Roster decisions are pending, but these players will be key to Texas Rangers’ season
All 30 MLB teams must submit their season-opening 30-man rosters to the league office by 11 a.m. Thursday.
For many teams, it’s a formality. Players have already been informed of their Opening Day fate.
Some teams, though, sleep on their final decisions and don’t announce anything until after the deadline.
The Texas Rangers have been on both sides, though they have gone down to the wire more often.
The last players to make a roster, though, seldom make or break a team’s chances.
It’s the guys who made the team before spring training starter — the hitters in the middle of the order, the starters in the rotation, and the reliever assigned to get the final three outs.
The Rangers’ key players ooze talent, but they also enter the 60-game 2020 season with questions they must answer if they’re to push the Rangers into playoff contention.
Joey Gallo
The Rangers would be thrilled if Gallo repeated what he did in 2019 en route to becoming an American League All-Star, except for the injuries. A strained oblique muscle and a broken hamate bone limited him to only 70 games, but they were an impressive 70 games.
He hit a career-high .253, an average that dipped as he tried to play through the broken bone, and had .986 OPS. At the 60-game mark, Gallo might have been the league’s MVP.
It’s been exactly a year since Gallo has seen action in an actual MLB game. And the start of his summer camp was delayed after testing positive for COVID-19. There’s no question Gallo has the power and athletic ability, but it’s fair to wonder if he can be the player he was when healthy last season.
If he isn’t, he’s still will make an impact with his power, but the Rangers need him to be great.
“I think every player has to prove that every time you have a good year, especially when it’s your first really really productive year,” manager Chris Woodward said. “Can he repeat that? I believe so. I think that’s the biggest question for anybody that does well.”
Jose Leclerc
The Rangers will enter the season with their primary set-up man, right-hander Rafael Montero, and left-handers Joely Rodriguez and Brett Martin on the injured list. They will have an abundance of talented but inexperienced pitchers filling in.
That’s unsettling. Leclerc, their closer, can’t falter.
He was great for the first week or so of last season before losing his control and losing his job. The domino effect of replacing him was costly at times, too.
Leclerc, though, pitched well most of the season. He was susceptible to home runs during summer camp, but his head is in the right place and his stuff remains elite among MLB relievers.
“I feel pretty good about it,” Woodward said. “I don’t want to see him give up homers. I don’t want anybody to not have success, but I feel pretty confident in his ability this season.”
Elvis Andrus
The Rangers’ final road trip last season included this nugget from general manager Jon Daniels: Andrus needs to produce in 2020 or face the possibility of losing playing time.
Andrus seemed to shrug it off, but he understands that he must be a better hitter, especially if he wants to continue hitting toward the top of the lineup.
He’ll be in the No. 2 spot much of the time to start the season. The Rangers need him on base ahead of Danny Santana, Gallo and Rougned Odor.
While some of Andrus’ numbers last season were among the best of his career, the overall numbers weren’t good enough. He didn’t have a great camp, but he has never been a slow starter.
Keep an eye on him.
Rougned Odor
The other player Daniels said late last year must be better in 2020 is Odor, who hit 30 home runs but needed a terrific final month just to bat .205. He led the league in strikeouts.
The Rangers praised Odor throughout the spring and did so in summer camp as he emerged as one of their best players. He has stuck with the swing changes that helped him produce that great September.
Of course, that’s a familiar preseason refrain that hasn’t panned out during previous regular seasons. The Rangers have options at second base, namely Nick Solak, and the Rangers won’t wait on a struggling player with such a short regular season.
Corey Kluber
Gallo has been out since July. To that, Kluber might say, “Hold my beer.”
The two-time AL Cy Young winner hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since May 1, 2019, when he was struck by a line drive that broke the ulna in his right forearm.
“Shoot, look at the calendar. It’s been close to a year and a half since I’ve pitched in an actual major-league game that actually meant something,” Kluber said. “So, it’s been far too long.”
He wasn’t very good before the injury, the result of a nagging knee injury and some mechanics that needed maintenance. Those looked to be ironed out during summer camp, when he was the Rangers’ most consistent starter.
If Kluber approaches what he did from 2014 to 2018, the Rangers have a Cy Young candidate. Even if he’s not that good, he’s probably still going to be a solid member of the rotation.
But he needs to go and do it, just as Gallo does.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 6:26 PM.
