Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News had some positive updates from Rangers camp on Friday, reporting that manager Bruce Bochy is “more optimistic” that Corey Seager and Josh Jung will both be in the Opening Day lineup at the end of the month. Seager had surgery on a sports hernia about six weeks ago, while Josh Jung has been nursing a calf strain since mid-February. Neither has played a game thus far in spring training, but both players figure to be key pieces for the club as it looks to defend its 2023 World Series championship this season.
Seager, 30 next month, won World Series MVP honors during the club’s title run in the fall and slashed an excellent .327/.390/.623 en route to his fourth All Star appearance and a second-place finish in AL MVP voting. Jung, meanwhile, made his first career All Star appearance and finish fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting on the heels of a solid rookie campaign that saw him hit a respectable .266/.315/.467 in 122 games. Losing either player for an extended period would be a significant blow to the Rangers’ chances in a competitive AL West that’s seen the Astros add star closer Josh Hader while seeming also pursuing two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell while the Mariners have completely retooled their starting lineup to add threatening players such as Jorge Polanco and former Ranger Mitch Garver.
Of course, the Rangers have versatile youngster Ezequiel Duran able to help out on the left side of the infield if either Jung or Seager were to open the season on the shelf. Duran, 25 in May, slashed a solid .276/.324/.443 in 439 trips to the plate last year while splitting time between all four infield spots and both outfield corners. With that being said, Duran could already be tabbed to cover for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who is also questionable for Opening Day due to an oblique strain. Aside from Duran, the Rangers have Jose Barrero and Josh Smith as infield depth options should Seager, Jung, and Lowe start the season on the shelf.
More from Rangers camp…
- Grant also notes that, according to GM Chris Young, top prospect Wyatt Langford has done “everything he can” to make a case for himself as a member of the Opening Day roster. Langford, 22, was the club’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft and slashed an incredible .360/.480/.677 in 200 plate appearances across four levels of the minors down the stretch last season. He’s continued to tear the cover off the ball this spring with a .361/.442/.806 in 43 trips to the plate during camp. Should Langford make the roster, he’d figure to factor into the club’s outfield/DH mix alongside Evan Carter, Adolis Garcia, and Leody Taveras.
- While Young didn’t make any commitments to Langford as a regular entering the season, he told reporters (including Grant) recently that left-hander Cody Bradford is going to be in the club’s starting rotation to open the season. With Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, and Dane Dunning all seemingly locked into rotation spots of their own, that would appear to preclude the club from making additions such as former Ranger Jordan Montgomery to their starting mix prior to Opening Day. When asked about the possibility of further rotation additions, Young was noncommittal, simply stating that “The group we have is the group we have, and it’s a great group.” Bradford has certainly done everything he can to earn a rotation spot this spring, pitching to a 2.45 ERA across four appearances including three starts.
I don’t know if Jorge Polanco is considered “threatening” in any way. Mitch Garver? Maybe.
Not to mention the Mariners lost, Suarez
Using last years numbers
They lost:
Suarez and his 101 OPS+
Teoscar HernƔndez 106 OPS+
Jarred Kelenic 109 OPS+
They gained:
Polanco 115 OPS+
Mitch Garver 134 OPS+
Luke Raley 126 OPS+
On paper, they should be notably more productive then last year. Health will be critical, but if they can mostly avoid the IL, they pose a real threat to Texas’ playoff hopes this season.
Polanco and Garver only played 5 more games than Suarez played. Add Hernandez into that and all the OPS in the world doesnāt matter if you only played 1/2 a season. Thats 167 games vs 322 games. Itās very much āon paperā. Raley doesnāt have 600 MLB at-bats, so who knows what direction that goes.
@Canuckleball: No they wonāt, and Houston will probably beat out Texas and Seattle.
That Suarez trade was a dumb move. They dumped him for nothing and then traded a very promising young reliever in Isiah Campbell for the worse Luis Urias. Suarez has raked this spring and still plays very solid defense. Should have just kept him over dumping a much needed bullpen piece for an inferior player.
I have very mixed feelings on the Mariners offseason. I was pretty high on some of their moves and very much not so on others. Overall, I donāt know if theyāre much better than last season.
The two probably wonāt combine for 100 games played.
Dunno if Polanco is threatening!? You have unrealistic expectations of a 2B! Nevermind one that is a switch hitter who bats in the middle of the lineup. The guy has literally been one of THE best 2B in the AL. Despite injuries over the last 2 yrs heās had an avg OPS of roughly .800 since 2018, with a 116 wRC+ over those past 6 seasons. Which btw is almost identical to M Semien (.799 OPS /118 wRC+)
Remember – this is a 2B weāre talking about, not a corner INF/OF. Polancoās 116 wRC+ is exactly the same as ATLās Ozzie Albies, another 2B who is a threat in a lineup.
The only knock on Polanco is heās not been able to play a full season over the past 2 yrs. However Polanco is only 2 yrs removed from a 152g season with an elite 70 XBHās with 33 HRs and 98 RBI. In fact over the past 5 seasons heās had more seasons (3*) without injuries than years with an injury.
*inc 2020 Covid season.
The Rangers will be ok. What do Ranger fans see as the 26 man roster. If Jung and Seager are available and Lowe is out here are my thoughts for what they are worth. 3B Jung,SS Seager, 2B Semien, 1B Duran/Foscue, DH Langford, LF Carter,CF Taveras,RF Garcia. Bench Knizner, Janikowski, Walsh. SP Eovaldi, Gray, Dunning, Haney, Bradford. BP Leclerc,Sborz, Yates, Robertson, Church, Leiter, Duffy, Burke
I wouldn’t put Leiter on the major league roster to pitch out of the pen. I’d start him in Triple-A and give that bullpen spot to one of the veteran minor league signings.
This team needs all the starting depth it can get, and it’s better to keep Leiter stretched out and pitching regularly IMO, as he’ll likely be one of the first call-ups in the event of an injury or ineffectiveness.
the rangers seem to want to fast track Leiter to the majors whether he’s ready or not
I think they need to for his Mental health.
Heim?
Wyatt Langford. Remember the name. Iāve been saying it for 8 months now.
Bregman/Trout combined
Heās batting third opening day
I hope that Skenes is as advertised for the long pitching starved Pirates because I really think Langford can be an elite hitter.
“He’s a mongsta…. They call him mongsta”
– Mike Tyson
āMy thtyleāz impetuous, my defenthe ithz impregnable, Imma eat yo childrenā
āImma fade in to Bolivianā
– Mike Tyson
Huge fan of his swingā¦ reminds me a bit of david wrightās swing.. though he may be even stronger
I see Langford as a Jim Rice type of hitter. Langford could be better. .300 hitter with power… Langford adds the huge OBP and maybe a little more speed. Defense will probably be similar also.
I was so shocked the Tigers passed on Langford for Max Clark. Scottie Harris didn’t know what he had.
Looking at this right now in a vacuum with limited info and over a very short period Langford clearly looks like the superior player. A half a season of at bats don’t tell the story as to who will have the better career. Just ask Kevin Maas how relevant a half a season is.
I’m warming up to Clark and there’s no way to tell this early if it was the right choice. It’s not just Clark to factor in because the only reason they got McGonigle was with the savings from Clark. McGonigle has looked really good too.
Langford has been tearing up the minors and spring training in a small sample of at bats. Even spring training facing a mix of MLB and MILB pitchers getting back in the swing of things is not the regular season though. He might be another Mike Trout but he has a long ways to go yet. Joey Gallo was a world beater in the minors too and look where he is now.
Limited info? Langford was a top 3 pick on every mock draft. There was plenty of into out there… Scottie Harris thought he was the smartest man in the room. I guarantee Langford will better than Kevin Maas.
Joey Gallo was no world beater in the minors… huge K rate, huge walk rate, huge home run rate… exactly what he was in the majors.
McGonigle? Really? You are excited about a SS that they immediately moved to 2B and he may not even be a 2B?
I remember a day when Tiger fans got excited about guys like VMart and Miggy and Magglio and Prince… nowadays McGonigle gets them excited. Imagine if the Tigers had a Granderson or Castellanos in the minors now.
McGonigle… LOL
Limited info as in less than a half a season worth of at bats. Which has you predicting him to be Jim Rice? He could be the next Jim Rice or…he could end up the next Joey Gallo. A half a season worth of at bats between A ball and Spring Training doesn’t tell you how his career ends up. Personally I think Langford will be a good player.
As for who we are excited about now…Skubal, Mize, Tork, Greene, Meadows, Keith in the majors and a ton of mi or keaguers starting with Clark, Jobe, Jung and McGonigle. McGonigle gets on base, as does Clark. The Tigers will find a spot for players who can hit when the time comes, just like Texas will for Langford with the way he is hitting in Spring Training. Not sure what the negative of having a future 2B who can hit is?
No negatives to having a future hall of famer at 2B… are you talking about Kieth? Jung? McGonigle? Wenceel Perez? If you can get excited about those guys… imagine if Wyatt Langford was in the Tiger farm system.
You may want to go and see what Langford did last season. He made it all the way to AAA and destroyed everyone and every level. Spring training is not fluke. The Tigers done messed up.
Iām a Mariners fan – so take this however you want: with Langford (and Carter + Jung) the game of Baseball is in good hands. There are so many talented young players now. TX fans will get to see a young stud play in CF for SEA for up to a Decade plus when they play against āmy Mās.ā But Iāll say this about young Prospectsā¦.
You know who raked in the Minor Leagues then came up as a 21 yr old (out of High School no less) ? ā¦ā¦Jarred Kelenic. That went so well he was traded away to ATL. Or look at our 1B Ty France, a guy who didnāt have the Prospect pedigree as Kelenic or your 3 young TX hitters. Ty France did have one thing in common w Langford though, he raked in AAA. T F had a .399/.477/.770 over 76 games in AAA. Think about that. Thatās a 1.247 OPS over 76 games! 55 XBH and 89 RBIās in a half a season? He was hitting .400 for a lot of that year. That is remarkable.
Kelenic obviously fell flat on his face in the Majors. Ty France does have a .270/.344/.417/.762 career slash but that is mostly propped up by one very good year in 2021. Ty is def nowhere near as good as his .372/.454/.713/1.167 line in his 2 seasons in AAA. There is no guarantee young studs flourish in the Bigs.
My point isā¦. there is so much hype and expectations placed on these young guys BEFORE they face a guy like Luis Castillo who has 4 plus pitches tunneling from a 3/4 arm slot? Has Langford seen a nasty slider from AndrĆ©s MuƱoz that comes in at 90-92, immediately after his 102-103 mph FB? I know he hasnāt seen a pitch like the Knuckle Curve and slider from Matt Brash. Pitches that are so nasty they had All Star JosĆ© Ramirez spinning like a top? Or faced Hader, B Abreu etc. Nowā¦ā¦I could be wrong. Langford could go on to win the ROY in his 1st year like our green eyed boy Julio. But then againā¦.
You, me and Bobby McGee we just never really knowā¦ā¦ I am looking forward to seeing Langford and Carter up close. Iām a baseball fan first, Mās 2nd.
Well said and I agree. FYI Melchez is a fellow Tigers fan as well, not Texas.
Iām sorry, you just canāt convince me that going for both Clark and McGonigle over Langford was in any way a wise move. I just said the Tigers made a big mistake in passing on Langford the other day, and I stand by it. Heās exactly the missing piece that their lineup needs right now. Clark will most likely be very good in a couple years. Langford is an elite talent who is ready to roll in MLB now.
If Harris had taken Langford, there would have been no reason to invest $11 mil in Canha. Langford will be the next Jim Rice… Max Clark will be the next Kevin Kiermaier. McGonigle will be the next Kody Clemens.
Boy that crystal ball must come in handy playing the lottery š Check back in 3-4 years and maybe, maybe, you’ll be right. Until then you’re basing your opinion on about 250 ABs for Langford and less for Clark and McGonigle.
Good to know Corey Seager made the team. I was worried he would need to start in AAA this year.
Walsh is having a really good spring, I think he may break camp and fill in at first base if Lowe misses regular season time.
As much as Iād like to see the young guy Foscue, Walsh has been better. Iād bet he makes the roster with Foscue going to AAA.
āMeanwhileā has to come at the start of the sentenceāit canāt come in the middle, separated by two commas.
In this same vein, the usage of “between” and “among” are not interchangeable. The word “between” implies two or a couple. The word “among” is used for a group of three or more. It comes up all the time everywhere. They taught this in grammar school.
Iām not sure some MLBTR writers were paying attention in grammar school.
If Jonah Heim is starting, theyāll be ok
Wyatt is the real deal but should not be a DH. Can the Rangers trade Taveras for some pitcher?
I’m all for this. Put Wyatt in left and Carter in center
“the group we have is the group we have and that’s ok” yea why not try to improve the rotation I’m sure it’ll be “good enough” shouldn’t be settling for “good enough. Wanna pretend to be poor, fine then trade Taveras and get a NON INJURED starter. You know one of those 4 are gonna get hurt at some point, and the reinforcements don’t exactly inspire trust they will be ready on time