Leody Taveras

Rangers Notes: Outfield, Garcia, Duran

By Nick Deeds | March 9, 2025 at 7:20pm CDT

The Rangers have faced plenty of questions about their outfield mix throughout the spring, as both Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia have been slowed by oblique issues. While both avoided a serious injury, Langford has only recently returned to game action and Garcia is further behind. Fortunately, Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News reported earlier today that Garcia resumed swinging a bat today, putting both players in position to be ready for Opening Day on March 27.

That leaves the outfield corners more or less settled, with Langford and Garcia expected to patrol left and right field on a regular basis respectively. Center field remains something of a question mark, however. The club has both Evan Carter and Leody Taveras on the roster as solid options, and given his prospect pedigree it seems likely that Carter would have a leg up when it comes to regular playing time. With that being said, the club’s plans for center field remain very much up in the air due primarily to both Carter and Taveras struggling against left-handed pitching. Carter has hit just .081/.150/.081 against southpaws to this point in his young MLB career, and the switch-hitting Taveras’s .189/.270/.244 line last season wasn’t much more inspiring.

Without a clear option in center field against lefties, it seems increasingly likely the club could look to find a way to get either Kevin Pillar or Sam Haggerty onto the roster. Both Pillar and Haggerty are in camp as non-roster invitees but have solid track records against left-handed pitching and an ability to handle center. Pillar has plenty of experience as a glove-first outfield option over his 12 year MLB career, and even entering his age-36 season he retains the ability to mash opposite-handed pitching with a .310/.352/.500 line against lefties last year. Meanwhile, Haggerty has never had a regular role in the majors but is a career .263/.355/.452 hitter against southpaws, even better than Pillar’s career numbers. With that said, Haggerty has primarily played the outfield corners throughout his career to this point while Pillar is much more experienced in center.

Regardless of whether Pillar or Haggerty ultimately makes the roster, adding either to the mix would squeeze the club’s roster. One possible route could be optioning Carter to the minor leagues, where he has just eight games at the Triple-A level under his belt. That would cleanly allow the club to maximize its versatility while using a platoon of Taveras and either Pillar or Haggerty in center field but it would also mean further delaying the potential impact of Carter, who was a consensus top-5 prospect in the sport entering last season. If the Rangers want Carter on the roster for Opening Day, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News suggests that utility man Ezequiel Duran could be headed to Triple-A to start the season.

Duran, 25, had a brilliant season for the Rangers in 2023 but struggled badly last year with a 74 wRC+ last year. While a right-handed hitting utility player like Duran could seem like an obvious platoon partner for Carter or Taveras in center, he hit just .209/.250/.244 in 46 games against lefties last year. That work totaled just 92 plate appearances, so perhaps it should be taken with a grain of salt, but more pressing that Duran’s vanishing bat against southpaws last year is his lack of experience in center. He’s made just 16 professional appearances in center field throughout his career, and only one inning of that work came at the big league level. That could make Duran the odd man out on the club’s current roster, with fellow utility man Josh Smith potentially in line to take on additional duties in his stead.

Rangers Have Gotten Trade Interest In Leody Taveras

By Anthony Franco | January 31, 2025 at 11:16pm CDT

The Rangers have received calls from other teams regarding Leody Taveras, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. There’s no indication that Texas is actively shopping the center fielder, but there’s logic to considering offers.

Texas looks as if they’ll enter the season right up against the $241MM luxury tax threshold. It has been clear since the beginning of the offseason that Texas doesn’t want to go beyond that number. They currently have around $235MM in tax obligations, according to the RosterResource calculations.

That’s an unofficial estimate, but the Rangers are in the ballpark of the CBT threshold. The tax number is calculated at the end of the season. Salaries acquired during the season (usually around the trade deadline) count against a team’s CBT hit on a prorated basis. Teams generally want to leave a few million dollars in payroll space for in-season maneuvering if they’re hoping to stay below the line.

Owner Ray Davis told Grant earlier this week that the team still intends to stay under the $241MM marker. Perhaps that thinking would change if the front office feels they’re one or two significant moves away at the deadline. For now, the goal is apparently to remain below the line to reset their tax bracket. Teams are hit with escalating penalties for exceeding the threshold in consecutive seasons. Texas paid around $10.8MM in taxes last year, their second straight season going above the line.

That’d put them in the third and highest tier of repeat payor for every season forward until they dip below. Third-time payors are charged a 50% tax on spending for their first $20MM in overages. That respectively jumps to 62% and 95% on their next $20MM increments, followed by a 110% tax on any spending that is more than $60MM above the base threshold. CBT payors also face tougher draft and signing bonus penalties if they sign free agents who declined a qualifying offer.

While a few teams (i.e. Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Mets) have been willing to exceed the thresholds repeatedly in recent years, most ownership groups prefer to avoid the escalating penalties. That’s evidently Davis’ goal as well. As Grant observes, even the projected $6MM in spending capacity is probably an overstatement. Salary unlocked via bonuses counts against a team’s tax number as it is triggered. That’s most relevant with rewards to Tyler Mahle, whose contract contains $5MM in innings-based incentives for the upcoming season. That could theoretically push his CBT number from its current $11MM figure as high as $16MM, which would nearly close the estimated gap on its own.

It leaves the front office with limited spending capacity both for the next few weeks and during the season … unless they offload payroll via trade. Taveras is one of the clearer candidates for such a move. He agreed to a $4.75MM salary for his second of four trips through the arbitration process. The Joc Pederson signing means the Rangers will play Wyatt Langford in left field on most days. That’ll push Evan Carter into center field, while Adolis García will get a rebound opportunity in right field.

Taveras nominally becomes the fourth outfielder. That’s understandable coming off a poor year. The lefty-hitting center fielder posted a modest .229/.289/.352 slash across 529 plate appearances. Defensive Runs Saved was also very down on his glovework, grading him 10 runs below average in more than 1200 innings. Statcast viewed his defense much more favorably, crediting him as five runs above average.

Statcast has graded Taveras as an above-average defender in every season of his career. DRS has been more mixed in its evaluation, though he has a decent +3 mark in his career overall. Texas has never played Taveras anywhere outside of center field. It’s likely that most teams would feel he’s at least a capable, if not outright plus, defender. The bat is more of a question, but he was a roughly league average hitter between 2022-23. Taveras combined for a .264/.311/.400 slash in nearly 900 trips to the plate over those two seasons.

This has been a cold offseason for teams looking for center field help. Harrison Bader, a .234/.279/.362 hitter over the last two seasons, is the top free agent at the position. The White Sox and Marlins are the only teams fully in rebuild mode. Miami doesn’t really have a center fielder to market. Chicago has held a high asking price on Luis Robert Jr. and looks likely to carry him into Spring Training.

MLBTR has speculatively highlighted Taveras as a potential fit for the Guardians, who could use another outfielder and would benefit from pushing Lane Thomas back to right field. (Cleveland’s collection of pre-arbitration relievers matches up nicely with a Texas team whose biggest question is probably still its bullpen.) The Giants, Royals and Angels are other potential options to acquire a center fielder. The Astros are also seeking a left-handed hitting outfielder, though the Rangers might be reluctant to help their in-state division rivals.

Texas would need to weigh the benefits of shopping Taveras against the risk that they’d need to rely on him heavily during the season. García is coming off a career-worst season in which he hit .224/.284/.400. Carter was limited to 45 games by a stress reaction in his back. He underwent postseason surgery. While he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training, the Rangers could have some concern about how he’ll hold up physically. If they keep Taveras, other candidates for a salary-clearing trade are Mahle ($11MM initial CBT hit), Jon Gray ($14MM), or Dane Dunning ($2.66MM).

The Rangers’ Surprising Problem

By Anthony Franco | June 19, 2024 at 12:06pm CDT

Each week at MLBTR, it seems we're covering a development that further tanks the Astros' chances of competing for a playoff spot. We've devoted less attention to their in-state rivals, but the Rangers are in no better a situation. Texas and Houston have identical 33-40 records after the Rangers' five-game losing streak. They're only four games clear of the Angels for fourth place in the AL West.

Texas starting the season slowly isn't a huge surprise in itself (even if the extent of their struggles is). The eye-opener is in the way the team has underperformed. The Rangers opened the season without Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle. They were largely trying to stay afloat for the first couple months before welcoming that trio of starters back throughout the summer. The early-season rotation was the big question -- the main reason the Rangers might find themselves closer to the bottom of the AL West than the top more than halfway into June.

Starting pitching has not been the problem. Texas is middle-of-the-pack in that regard, solid work from a staff without three of its most talented arms. The collapse has been on the other side of the ball. The Ranger offense hasn't performed. An outfield that looked like one of the game's most talented groups has been a disaster. It's not the easiest problem for GM Chris Young to address at the deadline -- if the Rangers find themselves in position to add at all next month.

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Leody Taveras Prolongs His Breakout Season Into the Playoffs

By Leo Morgenstern | October 17, 2023 at 5:09pm CDT

Leody Taveras was always a glove-first prospect. Evaluators praised his long strides, top-tier sprint speed, and powerful arm, with Baseball America naming him the best defensive outfielder in the Rangers system three years in a row. He showed potential in his bat, too, but never quite reached his ceiling in the minor leagues. However, if you’d only seen Taveras play in the 2023 postseason, you’d never guess that his bat was once such a question mark.

The 25-year-old has started in center field for all seven of the Rangers’ playoff games thus far. He has taken 29 trips to the plate and reached base 14 times; among those still active in the postseason, only Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Evan Carter, and Trea Turner have reached base more often. Taveras has drawn six walks, slapped five singles, and recorded one of each flavor of extra-base hit. He’s 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts, and he hasn’t struck out since Game 1 of the ALDS. Overall, his slash line sits at .348/.483/.609, good for a 199 wRC+. Needless to say, those aren’t numbers you expect to see from a “glove-first” center fielder.

Taveras wasn’t nearly as successful with the bat during the regular season (nor is he likely to sustain his monstrous postseason slash line), but he did take a meaningful step forward at the plate. In his first full season, he slashed .266/.312/.421, career highs in all three categories. What’s more, he brought his strikeout rate down below league average and finally tapped into the raw power evaluators always saw in his profile. His average exit velocity went up, he refined his launch angles, and he hit more barrels than in his first three seasons combined. In 143 games, the switch-hitter slugged 14 home runs and 31 doubles, and he legged out three triples to boot.

While Taveras went through a rough patch in the second half, slashing .191/.224/.316 during the first six weeks after the All-Star break, he turned things around in September. Over his final 26 games, he went 26-for-84, hitting .310 and producing a 126 wRC+. Even the best hitters go through slumps, and the good ones have the resilience to come out swinging on the other side.

Altogether, his regular season offensive numbers add up to a 98 wRC+. That’s two percent worse than the league-average hitter, but it’s worth considering that Taveras plays a premium defensive position. According to FanGraphs, primary center fielders produced a 98 wRC+ this season, making Taveras perfectly average for his position. Average offense is more than enough for a player who also boasts elite speed and an excellent glove.

Indeed, Taveras proved to be a five-tool player in 2023. He stole 14 bases with his 92nd-percentile sprint speed, and he graded out as a strong defender by nearly every metric available. The Rangers’ center fielder posted a .997 fielding percentage, 3 Defensive Runs Saved, and 6 Outs Above Average. According to Baseball Savant, he ranked in the 85th percentile in overall fielding run value, thanks to his strong arm and quick reactions in the outfield.

After his breakout campaign in 2023, the Rangers are surely hoping Taveras will be their center fielder for the foreseeable future. Still just 25 years old, he won’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2025 season, and he won’t reach free agency for another three years after that. Leody Taveras can’t maintain his postseason performance forever, but if he keeps playing like he did this past season, the Rangers certainly won’t complain.

Corey Seager Out At Least Four Weeks With Hamstring Strain

By Darragh McDonald | April 12, 2023 at 3:45pm CDT

The Rangers announced that shortstop Corey Seager has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. It’s a Grade 2 strain and comes with a minimum absence of four weeks, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. His roster spot goes to outfielder Leody Taveras, who has been activated from his own stint on the IL.

Seager, 29 this month, departed last night’s game in the fifth inning with some hamstring tightness. The news that he will now be out of action for a month or longer is certainly a blow to the Rangers, as Seager is one of the best players on the team. Signed to a 10-year, $325MM deal after the 2021 campaign, he played 151 games for the club last year and hit 33 home runs. His .245/.317/.455 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 117 and he provided solid shortstop defense, leading to a tally of 4.5 wins above replacement from FanGraphs. Seager was off to a scorching hot start here in 2023, hitting .359/.469/.538 through his first 11 games. He wasn’t going to be able to sustain that over a full season, but it’s nonetheless frustrating for him to be cut down in the middle of such a good stretch.

Seager will return later in the year, but the club will now have to try out some other options at shortstop in the meantime. Manager Bruce Bochy told Grant after last night’s game that the club isn’t thinking about moving Marcus Semien over, despite his lengthy experience at the position. He became a primary second baseman with the Blue Jays in 2021, in deference to Bo Bichette. He joined the Rangers in the same offseason as Seager and has stayed on the right side of the bag for the most part. It seems the Rangers would prefer he stay there.

That seems to leave Josh H. Smith and Ezequiel Durán as the top options for taking the job for the next little bit. Since Smith is a left-handed hitter and Durán a righty, it’s possible that they form a platoon. Smith is getting the start tonight as the Rangers face the Royals with right-hander Brad Keller on the mound. Smith has just 81 games of MLB experience thus far, walking in 11.6% of his trips to the plate but not finding many hits thus far. His .197/.318/.245 batting line amounts to a 72 wRC+. He’s fared much better in the minors, however, including hitting .290/.395/.466 in Triple-A last year. Durán has 65 games under his belt and a .233/.272/.354 batting line to show for it, leading to a wRC+ of 77. He hasn’t played shortstop in the big leagues yet but has plenty of experience there in the minors.

The one sliver of good news in this is that the club is getting Taveras back. He was slated to be the club’s everyday center fielder until he was shut down in Spring Training due to an oblique strain, but he’s now back after missing just two weeks of the regular season. He hit just .261/.309/.366 last year for a wRC+ of 93 but put up six Outs Above Average in center field. Adolis García has been getting most of the time in center so far this year with Bubba Thompson and Travis Jankowski also in the mix, while Durán and Smith helped out in left. With Taveras back in the middle, García and Robbie Grossman should be able to take the corners while Durán and Smith now move to the infield.

AL West Notes: McCullers, Blackburn, Taveras

By Nick Deeds | April 4, 2023 at 8:54pm CDT

Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. is making progress in his rehab, with the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome noting the right-hander is currently ahead of schedule. McCullers, who is currently rehabbing from an elbow strain, is throwing from 90 feet off flat ground and is on the verge of starting to throw on back-to-back days. Rome notes that it’s possible McCullers begins throwing off the mound sometime this month, providing a bit of clarity to McCullers’s timetable, which to this point has involved few details.

McCullers, 29, is entering the second season of his five-year, $85MM extension with the Astros this year. The right-hander has struggled badly with injuries in recent years, having pitched just 265 innings since the end of the 2018 season, and having made more than 22 starts just once in his career to this point, in 2021. When he has managed to pitch, however, McCullers has been excellent. He sports a career 3.48 ERA that drops to 3.16 when looking at his work following his 2019 Tommy John surgery. For his career, he’s posted a fantastic 55.1% groundball rate in addition to a solid 25.6% strikeout rate, though he has walked 9.8% of batters faced in his career, a figure that’s jumped to 11.1% over the last two seasons. Still, McCullers stands clearly as among the best starters in the game when healthy. Houston is currently using a rotation of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy, and top prospect Hunter Brown while McCullers is on the shelf.

Rangers Notes: deGrom, Center Field, Carter

By Steve Adams | March 9, 2023 at 4:45pm CDT

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

By Steve Adams | March 6, 2023 at 12:18pm CDT

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.

AL West Notes: A’s, Ragans, Taveras

By Darragh McDonald | March 5, 2023 at 10:30pm CDT

The Athletics could deploy a six-man rotation this year, with general manager David Forst discussing the situation with Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. “We’ve mapped it out a lot of different ways,” Forst said. “Things that look like a six-man (rotation) or an occasional bullpen day or an occasional spot starter. There are a lot of ways to do it. I just don’t think we’ll know what they are until we get really into the season.”

At least one factor that is pushing the club in this direction is Shintaro Fujinami, who will be making the transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to the majors. Pitchers in the NPB generally take the ball once per week, as opposed to the five-day schedule typically implemented in North America. Fujinami has also been occasionally deployed as a reliever in recent years, meaning his typical workload has been less than that of a typical MLB starter. The club also has many younger pitchers that could run into limitations throughout the season, depending on how things play out.

However the A’s decide to distribute their innings, it won’t be written in stone. “It will not be well-defined,” Forst said. “Whatever it is, we will not say Opening Night, ‘Here’s our six-man rotation, it’s staying like this.’ It will be flexible.”

Some other notes from the American League West division…

Lefty Cole Ragans is impressing in Rangers camp, with Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News relaying manager Bruce Bochy’s comments on the southpaw. “He’s just been a joy to watch,” Bochy said, adding that Ragans is “getting talked about a lot” in internal meetings. The lefty has shown increased stuff this spring, including hitting 99 mph with his fastball. “I didn’t go hunting velo this offseason,” Ragans said. “It wasn’t my goal to throw 100. I just wanted to feel good. I wanted to do what I could do.” Ragans had a strong year in the minors last year, posting a 3.04 ERA in 94 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He also made his MLB debut with a 4.95 ERA over nine starts. The club overhauled their rotation this winter by adding Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney and Jake Odorizzi to incumbents Martín Pérez and Jon Gray. Those moves bumped Ragans down the depth chart, but some of those guys are dealing with minor injuries, which could potentially increase Ragans’ chances of getting an opportunity. He could also perhaps get a big league job in the bullpen, with Bochy suggesting it’s good to stay open-minded about make such pivots.
Sticking with the Rangers, the club announced that outfielder Leody Taveras was scratched from today’s game due to left side tightness. To this point, it’s unclear how serious his ailment is, but Taveras is a noteworthy member of the club given the state of their roster. Though the rotation and infield appear strong on paper, the outfield has more uncertainty to it. Taveras has appeared in the past three seasons, hitting at a below-average level but impressing with the glove. In 174 games in center field, he’s posted 10 Defensive Runs Saved and 11 Outs Above Average. He’s set to be the top option up the middle for the club, flanked by Adolis García and Robbie Grossman in the corners. If Taveras needs to miss any time, García could move from right field to center. But wherever Garcia lines up, it would mean someone will get bumped up from a bench job into a regular role. The club’s outfield depth consists of players like Bubba Thompson, Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran, Brad Miller and others. All of those guys come with question marks, so the club will likely be hoping that Taveras is fine after some rest and can return to regular action.

Rangers Select Hyeon-Jong Yang, Option Leody Tavares

By Mark Polishuk | April 26, 2021 at 3:23pm CDT

The Rangers have selected the contract of left-hander Hyeon-Jong Yang, the team announced. In corresponding moves, Leody Taveras was optioned to the alternate training site, while infielder Ronald Guzman (who underwent season-ending knee surgery on Friday) was moved to the 60-day injured list.

After signing a minor league contract with Texas during the offseason, the 33-year-old Yang will now get his first crack at the major leagues, and also lock in a $1.3MM guarantee for reaching the Rangers’ active roster. Beginning his career with the Kia Tigers in 2007, Yang has posted a 3.83 ERA and 19.77% strikeout rate over 1986 career innings in KBO action.

2020 wasn’t one of his finer seasons, as Yang had a 4.70 ERA over 172 1/3 frames and a spike in his walk rate. However, at the cost of $1.3MM and a minors deal, the Rangers felt it was worth seeing what Yang could do in North American baseball, even if he can just eat some innings at the back of the rotation. Yang has tossed at least 171 1/3 innings in each of the last seven seasons, and durability was only part of his appeal, as that seven-year stretch also included two league ERA titles, the KBO MVP Award in 2017, and a championship ring with the Tigers that same year as Yang won Korean Series MVP honors.

That said, it isn’t yet clear if the Rangers will use Yang in the rotation or if he’ll be deployed in their injury-riddled bullpen. Texas already has several left-handers among their current relief options, though Yang could be used in a long relief or swingman role to get him accustomed to MLB hitters.

Taveras made his own Major League debut in 2020 and posted some respectable numbers over 134 plate appearances, but he hasn’t hit at all this season, with only an .087/.160/.087 slash line in 50 PA. Taveras’ demotion should fully clear the way for more playing time for Adolis Garcia in center field.

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