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Rangers Plan To Use Robbie Grossman As Primary Left Fielder

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When the Rangers signed veteran switch-hitter Robbie Grossman early in spring training, it looked like a sensible enough fit. Grossman has a lengthy track record of hitting left-handed pitching well, and the Rangers had multiple lefty-swinging options who could form a platoon with Grossman (e.g. Josh Smith, Brad Miller). However, manager Bruce Bochy said yesterday that Grossman isn’t likely to be platooned but rather to head into the season in line for the lion’s share of playing time in left field (link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). The Rangers like the adjustments Grossman has made from the left side of the dish and will give him a chance to play more often than not.

The decision to give Grossman regular playing time — or at least something close to it — is to his benefit in multiple ways. Beyond giving him a larger workload as he showcases for a return to free agency next winter, Grossman’s one-year, $2MM deal also comes with up to $3MM worth of incentives. Those are based on plate appearances, MLBTR has learned. He’ll receive a $250K bonus for reaching 250 and 300 plate appearances, and he’d receive $500K for hitting each of 350, 400, 450, 500 and 550 plate appearances. Most of those milestones would’ve been out of reach in a platoon role, but if he can take the everyday role and run with it, he can more than double his base salary.

Grossman has had an absolutely monstrous showing at the plate thus far in camp. The 33-year-old is hitting .406/.512/.656 with a pair of doubles, a pair of homers and more walks (eight) than strikeouts (four) through his first 41 plate appearances. Obviously, spring stats are best taken with a grain of salt, but it’s hard to imagine Grossman doing much more to with the opportunity he’s received in Texas. He’s even gone 3-for-3 in stolen-base attempts despite not typically being a huge threat to run during the regular season (his 20-steal 2021 campaign standing as the lone exception of note).

Grossman is looking for a rebound campaign after seeing his production dip to a tepid .209/.310/.311 slash in 477 plate appearances between Detroit and Atlanta last year. His ability — or lack thereof — to produce from the left side of the plate will be pivotal. Even as he struggled last year, Grossman hit .320/.436/.443 as a right-handed hitter. Producing against lefties has rarely been a problem for him, but he’s just a .232/.335/.363 career hitter against right-handed pitching. Grossman draws plenty of walks regardless of which side of the plate he’s standing on, but the .196/.308/.331 slash he’s logged in 783 plate appearances versus righties over the past two seasons won’t cut it in a regular role.

Defensively, Grossman has developed from a liability early in his career to an average or better left fielder. Back in 2016 with the Twins, he was dinged for an eye-popping -20 Defensive Runs Saved and -11 Outs Above Average in just 635 innings. Over the past four seasons, however, he’s been a scratch defender in the eyes of DRS. Both Ultimate Zone Rating (1.3) and OAA (2) feel he’s been a bit above average over that span of 2422 innings. Grossman probably won’t win a Gold Glove, but he’s become a capable option.

If the plan to give Grossman the bulk of the playing time in left doesn’t pan out, the options beyond him are more limited. Both Smith and Miller could get a look, though each is coming off a down season in 2022. Smith has yet to establish himself in the Majors despite being a former prospect of note. Fleet-footed Bubba Thompson figures to be the team’s fourth outfielder because of his speed, but he bats from the right side of the dish (Grossman’s stronger side). With Leody Taveras potentially beginning the season on the injured list, Thompson could open the season in center field. Non-roster veteran Travis Jankowski offers a similar speed-and-defense-driven skill set from the left side of the plate. If that in-house slat of options doesn’t work out, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see the Rangers in the market for some outfield help on the summer trade market.

Rangers Notes: deGrom, Center Field, Carter

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New Rangers ace Jacob deGrom threw 35 pitches while facing several of his teammates in a simulated game setting yesterday, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The two-time Cy Young winner sat 98-99 mph with his heater and reached triple digits on his final pitch of the day. It’s possible that’ll be the only tune-up he needs before stepping into a Cactus League game sometime next week. Whether that’s the next step or whether deGrom needs to face live hitters once more, it’s good news that the righty came away from the session without incident. Rangers fans were holding their breath when deGrom had some tightness in his side and had his throwing program slowed early in camp, but it seems he’s now progressing without restrictions.

Signed to a five-year, $185MM contract over the winter, deGrom has pitched just 156 1/3 innings over the past two seasons due to a forearm injury and a stress reaction in his right shoulder blade.

A bit more on the Rangers…

  • Texas still isn’t sure whether center fielder Leody Taveras will be ready to start the season, as he was been diagnosed with a low-grade oblique strain earlier in the week and won’t even attempt to resume baseball activities until next week, at the earliest. If Taveras is to open the season on the shelf, there are three fairly clear alternate plans in center field: give fleet-footed Bubba Thompson the bulk of the workload while Taveras mends, move Adolis Garcia over from right field, or select the contract of a non-roster player like Travis Jankowski to begin the season (which would require a corresponding 40-man move). Of the bunch, MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry writes that GM Chris Young implied Thompson is the likeliest short-term solution, noting that he’s “ready for the challenge” even if his offensive approach still needs further refinement. It’s a different tone than he struck with regard to the possibility of moving Garcia, on which he stated: “…we’ll have to work through how much it makes sense to move Adolis over at all.”
  • One player who’s not under consideration for an Opening Day roster spot at this time, unsurprisingly, is 20-year-old top prospect Evan Carter, manager Bruce Bochy confirmed to Levi Weaver of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 2020 second-rounder erupted with a combined .295/.397/.489 batting line between High-A and six games at Double-A last year, vaulting himself onto to top prospect rankings at Baseball America (No. 25), MLB.com (No. 41) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 22). However, advanced as Carter’s approach at the plate is — he walked in 13.5% of his plate appearances last year despite facing far older and more experienced competition — Bochy indicated that a leap right to the Majors “would be pushing a kid too much.” Carter has all of 28 plate appearances above A-ball and isn’t on the 40-man roster, so he never seemed a particularly likely option, but it’s still of some note that Bochy confirmed as much. It still stands to reason that if Carter opens the year in Double-A, he could play his way into consideration for a call to the big leagues later in the 2023 campaign.

Rangers’ Leody Taveras Shut Down Due To Oblique Strain

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Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras is dealing with a “low-grade” oblique strain, general manager Chris Young tells Rangers beat writers (Twitter link via Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). He’ll be out for at least seven to ten days. It’s still possible Taveras will be ready for Opening Day, but that’ll obviously depend on how he mends.

Taveras, 24, rated as one of baseball’s top 50 or so prospects prior to making his 2020 debut, due largely to his speed and potential for standout glovework in center field. He managed only a .188/.249/.321 slash in 319 plate appearances from 2020-21 but broke out with a career-best .261/.309/.366 showing in 341 plate appearances during the 2022 season. That still checked in about seven percent worse than an average MLB hitter, by measure of wRC+, but given his overall defensive aptitude, that was solid enough to land him the likely everyday center field job in 2023.

Dating back to that 2020 MLB debut, Taveras in just over a full season’s worth of games (180) and turned in a sparkling 10 Defensive Runs Saved and 11 Outs Above Average. He’s also gone 29-for-35  on the basepaths, swiping bags with a hefty 82.9% success rate. That impressive total comes despite Taveras sporting just a .280 career OBP at the moment. Between his speed, the slightly larger bases and new rules limiting pitchers throwing over to bases, Taveras has the potential to be a force in the stolen-base department if he can even replicate last year’s modest improvements in on-base percentage. To his credit, he slashed his strikeout rate from 32.2% down to 25.8%, so some of the improvement at the dish appears sustainable.

All that will depend on his health, of course. Even Grade 1 oblique strains can shelve players for around a month of action, but every injury instance is different. If Taveras’ current oblique issue is indeed minor enough that a 10-day down period will get him back into game shape, being ready on March 30 doesn’t seem out of the question.

If, however, it’s determined in seven to ten days’ time that Taveras still needs some down time, a season-opening IL stint becomes likelier. In that scenario, the Rangers could either move Adolis Garcia from right field back to center field, or they could keep Garcia in right and go with light-hitting speedster Bubba Thompson in center. Robbie Grossman has the inside track on left field work for Texas in 2023, but he’s not going to factor into any contingency plans in center, where he’s played all of 11 innings over the past seven seasons.

The Rangers have a deep but generally unproven collection of outfielders vying for a spot on the bench. Former top infield prospect Josh Smith has seen increasing time in the outfield and could conceivably work in some sort of platoon arrangement with Grossman in left field. Veterans Travis Jankowski and Clint Frazier are in camp as non-roster invitees, as is 28-year-old Elier Hernandez, who made his MLB debut with Texas last season. Utilityman Brad Miller has plenty of experience in the outfield corners, too, and slugger Dustin Harris is already on the 40-man roster as well.

Rangers Designate Steven Duggar, Steele Walker For Assignment

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The Rangers have designated outfielders Steven Duggar and Steele Walker for assignment, per a club announcement. The moves clears space on the 40-man roster for Cole Ragans and Bubba Thompson, whose promotions have each been previously reported. To open space on the active roster, Texas placed outfielder Kole Calhoun on the 10-day injured list and reliever Dennis Santana on the 15-day IL.

Duggar spent a bit more than a month on the Texas roster. Acquired from the Giants in late June in a one-for-one swap with Willie Calhoun, the lefty-hitting outfielder appeared in only eight MLB games with the Rangers. He collected three hits (all singles), with 12 strikeouts and two walks in 19 plate appearances. Duggar spent 11 contests with Triple-A Round Rock, hitting .184/.360/.316.

The 28-year-old hasn’t played much this season, as he lost a good chunk of the year to a severe oblique strain. He’s combined for just 20 big league games between San Francisco and Texas, an unfortunate follow-up to a 2021 season that saw him log a career-high body of work. Duggar appeared in 107 games and picked up 297 trips to the plate last year, hitting .257/.330/.437 with eight home runs and seven stolen bases. Paired with strong center field defense, that made him a valuable contributor to the 107-win Giants club, but he struck out at a near-30% clip along the way.

Swing-and-miss has been an issue for Duggar throughout his career, as he’s fanned in 30.2% of his 824 trips to the dish at the big league level. He’s a career .240/.296/.373 hitter. That’s obviously underwhelming production, but Duggar’s only making a hair above the league minimum salary and is a strong defender at all three spots on the grass. That could draw him some attention from rival clubs, who’ll have an opportunity to add him for minimal cost in the next few days. With the trade deadline passed, Texas has no choice but to place Duggar on waivers. If another team were to claim him, they could stash him in Triple-A for the remainder of this season — his final minor league option year.

Walker was acquired from the White Sox while he was a prospect over the 2019-20 offseason, heading over in the trade that sent Nomar Mazara to Chicago’s South Side. The former second-round pick has spent the bulk of his time in the organization in the upper minors, although he did earn a cup of coffee at the big league level in June. Walker was selected onto the MLB roster and appeared in five games, collecting one hit (a home run off Cal Quantrill) through 16 plate appearances.

The 26-year-old has otherwise spent the year in Round Rock, hitting .277/.353/.435 in 215 trips to the plate. He’s connected on seven homers and is only striking out at a 16.3% rate there while splitting his time between the corner outfield spots. Like Duggar, Walker will hit the waiver wire in the next few days. He’s only in his first option year, so a claiming team could keep him in the upper minors for the foreseeable future if willing to give him a 40-man roster spot.

Kole Calhoun, signed to a $5.2MM over the offseason, has struggled during his time in Arlington. The veteran corner outfielder has hit 11 longballs but is hitting only .211 with a .269 on-base percentage. He’s now dealing with right heel irritation and will miss at least a week and a half. Calhoun’s contract contains a $5.5MM club option for next season, but the Rangers figure to give additional reps to younger players like the newly-promoted Thompson down the stretch before declining Calhoun’s option.

Santana has a left ankle sprain, so he’ll miss a couple weeks at minimum. The hard-throwing righty owns a 5.09 ERA through 40 2/3 innings on the season, but he’s inducing ground-balls at a strong 51.6% clip.

Rangers To Select Bubba Thompson

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The Rangers are selecting outfielder Bubba Thompson onto the big league roster before tonight’s contest against the White Sox, reports Jeff Wilson (Twitter link). Texas will need to create a pair of 40-man roster spots this evening, with Thompson joining the previously-reported Cole Ragans in reporting to the team for his big league debut.

It’s the long-awaited MLB arrival for Thompson, whom the Rangers drafted in the first round five years ago. A toolsy center fielder with an enviable power-speed combination, the Alabama native was regarded as one of the better prospects in the Texas system for a few seasons. Thompson struggled significantly with strikeouts, though, and his progression up the minor league ladder has been relatively slow. He didn’t advance past High-A in his first two-plus seasons as a professional, and the canceled minor league season in 2020 kept him from reaching the upper minors until last year.

To Thompson’s credit, his two years against upper level pitching have arguably been the best of his career. He hit .275/.325/.483 with 16 homers and 25 steals at Double-A Frisco last year. Texas nevertheless left him off the 40-man roster and would’ve exposed him to the Rule 5 draft, but that never transpired as a result of the lockout. Thompson remained in the system and has spent the season at Triple-A Round Rock, where he’s posted strong numbers.

Through 372 plate appearances, the 24-year-old is hitting .303/.355/.474 with 13 homers. That’s only a bit above league average in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but Thompson’s also incredibly stolen 49 bases in 52 attempts (a 94% success rate) and spent the bulk of his defensive innings in center field. Given his baserunning and defensive profile, Thompson has a good shot at carving out at least a fourth outfield role if he makes contact at a reasonable rate.

Over the past couple seasons, he’s struck out in around a quarter of his plate appearances. That’s above the MLB average but markedly better than the strikeout tallies he racked up in A-ball. He’d have again been Rule 5 eligible this winter if not added to the 40-man, but the Rangers will give him a look after a second straight solid season. Leody Taveras  and Adolis García will continue getting everyday outfield reps, but Thompson’s arrival could cut into the playing time of veteran Kole Calhoun — who owns just a .211/.269/.363 line on the year.

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