TODAY: The deal between the Rangers and Tellez is now official, as relayed by Sean McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. Tellez will report to Triple-A for tonight’s game.
July 4: 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
Bullseye.
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…
Prince Fielder has entered the chat.
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.
Nah. Can’t stand watching slow unathletic fat baseball players.
Why, because you and Rowdy are the same sans your second to last word & Rowdy’s fat $12M to your $12.00?
I played enough years in MLB to have a few bucks in the bank, but I appreciate your concern for my finances. I respect the guy because he’s a really good dude who volunteers a lot in whatever city he is in.
baseball-reference.com/players/………………….
You can fill in the rest to verify your claim.
You must be a ball player, straight out of a rural HS.
You should probably take those “few bucks in the bank” and brush up on a few classes on social interaction, English composition and lastly but most importantly 1st grade reading and comprehension.
Nowhere in your original post do I see anything related to what I posted, Do you?
You decided to chime in because you saw the opportunity to announce to the world that you “played enough years in MLB” although nobody asked if you did.
Why, to try to make yourself out as the “Big Guy” on a baseball comment section?
Boy am I impressed.
You need everyone to know that you have “a few bucks in the bank” again with no one asking.
Why, to prove to someone, anyone, that you only matter because of your “few bucks” and nothing else?
Boy am I impressed.
Are you telling us this because you miss the attention, don’t receive enough at home so you figure randomly spouting out this info will fill that void you are so desperately searching for?
And lastly you pull the narcissistic standard by preaching you are the “Big Guy on campus” that your mattress is stuffed full of hundreds then circle back to you respect Rowdy cause he volunteers.
Get over yourself. Whats missing in your life?
If you miss the game so much that you feel the need to blow word vomit on a baseball website, go back to your one & only employer to beg for a janitor job. Get your foot in the door to that missing void.
There’s obliviously something missing in your life if you read my post, thought somehow I replied to you when there was no cross context between the two and then replied with what you did.
Or you are so preoccupied with your own self importance that you felt entitled to tell all how superior you are?
Good job keeping the narcissistic dumb jock narrative alive and well!
Since you played and said “But rowdy is not that great compared to others” then you would be on the list of “others” to compare Rowdy to, correct?
Oh, I’m uncontrollably excited to view your baseball-reference page, to see if as you say “rowdy is not that great compared to others.”
Please don’t keep us waiting, I’m positive others will want to compare your stats to Rowdy’s not great stats, as you say.
Nobody is going to read that schizo rambling lol
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
Okay “Dooper” what hitting qualities do you have that are better than his?
He handles balls pretty well.
Hitting the bowl!
Burger can run and field lol
Burger’s fielding percentage at first base (which where he’s exclusively playing at with the Rangers) is exactly league average at 95.5%. His sprint speed is also 70th percentile which is ABOVE league average so I don’t think you’ve watched him play…
Hitting primarily in Texas rather than Seattle can’t hurt his chances of improving.
It’s very hard to hit at Globe lately. It’s been written about.
And he was all Star hitter before coming to Mariners of course.
Look at the Rangers getting Rowdy and all.
Texas must be desperate. I regrettably saw him play too many times.
*attempt to play
So, the Rangers add a guy that loves to chase out of the zone, to a team that loves to chase out of the zone. Huh.
It’s a brilliant move!
To grossly paraphrase Indiana Jones,”Rangers! Why did it have be Rangers?”
Off into the sunset like the western heroes do.
That .208 season avg and .225 career avg is exactly what this offense needs. Jesus christ
Tap the brakes it’s a minor league signing. Who is he going to block?
My brother in law’s name is Rowdy. We’re not close
Signing with Seattle and their park wasn’t the wisest decision he ever made either. Not the best place for a home run hitter only to go to
Newsflash: you take the money when it’s offered, especially when you suck.
T-Mobile Park has a 103 for home runs this year so compared to other years its not too bad for homers in 2025.
Not sure which move is dumber.
Mariners thinking that his spring performance would hold so they bought his contract on the heels of that spring performance or the Ranger watching his performance, within their own division, thinking less Marine Layer and more Air Conditioning Layer will help his performance.
Only layer he cares about is how many cake layers there are.
The situation with that Texas organization is so pathetic I just do not see any breakout for that club in the near or long term. For them to start anew they need to sever those long term contracts with Seager and Simien who are clearly way past their prime. Adolis Garcia himself has seen better days,and I expect him to be used as trade bait to a playoff contender. It’s minor league system is one of the worst in baseball with no major league ready prospect ready to step up. It’s ownership is unwilling to spend money and it’s GM is handcuffed by that handicap. They do have decent pitching though, and could be an enticement for playoff bound clubs to offer young prospects in exchange for those arms.