Texas Rangers Winter League Report
Sep 7, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Texas Rangers second baseman Jurickson Profar (13) makes a play during the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Texas Rangers player to get the most at-bats in winter league ball this winter is a guy that is the ultimate career minor league journeyman. Guilder Rodriguez has been playing minor league ball for 12 seasons, stepped to the plate over 3,700 times, played eight different positions, leaving catcher as the only position not played as he has come in as an emergency pitcher on four different occasions, and has never even received a cup of coffee in the big leagues. The light hitting middle infielder, he has a grand total of two home runs in those 3,700+ plate appearances, spent the winter in his native Venezuela, where he hit for a solid average and showed a good eye at the plate. He is not on the 40-man roster and has not even received an invite to major league camp, but he is just the kind of guy worth rooting for to get the call sometime this year.
Bryan Peterson is a guy I personally remember playing against in high school, where he was an integral part of the back-to-back national championship Chatsworth High School team. He eventually made it to the big leagues with the then Florida Marlins, but has put up a batting average barely over the Mendoza Line. While showing a good bat and flashing power in Mexico this winter, Peterson signed a minor league deal with a spring invite to big league camp. While his bat has been a question, he does have the range to be a decent defensive center fielder.
Sure handed shortstop prospect, Luis Sardinas, returned to his native Venezuela this winter. He posted an average above .350 while reaching base better than 40% of the time. His bat is not the tool that will allow him to stick in the big leagues, but instead is plus speed and fantastic glove will make him a big leaguer. The 20-year old is blocked in Texas by two pretty good middle infielders, Elvis Andrus and Jurickson Profar, but he could turn into one of the better bench gloves in baseball, assuming he is not dealt to a team that can make him a starter.
Speaking of Profar, he spent the winter in the Dominican, where he flashed the bat fantasy players everywhere were expecting last season. He reached base at a .339 clip, but only hit one long ball. He walked nearly 2.5x more than he struck out, after posting nearly the opposite in the big leagues last season. He is almost 21 years old, and still has a ceiling as high as any middle infielder in baseball.
Catcher and corner infielder, Robinson Chirinos needs a big spring if he hopes make the 25-man roster. This winter Chirinos was a member of Navegantes del Magallanes, who eventually lost in the semi-finals of the Caribbean Series. He hit .272 with an OPS of .745. He is entering his 13th season of pro ball, and his unique position flexibility will help keep him as an emergency option should there be an injury on the big league roster.
20-year old Rougned Odor, like Luis Sardinas, has his path to the big leagues blocked, but could become a very good big leaguer. Unlike Sardinas, Odor can really hit, putting up a combined .305/.365/.474 between High-A and Double-A at the age of 19 in 2013. Then he went to Venezeula for the winter, and his offensive numbers plummeted, with an OPS under .600. Sardinas and Odor could become a good big league double play combo, but there is no room for either of them, so don’t be shocked if one or both get moved sometime this year to fill holes at the big league level down the stretch.
Jose Herberto Felix is slated to be the fourth option as catcher for the Rangers this season, but is not yet on the 40-man roster. He struggled mightily in Mexico this winter, hitting just .175, so he will have to shine this spring if he wants to crack the 40 man.
One player that did not struggle in Mexico is a player that once had a ton of hype, and even hit a grand slam on the first pitch he ever saw in the big leagues, Kevin Kouzmanoff. No, you don’t need to adjust the screen on your computer, iPhone, iPad, or whatever other device you have turned to thinking the others are stuck in the past, Kouzmanoff is back in a big league camp this year, and he crushed the ball this winter. He ended with a triple slash line of .348/.402/.554, all despite striking out 21 times while walking just six.
Merely being in a trade that got Eric Gagne out of town should make Rangers fans appreciate Engel Beltre, as well as David Murphy and Kason Gabbard, but Beltre will be battling Michael Choice for the fourth outfielder job this spring. Meanwhile, in the winter, Beltre got on base at a .347 clip for the Tigres de Licey in the Domincan, while patrolling center field and stealing eight bags.
Brad Snyder, once a highly touted prospect, has amassed a grand total of 36 big league at-bats, to go along with 4,226 in the minor leagues. His transaction page on Baseball Reference is littered with one year deal minor league deals, which he got again this year, and will again be in a big league camp. In 81 at-bats in the Dominican this winter, he struggled to make contact, hitting just .222, but flashed the power that once gave him that prospect title, 5 of his 55 hits left the ballpark. The Rangers have decent outfield depth, so it doesn’t appear there will be much of a chance for Snyder to spend time in the big leagues this season, but there are also much worse Triple-A options out there.
Mike Bianucci, Juan Apodaca, and Kalian Sams all struggled with the bat in various winter leagues, with Bianucci posting the highest average at .222. The three players have a combined 24 years of minor league experience, including seven at Triple-A, but none have cracked the big leagues. Each will serve as veteran depth in the minors this year, as none are on the 40-man roster.
One player that is on the 40-man is Jim Adduci. In fact, in 2013, he became the second generation Jim Adduci to make the big leagues, as his father spent parts of four years for three different teams at the highest level between 1983-1989. The younger Adduci spent the winter in the Dominican where he hit .264 and showed a decent eye at the plate. If he continues the good approach at the plate this spring, and flashes the power he showed in Triple-A last season, he just might have the chance to surprise some people and make the opening day roster.
Hanser Alberto is a guy I personally like a lot. He really struggled in the Dominican this winter, hitting just .183, will never be a big league regular, and won’t even be in big league camp this year, but he looks the part of a ballplayer. His swing and body make it easy say he looks like a mini-Adrian Beltre, and that is exactly how I would describe him. While most of his time in the minors has been at short, I think he fits best at third, where his decent arm and quick reflexes will play up. He will never have a plus on-base percentage, nor a high home run total, but the 21-year old still has room to improve and could be a valuable piece of the 25-man roster as early as mid-to-late 2015.
July 12, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Wilmer Font (53) pitches in the eighth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
In early February, the Rangers signed Armando Galarraga to a minor league deal. Yes, that Armando Galarraga, the one of the “imperfect” game, or the 28 out perfect game, or whatever you want to call it. Galarraga will forever be remembered for that moment when Jim Joyce called Jason Donald safe, which is better than being remembered for his career 4.78 ERA. He spent the winter in Venezuela, where he had a respectable enough WHIP, but his strikeout rate was unimpressive, and it appears his 2014 season will be spent primarily at Triple-A.
Despite reaching Triple-A in 2012, Kevin Pucetas did not throw a single pitch above Double-A in 2013. His line in the Dominican looks very similar to Galarraga’s, with a good enough WHIP and underwhelming K rate, but he was also home run prone this winter. His minor league career HR/9 is 0.8, and has included four seasons in either the California League or the PCL, so he is not a stranger to hitter friendly leagues, which is a positive should he ever get the call to Arlington.
Armando Rodriguez will be in his first year in the Rangers organization, after spending the first seven seasons of his professional career in the New York Mets system. He has received an invite to big league camp after posting a fantastic 1.30 ERA over 27.2 innings in the Dominican, which included two scoreless innings of relief in the Caribbean Series. 2013 was the first year Rodriguez worked primarily as a reliever, and struggled, but the 26-year old right-handed pitcher still has the upside of a middle reliever.
Jose Samayoa made his stateside debut in the Arizona League playing complex ball in 2013 after being selected in the 9th round out of Tennessee’s Lee University. The native Mexican went back south of the border this winter, where he had an ERA just above 3 and a 17/10 K/BB rate. The strikeouts were much more plentiful in his first taste of minor league ball, and he will be an interesting arm to keep an eye on, as the promotion schedule should tell you whether the Rangers feel he is a potential future big league talent, or just an organizational arm.
Jose Contreras was signed and released on four separate occasions in 2013, before signing with the Rangers (his fifth signed contract of the year) in December. Contreras only appeared in seven games in 2013, all with the Pittsburgh Pirates who signed and released him three times themselves, where he managed to post a nice round ERA of 9. After posting an ERA close to six and allowing opponents to hit just nine points under .300 in the Dominican this winter, it appears Contreras will simply serve as a Triple-A emergency arm for the Rangers this season.
A Triple-A arm that should make his big league debut if he pitches as well in the states as he did this winter in the Dominican is Johan Yan. Yan is a 25-year old reliever who posted and ERA under two and WHIP under one this winter after an ERA of 4.68 in Round Rock in 2013.
Joe Ortiz beat managed to make the Rangers opening day roster in 2013 despite standing just 5’7″ tall. The reliever was reasonably effective in a hair under 45 innings and continued to pitch well in Venezuela this winter, but won’t be available until mid-April at the earliest, after being placed on the 60-day disabled list due to a broken foot suffered in a motorcycle accident in January.
The pitcher that saw action this winter that has the best chance to break camp with the big league club this season is Wilmer Font. The right-handed reliever has recorded just 10 outs over two seasons at the big league level, but he pitched will in Venezuela this winter. He still needs to improve his command if he does want to stick on the Rangers roster, as he walked 14 batters in just over 17 innings.
Potentially the most intriguing name on the list of pitchers currently under contract with the Rangers that pitched this winter is Daniel Bard. Bard recorded exactly one out in three appearances in Puerto Rico, where he allowed seven runs. Yes, seven runs, one out, which comes to an ERA of 189.00. Small sample size or not, an ERA that includes a third digit to the left of the decimal is near impossible. Take that, and add losing a body part, Bard had thoracic outlet surgery which includes the removal of roughly half a rib, and certainly one doesn’t get a contract, right? Au contraire, not only did Bard get a minor league deal, it came with an invite to big league camp. Bard will certainly be an interesting watch this spring, where I can all but guarantee you won’t be using the word “hundred” when reading his ERA out loud ever again.