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Rangers Player Profile
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Winter additions have provided the Rangers with a deep rotation By T.R. Sullivan Mlb.com
The Texas Rangers biggest off-season acquisition this winter was a 33-year-old right-handed pitcher who pitched in just seven games last season, won two of them and had a 5.80 ERA.
The Rangers expect that pitcher to be at the front of what is projected to be one of the team’s deepest starting rotations in many years. They just need two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber to be fully recovered from a fractured right forearm that ended his 2019 season when he was hit by Miami outfielder Brian Anderson’s line drive on May 1. How Kluber responds to that injury is high on the Rangers agenda this spring during their time in Arizona. But it is also why the Rangers feel as good as they have in a long time about their rotation going into Spring Training. “I know what he has done in the past,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “Clearly a No. 1 starter. Two-time Cy Young winner. Talking to him and seeing how he has responded, we are not too concerned about what happened last year. That has healed up. He works his tail off. His work ethic is legendary. We fully believe he can get back to somewhat of what he used to be. If he is anywhere close to what he used to be, he is absolutely an ace.”
Kluber joins left-hander Mike Minor and right-hander Lance Lynn at the top of the Rangers rotation. Minor and Lynn were one of the best 1-2 starting combinations in the Major Leagues last season.
Minor, in his second full season with the Rangers, made the American League All-Star team and finished 14-10 with a 3.59 ERA and 200 strikeouts over 32 starts. Lynn, signed as a free agent the previous winter, was 16-11 with a 3.67 ERA and 246 strikeouts over his 33 starts.
If Kluber is at full strength as expected, the Rangers have a formidable trio to lead their rotation. Kluber was close to being back with the Indians last summer before being shut down by a strained oblique muscle.
“I had so much time off in the summer,” Kluber said. “Having been doing what I felt was really good work coming back in my rehab process, I didn’t want to just shut down and forget about it. I just wanted to keep that positive work reinforced. I felt I was in a really good spot. Hopefully, I can hit the ground running in Spring Training.”
Three starters do not make a rotation. The Rangers filled out their top five by signing free agent right-handers Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles. Both have interesting situations worth watching in Spring Training.
Gibson was 13-7 with a 4.84 ERA in 29 starts and five relief appearances for the Twins last season. He was also dealing with ulcerative colitis for much of the year and was never really at full strength physically. He is still a pitcher who has averaged 29 starts, 172 innings and 11 wins over the past six seasons with the Twins.
“We have a number of connections from the team to Kyle,” President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Jon Daniels explained. “(Minor League director) Paul Kruger Mike Minor was the Rangers 2019 Pitcher of the year and a first-time A.L. All-Star.
knows him personally and has always spoke highly of him. Lance Lynn, (teammate [from Minnesota), a friend of his, spoke highly of him. Obviously the player, he has always been a really good starter. A lot of things to like as a pitcher. Outstanding slider, one of the better sliders in the game, really good changeup. He has a lot of ways to get hitters out.”
Lyles caught the Rangers attention at the end of the last season after he was traded by the Pirates to the Brewers on July 29. The right-hander made 11 starts for the Brewers and was 7-1 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. This is a pitcher who stopped relying on a sinker and got better use out of the high fastball. The adjustments he made with the Brewers give the Rangers optimism that he could be a big winner over a full season.
Lance Lynn won 16 games with 246 strikeouts in 2019.
“Jordan Lyles was a guy we identified found something last year,” Woodward said. “When we faced him, we said, ‘OK, he has made some really good adjustments to how he’s using his pitches.’ That was really intriguing for me going forward. He’s always had good stuff, but now we feel like he can sustain the quality that he had for the second half of last year.”
The Rangers are in far better position this spring than they were last year when they went to Arizona counting on Drew Smyly, Edinson Volquez and Shelby Miller to all recover from Tommy John surgery. They went 0-for-3 in that regard. The Rangers feel they are in much better position this time around with Kluber, Lyles and Gibson joining Minor and Lynn. This also allows the Rangers to give more Minor League development time to some of their younger pitchers. That group includes left-handers Brock Burke, Kolby Allard and Joe Palumbo, and right-hander Jonathan Hernandez.
“That’s what you want, going into Spring Training,” Woodward said. “I know there are going to be setbacks at times. I have been around the game a long time so to think all five starters are going to go all year is not realistic. But we have that depth now. Guys that we were possibly going to have to rely on to fill those spots, are now our depth.
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Roster as of February 11, 2020
NO. PITCHERS (22) B T HT WT DOB BIRTHPLACE RESIDENCE 2019 CLUB 39 Allard, Kolby L L 6-1 190 08/13/97 Anaheim, CA San Clemente, CA Gwinnett Nashville Texas 70 Burke, Brock L L 6-4 180 08/04/96 Chicago, IL Evergreen, CO Frisco AZL Rangers Hickory Nashville Texas 30 Chavez, Jesse R R 6-2 175 08/21/83 San Gabriel, CA Pomona, CA Texas 84 Cody, Kyle R R 6-7 245 08/09/94 Chippewa Falls, WI Chippewa Falls, WI 79 Evans, Demarcus R R 6-4 270 10/22/96 Petal, MS Petal, MS Down East Frisco 60 Farrell, Luke L R 6-6 210 06/07/91 Westlake, OH New York, NY AZL Rangers Frisco Texas 44 Gibson, Kyle R R 6-6 216 10/23/87 Greenfield, IN Ft. Myers, FL Minnesota 41 Goody, Nick R R 5-11 200 07/06/91 Orlando, FL Orlando, FL Columbus Cleveland 52 Hearn, Taylor L L 6-5 227 08/30/94 Royse City, TX Royse City, TX Nashville Texas 72 Hernández, Jonathan R R 6-2 173 07/06/96 Memphis, TN Santiago de los Caballos, DR Frisco Texas 37 Jurado, Ariel R R 6-1 240 01/30/96 Aguadulce, Panama Capellania, Panama Nashville Texas 28 Kluber, Corey R R 6-4 215 04/10/86 Birmingham, AL Winchester, MA Cleveland Columbus Akron 25 Leclerc, José R R 6-0 190 12/19/93 Esperanza, DR Esperanza, DR Texas 24 Lyles, Jordan R R 6-5 230 10/19/90 Hartsville, SC Columbia, SC Pittsburgh Indianapolis Milwaukee 35 Lynn, Lance S R 6-1 230 05/12/87 Marion County, IN Jupiter, FL Texas 59 Martin, Brett L L 6-4 200 04/28/95 Morristown, TN Morristown, TN Nashville Texas 74 Méndez, Yohander L L 6-5 200 01/17/95 Valencia, Venezuela Valencia, Venezuela AZL Rangers Frisco Nashville Texas 23 Minor, Mike R L 6-4 220 12/26/87 Chapel Hill, TN Knoxville, TN Texas 48 Montero, Rafael R R 6-0 186 10/17/90 Higuerito Banica, DR Higuerito Banica, DR AZL Rangers Frisco Nashville Texas 62 Palumbo, Joe L L 6-1 170 10/26/94 Stony Brook, NY Holbrook, NY Frisco Nashville Texas 80 Phillips, Tyler R R 6-5 191 10/27/97 Lumberton, NJ Lumberton, NJ Down East Frisco 57 Rodríguez, Joely L L 6-1 200 11/14/91 Santo Domingo, DR Santo Domingo, DR Chunichi NO. CATCHERS (3) B T HT WT DOB BIRTHPLACE RESIDENCE 2019 CLUB 61 Chirinos, Robinson R R 6-1 218 06/05/84 Punto Fijo, VZ Hurst, TX Houston 2 Mathis, Jeff R R 6-0 205 03/31/83 Marianna, FL Marianna, FL Texas 56 Trevino, Jose R R 5-11 210 11/28/92 Corpus Christi, TX Alice, TX Nashville AZL Rangers Texas NO. INFIELDERS (8) B T HT WT DOB BIRTHPLACE RESIDENCE 2019 CLUB 1 Andrus, Elvis R R 6-0 200 08/26/88 Maracay, VZ Frisco, TX Texas Frisco 82 Apostel, Sherten R R 6-4 200 03/11/99 Willemstad, Curacao Willemstad, Curacao Hickory Down East 21 Frazier, Todd R R 6-3 220 02/12/86 Toms River, NJ Toms River, NJ St. Lucie Syracuse New York-NL 11 Guzmán, Ronald L L 6-4 225 10/10/94 La Vega, DR La Vega, DR Texas Frisco Nashville 9 Kiner-Falefa, Isiah R R 5-10 176 03/23/95 Honolulu, HI Honolulu, HI Texas Frisco Nashville 12 Odor, Rougned L R 5-11 195 02/03/94 Maracaibo, VZ Maracaibo, VZ Texas Nashville 15 Solak, Nick R R 5-11 190 01/11/95 Woodridge, IL Woodridge, IL Durham Nashville Texas 83 Tejeda, Anderson S R 5-11 160 05/01/98 Bani, DR Bani, DR Down East
Manager: Chris Woodward (8) Coaches: Tony Beasley (27), Callix Crabbe (99), Doug Mathis (64), Héctor Ortiz (4), Luis Ortiz (18), Corey Ragsdale (43), Julio Rangel (47), Don Wakamatsu (22)
CLASS W-L ERA G GS CG SV IP H R ER BB-I SO MLS AAA 7-5 4.17 20 20 0 0 110.0 119 60 51 36-0 98 0.114 AAA 0-0 0.00 1 1 0 0 5.0 4 0 0 2-0 8 MLB 4-2 4.96 9 9 0 0 45.1 52 26 25 19-0 33 AA 3-5 3.18 9 9 0 0 45.1 34 19 16 12-0 49 0.041 Rk. 0-0 0.00 1 1 0 0 4.0 2 0 0 0-0 3 A 0-0 7.20 1 1 0 0 5.0 9 4 4 0-0 1 AAA 0-0 7.88 2 2 0 0 8.0 12 7 7 6-0 11 MLB 0-2 7.43 6 6 0 0 26.2 30 22 22 11-0 14 MLB 3-5 4.85 48 9 0 1 78.0 82 48 42 22-0 72 9.108 DID NOT PITCH – INJURED A+ 4-0 0.81 17 0 0 6 22.1 9 3 2 17-2 40 0.000 AA 2-0 0.96 30 0 0 6 37.2 14 4 4 22-1 60 Rk. 0-0 8.44 4 4 0 0 5.1 8 6 5 1-0 10 1.095 AA 0-0 1.04 5 0 0 0 8.2 2 2 1 4-0 12 MLB 1-0 2.70 9 1 0 0 13.1 6 4 4 3-0 12 MLB 13-7 4.84 34 29 0 0 160.0 175 99 86 56-0 160 6.039 AAA 0-1 7.77 21 0 0 0 24.1 28 23 21 13-1 34 3.105 MLB 3-2 3.54 39 0 0 0 40.2 30 18 16 22-1 50 AAA 1-3 4.05 4 4 0 0 20.0 14 9 9 10-0 26 0.158 MLB 0-1 108.00 1 1 0 0 0.1 3 5 4 4-0 0 AA 5-9 5.16 22 16 0 0 96.0 100 58 55 38-1 95 0.041 MLB 2-1 4.32 9 2 0 0 16.2 14 10 8 13-0 19 AAA 3-0 3.57 4 4 0 0 22.2 29 9 9 2-0 22 1.052 MLB 7-11 5.81 32 18 1 0 122.1 148 94 79 36-1 81 MLB 2-3 5.80 7 7 0 0 35.2 44 26 23 15-0 38 7.074 AAA 0-0 4.50 2 2 0 0 4.0 2 2 2 3-0 2 AA 0-0 2.25 1 1 0 0 4.0 2 1 1 1-0 6 MLB 2-4 4.46 70 3 0 14 68.2 52 34 33 39-1 100 3.014 MLB 5-7 5.36 17 17 0 0 82.1 88 53 49 33-1 90 8.002 AAA 0-0 1.69 1 1 0 0 5.1 2 1 1 3-0 7 MLB 7-1 2.45 11 11 0 0 58.2 43 19 16 22-1 56 MLB 16-11 3.67 33 33 0 0 208.1 195 89 85 59-0 246 8.119 AAA 0-0 0.71 10 0 0 1 12.2 10 1 1 4-0 19 0.151 MLB 2-3 4.76 51 2 0 0 62.1 72 38 33 18-2 62 Rk. 0-0 12.27 3 0 0 0 3.2 6 5 5 1-0 6 1.103 AA 0-0 1.23 4 0 0 1 7.1 5 2 1 6-0 6 AAA 0-1 4.91 5 0 0 0 7.1 3 4 4 2-0 15 MLB 1-0 5.79 3 0 0 0 4.2 4 3 3 5-0 8 MLB 14-10 3.59 32 32 2 0 208.1 190 86 83 68-1 200 8.138 Rk. 0-0 0.00 5 3 0 0 7.0 2 0 0 0-0 12 3.138 AA 0-0 7.00 5 2 0 0 9.0 15 7 7 2-1 15 AAA 1-0 0.00 1 0 0 0 2.1 0 0 0 0-0 4 MLB 2-0 2.48 22 0 0 0 29.0 23 8 8 5-0 34 AA 0-0 3.19 11 10 0 0 53.2 43 21 19 25-0 69 0.130 AAA 3-0 2.67 6 6 0 0 27.0 13 9 8 10-0 39 MLB 0-3 9.18 7 4 0 0 16.2 21 17 17 8-0 21 A+ 2-2 1.19 6 6 0 0 37.2 28 6 5 6-0 28 0.000 AA 7-9 4.73 18 16 0 0 93.1 95 56 49 20-1 74 NPB (Japan) 3-4 1.64 64 0 0 1 60.1 42 13 11 14-2 77 0.096 CLASS AVG. G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB-I SO SB MLS MLB .238 114 366 57 87 22 1 17 58 51-1 125 1 7.103 MLB .158 86 228 17 36 9 0 2 12 15-1 87 1 13.012 AAA .226 40 146 16 33 10 0 2 22 8-0 28 2 0.063 Rk. .167 11 36 3 6 1 0 1 6 2-0 2 0 MLB .258 40 120 18 31 9 0 2 13 3-0 27 0 CLASS AVG. G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB-I SO SB MLS MLB .275 147 600 81 165 27 4 12 72 34-1 96 31 11.000 AA .167 2 6 1 1 0 0 1 1 0-0 1 0 A .258 80 283 38 73 13 1 15 43 28-0 71 2 0.000 A+ .237 41 135 18 32 5 1 4 16 23-0 49 0 A+ .216 11 37 3 8 0 0 1 8 6-1 8 0 8.071 AAA .400 2 5 2 2 1 0 0 1 1-0 1 0 MLB .251 133 447 63 112 19 2 21 67 40-1 106 1 MLB .219 87 256 34 56 20 0 10 36 32-1 87 1 1.147 AA .222 4 18 2 4 1 0 1 2 0-0 4 0 AAA .308 30 117 22 36 8 0 5 16 17-1 31 0 MLB .238 65 202 23 48 12 1 1 21 14-0 49 3 2.000 AA .283 17 60 7 17 4 0 2 11 8-0 9 1 AAA .147 9 34 3 5 3 0 0 2 1-0 6 1 MLB .205 145 522 77 107 30 1 30 93 52-2 178 11 5.121 AAA .286 2 7 1 2 1 0 1 2 0-0 3 0 AAA .266 85 301 56 80 13 1 17 47 39-0 80 3 0.041 AAA .347 30 118 23 41 6 0 10 27 6-0 25 2 MLB .293 33 116 19 34 6 1 5 17 15-1 29 2 A+ .234 43 158 22 37 10 1 4 24 17-0 58 9 0.000
