The Rangers are signing free agent Rowdy Tellez to a minor league contract, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Tellez was released by the Mariners last week.
Now more than ever, Tellez seems to be a one-dimensional player, offering big power against right-handed pitching and not much else. He has put up negative defensive metrics at first base in every season of his career, including -5 DRS and -5 OAA in 393 innings this year with Seattle. Unsurprisingly, he is also a poor baserunner, with the second-slowest sprint speed among qualified runners in 2025. According to FanGraphs, he has also produced negative baserunning value in all eight seasons of his career.
Of course, no one ever expected Tellez to be a valuable defender or baserunner. What was surely more disappointing to the Mariners were his declining contact and on-base skills. He was chasing and whiffing significantly more than he had in recent years, and the result was his worst walk-to-strikeout ratio since his first big league cup of coffee in 2018. His power was still present. Indeed, he was barrelling balls up at the highest rate of his career (15.9%), and accordingly, he crushed six doubles and 11 home runs in just 62 games and 185 trips to the plate. Yet, despite the fact that the Mariners shielded him from left-handed pitching so effectively, his worsened plate discipline canceled out his .891 OPS on contact, and his overall batting line with Seattle was below league average (92 wRC+).
With all that said, Tellez’s .217 BABIP with the Mariners was well below his .259 career average entering the season, and the 54-point gap between his .293 wOBA and .347 xwOBA is the 12th-highest in the league (min. 180 PA). So, there is still some reason to believe that Tellez can overcome his shortcomings to be a productive major leaguer in 2025. And if any team is going to give him the chance to try, it makes sense that it’s the Rangers. Their team-wide 91 wRC+ against right-handed pitching is the fifth-worst in the sport, ahead of only the Pirates, Royals, White Sox, and Rockies. With Joc Pederson still weeks away from making his return from the IL, signing Tellez is a low-risk and potentially high-reward move by Texas.
The dude that wrote this article must have an ax to grind with Tellez lol Talk about throwing someone under the bus because of his lack of baseball skills. lol
I didn’t get that at all. Author explained:
– for those relatively unfamiliar, Rowdy is a bit of a specialist. 3TO-lefty type.
– the tools he has have not generated results this season, facilitating his departure
– underlying stats say some of his struggles are due to bad luck, so it would make sense for another team to take a low-cost gamble that Rowdy will regress to his mean and provide the value of which he’s capable.
His “lack of baseball skills” were already skills he hadn’t possessed. The skills he does may re-manifest.
Have you ever watched him play? I feel he was quite objective
Ozempic could be right for you
They need a few high octane relievers that can throw 98+ also in the bullpen.
Texas likes their First Basemen full figured…
All mlb players are really good at baseball. But rowdy is not that great compared to others.
You cant help but want to see this guy succeed though. Seems like a great dude.
How does this fat sack of garbage keep getting opportunities? Welcome to your future Jake Burger, if you’re lucky
He may be heavier than you but he is closer to Barry Bonds than you are to Rowdy.
Sorry Mrs. Tellez, but I am actually better at baseball than your son.
That’s arguable, Vogelbach
Hitting primarily in Texas rather than Seattle can’t hurt his chances of improving.
Look at the Rangers getting Rowdy and all.
Texas must be desperate. I regrettably saw him play too many times.