Rangers’ top 2019 award winner started at Triple A, but who was named top pitcher?
A breakthrough season for Danny Santana has earned him the team’s annual top honor, even though his season started in the minor leagues.
The super utility player, who appears headed to a full-time roll in center field in 2020, was selected as the Rangers Player of the Year for 2019 by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Santana, who was promoted from Triple A in early April, batted .283 with an .857 OPS on the strength of 28 home runs, a total that quadrupled his previous career-high. He played seven positions, but is the top candidate to replace Delino DeShields in center field.
Deshields was traded last month to the Cleveland Indians, along with reliever Emmanual Clase, for right-hander Corey Kluber.
The tightest awards race was for Pitcher of the Year, which Mike Minor (14-10, 3.59 ERA, 200 strikeouts) won over Lance Lynn (16-11, 3.67 ERA, 246 strikeouts). Minor was one of the Rangers’ All-Stars in 2019, but Lynn finished fifth in Cy Young voting while Minor was eighth.
Nick Solak was voted as the Rookie of the Year despite playing only 33 games; Shin-Soo Choo won the Good Guy Award.
Each award winner is expected at the Comerica Peek at the Park at Texas Live! on Jan. 25. The Rangers will not hold an annual winter banquet because of ongoing construction at Globe Life Field.
Mathis, Barney hired
The only MLB team Doug Mathis ever pitch for has hired him as their bullpen coach.
The former right-handed reliever was hired Thursday by the Rangers to replace Oscar Marin, who left last month to become the Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitching coach.
Mathis pitched for the Rangers from 2008-2010 after they drafted him in the 13th round of the 2005 draft (Missouri). He went 3-3 with a 4.84 ERA in 45 career games.
He also pitching in Korea, Japan and Taiwan before retiring as a player after the 2014 season, part of which was spent with the Rangers’ Triple A affiliate in Round Rock. He launched his coaching career in 2017, and spent last season at the Triple A Buffalo in the Toronto organization.
The Rangers also filled their final managerial vacancy in the minors, hiring Darwin Barney to Triple A Nashville. The former MLB infielder and Gold Glove winner (Chicago Cubs, 2012) was a non-roster invitee to Rangers spring training in 2018.
This is his first coaching job. The Rangers hired former catcher Bobby Wilson last month to be the manager at Double A Frisco, also his first coaching job.
Outfielder invited
The Rangers signed outfielder Henry Ramon to a minor-league contract and invited him to spring training. The 27-year-old has never played in the majors with three organizations, most recently the San Francisco Giants.
