The Rangers have designated infielder Yadiel Rivera for assignment and selected the contract of left-hander John King from their alternate training site, per a club announcement. They’ve also added lefty Jake Latz to their 60-man player pool and assigned him to their alternate site.
Rivera, 28, appeared in just four games and went 0-for-5 in that brief time. The former Brewers and Marlins utilityman is a career .175/.244/.217 hitter in 319 Major League plate appearances and a .243/.280/.352 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons. The Rangers will have a week to put him through waivers or release him.
The 25-year-old King was Texas’ 10th-round pick in 2017 and will be making the jump from Class-A Advanced to the Major Leagues thanks to the lack of a minor league season in 2020. King started 19 games between two Class-A levels last year and was dominant, pitching to a 2.40 ERA with a pristine 91-to-13 K/BB ratio and a huge 57.9 percent ground-ball rate in 97 1/3 innings. On top of that, King induced a whopping 23 infield flies.
King is being speculated to be paired with Kyle Cody today after Cody makes his MLB debut (as a starter, he had been out of the pen a few times before). I have heard a ton about King the past few weeks, I heard he’s doing well at the alternate site, and he’s rule 5 eligible after this season.
As for Rivera, I thought he’d stick around. He SUCKS at hitting, like the worst MLB hitter I’ve ever seen. But he is a wizard defensively. He has made great plays for us, and normally gets brought in in the 8th inning for us. I hope he lands with a contender, because any good team can use his services.
Latz is like Burger. both guys were loaned out to non-affiliated teams to get work in. if both guys were getting work in there then why use a 60 man spot on them?
Considering it’s the Rangers, can JOE KING be far behind ??