Andrew Heaney will book end Eovaldi and Gray, so the first series of the season could be Perez, deGrom and Heaney or deGrom, Perez and Eovaldi/Gray.

The Opening Day starter has not been named. That decision could also come today, as the Rangers have often met on off days in past springs to make big decisions.

 

[saddles]

More from Jeff Wilson:

Center fielder Leody Taveras will take right-handed swings today for the first time since injuring his oblique a few weeks ago. If all goes well, the Rangers could fast-track him for the March 30 season opener.

While big-league camp ends Saturday, minor-league camp runs into next week and Taveras could get as many as 18 at-bats per day by leading off each inning of the two games played each day in Surprise. That’s the beauty of minor-league games in spring training, the ability to manipulate the rules to help big-league players.

All has to go well today, of course, and probably Thursday just to make sure there aren’t any aftereffects. That would leave Friday through Tuesday for him to show that he’s ready to go.

The thinking here is Taveras opens the season on the injured list and plays the first week on rehab assignment at Triple A Round Rock. It’s a long season, and it’s better to miss a short amount of time now than risk missing a big chunk of time by overcooking the injury.

 

[saddles]

Also from Jeff Wilson:

I’m sure everyone was thinking the same thing I was Tuesday night in the ninth inning of the World Baseball Classic championship game.

Team USA really could have used Jonah Heim.

The Rangers catcher picked up the nickname “Ohtani Killer” last season in Japan, and Shohei Ohtani was on the mound trying to close out a 3-2 victory. Heim hit a grand slam off Ohtani last season and had another good game a week or so later.

Heim was in the greater Surprise area, and Ohtani did close out the victory by striking out Angels teammate Mike Trout.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

No minor league games today because if rain.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]