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Rangers Reinstate Sam Huff From 60-Day IL, Designate Tyler Phillips

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The Rangers have designated right-hander Tyler Phillips for assignment, the club announced.  The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for top prospect Sam Huff, who has been activated from the 60-day injured list and been optioned to Double-A Frisco.

Huff underwent knee surgery back in April, and it seems quite possible that without that injury, he might already be back in the majors.  Huff has yet to play at Triple-A ball and he has only 14 plate appearances at the Double-A level, but the Rangers thought enough of his performance at their alternate training site last season that they promoted Huff to the big leagues in September.  From there, Huff hit three home runs and posted a 1.136 OPS over 33 PA, providing a tantalizing glimpse into his potential as a slugging cornerstone of a future Rangers lineup.

It remains to be seen if Huff will get any time at catcher, as he has played exclusively as a first baseman this season.  It could be that Texas is just easing Huff back into things in the wake of his knee surgery, and he’ll eventually get some action behind the plate before the year is out.  Assuming Huff continues to rake at Double-A and then at Triple-A, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him receive another September call-up before the year is out, as the Rangers could then be eyeing him as a candidate for more regular big-league duty for 2022.

A 16th-round pick for Texas in the 2015 draft, Phillips posted solid numbers in the lower levels of the farm system but began to hit some struggles in Double-A, and his Triple-A debut this season has been even more problematic.  Phillips has a 9.90 ERA over 10 Triple-A frames, with more walks (12) than strikeouts (11).  These control issues are a troubling new development for Phillips, as limiting walks was a strength for the right-hander over his first five pro seasons.

Rangers Place Brock Holt On 10-Day IL, Select Andy Ibanez

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The Rangers announced that they have placed infielder Brock Holt on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 3, with a right hamstring strain. In other moves, the team selected the contract of infielder Andy Ibanez from Triple-A Round Rock and moved catcher Sam Huff from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL. Huff is recovering from right knee surgery.

This is already the second time this season that a right hamstring strain has forced Holt to the IL, as he missed time in April with the same issue. When Holt has been healthy enough to play, the offseason minor league signing has given the Rangers respectable offensive production with a .250/.377/.295 line in 53 plate appearances. Defensively, Holt has lined up exclusively at third base, where he has shared time with Charlie Culberson.

With Holt down, Ibanez will provide the Rangers with some extra depth in their infield. The Cuba native was Baseball America’s third-ranked international prospect in 2015, when he wound up scoring a $1.6MM payday with the Rangers. Ibanez was one of BA’s top 10 Rangers prospects during his first couple of seasons with the organization, but the 28-year-old’s stock has fallen since, and he still hasn’t appeared in the majors. As a minor leaguer, Ibanez is a .285/.352/.443 hitter with 53 home runs in 1,949 plate appearances.

Injury Notes: Lamet, Springer, Archer, Huff

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Padres right-hander Dinelson Lamet left his season debut Wednesday with forearm soreness and quickly went on the 10-day injured list, leading to concerns that he could require a second Tommy John surgery. A couple days later, those worries seem to be fading. Lamet went through his typical post-start routine Friday, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes, and manager Jayce Tingler called it “a positive day” for the 2020 Cy Young contender. If all goes according to plan over the next week-plus, Lamet could return from the IL when he’s first eligible on May 2.

Now for a few American League updates…

  • Center fielder George Springer may finally be on the cusp of his Blue Jays debut. Manager Charlie Montoyo told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and other reporters on Friday afternoon that there is “a chance” the Blue Jays will activate Springer on Sunday. The three-time All-Star then got through a sim game at the team’s alternate site without any problems, per Montoyo (via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). An oblique strain and then a quad strain have prevented Springer from suiting up for Toronto, which signed the ex-Astro to a six-year, $150MM contract in free agency.
  • Rays righty Chris Archer has already missed two weeks because of forearm tightness, and a return is not imminent. Archer is likely a couple more weeks from rejoining the Rays’ rotation, manager Kevin Cash revealed (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Even though he endured a disastrous 2019 with the Pirates and then missed all of last season because of thoracic outlet surgery, Tampa Bay reunited with Archer – previously a Ray from 2012-18 – on a one-year, $6.5MM deal in free agency. The gamble hasn’t paid off so far, as Archer didn’t complete three innings in either of the two starts he made before he hit the IL.
  • Rangers catcher prospect Sam Huff will undergo surgery to remove a “loose body” from his right knee next Wednesday, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News relays. The injury will sideline Huff for eight weeks and could prevent him from catching this season. The 23-year-old – MLB.com’s 68th-ranked prospect – produced eye-popping results during a 10-game, 33-plate appearance major league debut in 2020, when he slashed .355/.394/.742 with three home runs. Huff hadn’t even played above the High-A level when the Rangers promoted him last September.

Rangers Promote Sam Huff

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11:40am: The Rangers have formally selected Huff’s contract, per a team announcement. Outfielder Scott Heineman was optioned to the alternate training site to open a spot on the active roster.

10:40am: The Rangers are set to promote catching prospect Sam Huff to the Major League roster in the wake of Jose Trevino’s left wrist injury, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports (via Twitter). Manager Chris Woodward acknowledged last night that promoting Huff was at least something the team would discuss (Twitter link via T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com).

Huff, 22, entered the season ranked as the game’s No. 99 prospect at Baseball America — the infusion of 2020 draftees has since pushed him off the list — and currently ranks second among the organization’s prospects there. He ranks 75th overall at MLB.com. Other outlets, such as FanGraphs, aren’t as bullish given questions about his ability to stick behind the dish and his lofty strikeout rates. There’s no questioning Huff’s raw power, however, which draws 70 grades on the 20-80 scale in most scouting reports.

A seventh-round pick back in 2016, Huff split the 2019 season between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, where he hit a combined .278/.335/.509 with 28 homers, 22 doubles, a pair of triples and six steals (albeit in a dozen attempts). He’s been an average or better offensive producer at every minor league stop — well above average, in most cases — and boasts a career 34 percent caught-stealing rate thanks to a plus arm that generally receives 60 grades.

On the negative side of the coin, Huff has punched out in 29.7 percent of his minor league plate appearances to date and walked at just a 7.3 percent clip. MLB.com’s scouting report notes recent improvements in his framing and footwork but also observes that only five players as large as the 6’5″, 240-pound Huff have ever caught 300 games in the Majors. Given that lack of precedent, a broad range of outlooks is to be expected.

Huff has yet to play a game against Double-A pitching, so Major League opposition should present a particularly formidable test. Even if Huff returns to the minors at some point, the club is hopeful that he can emerge as a viable long-term piece of the puzzle. The Rangers have leaned heavily on 36-year-old veteran Robinson Chirinos since 2014 (last year’s one-year departure for the Astros notwithstanding), but Texas traded him to the Mets at the deadline.

The hope at one point may have been that Trevino could’ve been next in line, but he’s now 27 years of age and yet to produce in the upper minors or at the MLB level. Broadly speaking, the Rangers have lacked a top-tier catching prospect for quite some time. Huff is their most well-regarded young backstop in recent memory, and he’ll now get his first big league audition over the next few days. If he sticks in the Majors, he’d be controllable all the way through the 2026 season and wouldn’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2023-24 offseason, but further optional assignments could alter those timelines.

Rangers Notes: Globe Life Field, Rendon, Rodriguez

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We’ll check in on some news coming out Arlington over the past 24 hours.

  • Globe Life Field, the new ballpark slated to open in 2020, caught fire yesterday afternoon (reported with video by Anthony Andro). Fortunately, no one was injured, relays Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who notes that the blaze was quickly contained by the Arlington Fire Department. A team spokesperson confirmed to Wilson that work will continue on the facility while an investigation into the fire’s cause is underway. Globe Life Field is slated to host its first exhibition game March 23. Texas’ regular-season home opener is March 31. Whether the incident will delay completion of the facility is not yet clear.
  • Texas put forth a six-year, $192MM offer to Anthony Rendon, which fell well shy of the seven-year, $245MM bid that wooed him to Anaheim. That figure, though, may not have been as high as Texas was willing to go for the superstar third baseman. The club viewed their $192MM proposal as a “starting point,” per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, but Rendon’s camp seemingly never reengaged with them before he signed with the Angels. Whether and to what extent the Rangers would have gone further is unclear.
  • Having missed out on Rendon and seemingly not in play for Josh Donaldson, the Rangers may now pivot to the trade market to address holes on the roster, Grant further reports. Among those drawing interest from other teams are catching prospect Sam Huff and reliever Emmanuel Clase, in addition to the previously-reported José LeClerc.
  • Rendon pursuit notwithstanding, the Rangers didn’t come away from San Diego empty-handed. One executive tells the Athletic’s Peter Gammons (via Twitter) that Texas’ signing of left-handed reliever Joely Rodríguez to a two-year, $5MM deal was “the most underrated move of the Winter Meetings.” Rodríguez hasn’t had much success in affiliated ball, but he thrived in Japan, working to a 1.85 ERA with a 103:28 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 87.2 innings in NPB. Interestingly, Gammons notes that Rodríguez is now reportedly sporting a 97-99 MPH fastball. In his most recent MLB action, he averaged just 94.07 MPH on his four-seamer, per Brooks Baseball.
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