After opting out of his minor league contract with the Rangers a few days ago, Matt Duffy has re-signed with the team on a new minor league deal (per his player page on MLB.com). He was assigned to Triple-A Round Rock.
Duffy has never been able to live up to the high bar he set for himself in his rookie campaign with the Giants. He hit .295/.334/.428 with 12 home runs and 12 stolen bases that season, finishing as the runner-up for the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year. Still, he had a handful of productive seasons from 2016 to ’21. The righty batter made the most of his above-average contact skills to compensate for limited power; over 366 total games, he put up a .708 OPS and 98 wRC+. He also held his own at all four positions around the infield.
Unfortunately for Duffy, things have gone downhill over the last two seasons. He spent 2022 with the Angels and ’23 with the Royals, putting up equally disappointing offensive numbers each year. The veteran has continued to field all three bases serviceably, but his versatility has hardly been enough to make up for his meager bat. Duffy continued to struggle at the plate this spring, and the defending World Series champions were unable to offer him a job on their Opening Day roster. The spot he might have earned went to fellow NRI Jared Walsh; Walsh also had a rough couple of years in 2022 and ’23, but he significantly outperformed Duffy this spring.
Now, Duffy will report to Triple-A. With first baseman Nathaniel Lowe already on the injured list, Duffy provides Texas with some extra depth in case another infielder suffers an injury. Considering his versatility and extensive MLB experience, he could be one of the first names the Rangers call upon. Still, he has to start hitting again at Round Rock if he wants to make his way back to the majors.
Duffy is so underated. If you need a hit he gets it. Hes a pure hitter. These “GMs” don’t have a clue. Duffy is the perfect modern day utility guy. You don’t need to hit homers to be a good player. Clueless GMs
I’m ok with teams aiming higher than a .250 avg with a low .300s OBP. Duffy is an OK player, and that’s the most generous appraisal one can reasonably give him.
Getting at least some decent play time at first, Duffy sported a .300+ avg for the first couple of months with the Royals last year before they went full rebuild with their youth call ups. The situation severely knocked back his play time. Facing big league pitching for virtually once a week for the rest of the season, it’s actually quite an accomplishment he finished with a .250 avg, when many big leaguers are well below that with regular play time.
I’d take duffy all day long over smith
Guess it depends on how Smith does at this point. The yutes are obviously their future, so they have to give Smith a chance to succeed.
On the flip side, if Duffy sorts his bat out again in Round Rock, he could bring some solid veteran value to lots of teams. His defense this spring was error free at the three IF spots he played.
duffy over smith all day long!!!
I don’t get why, they’ve got 3 utilities guys now in duran, smith, and walsh.
Smh the offense isn’t the issue with this team. How’s that bullpen looking? I’ll be first to admit that Yates looked good, but here we go again with being inconsistent.
Gray was “OK” and the offense was suburb, and ghosts of rangers past came out at end of the game. Funny it’s kinda what I’ve been saying all off season when we didn’t sign Hader and Monty.
Granted who knows if Monty would be the same as last year, but with him in the rotation that means one of dunning/bradford/heany in the pen which gives another good reliever.
Langford looks AMAZING, I just hope the pitching doesn’t let him and the team down this year