Injured relievers, Eli White’s steady play shake up Texas Rangers roster projection
The Star-Telegram’s initial whack at the Opening Day roster warned that massive changes could be ahead.
This round of roster projections shows just that.
The main culprit for the upheaval is the injuries to relievers Jose Leclerc, Brett Martin and Joely Rodriguez. The main culprit for the biggest upheaval on the position-player side is center fielder Eli White.
In a camp in which the theme has been competition and earning a spot, White has been the poster boy. He’s been productive at the plate, solid defensively in center field, and the Rangers are looking at him to potentially be a backup at first base.
There is room for White and Leody Taveras to make the team and see steady at-bats to further their development.
How? Let’s take a look.
Position players
Catchers (2): Jose Trevino, Drew Butera
Just missed: Jonah Heim
Injuries: Sam Huff
Changes: None
Heim continues to make a strong push for the roster, showing terrific defense and enough offense, and he caught Kohei Arihara on Sunday in the B game. That could suggest the Rangers want Heim on the roster.
Butera caught Opening Day starter Kyle Gibson in Monday’s B game. Butera is a veteran who understands what it takes to play only a few times a week, while Heim is young and ideally would play everyday to continue developing.
Infielders (6): 1B Ronald Guzman, 2B Nick Solak, 3B Rougned Odor, SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa, UTIL Brock Holt, 1B Nate Lowe
Just missed: UTIL Charlie Culberson
Changes: None
The Culberson/Holt race could go either way. Culberson has the offensive numbers. Holt has been dealing with back spasms but should play in the coming days. The Rangers, though, continue to believe that Holt will have the better offensive numbers, can play shortstop capably enough, and is better at third base.
Outfielders/DH (5): LF David Dahl, CF Leody Taveras, RF Joey Gallo, DH Khris Davis, OF Eli White
Just missed: Delino DeShields
Injuries: Willie Calhoun
Changes: White added
Davis and Taveras are both trending upward after sluggish starts to the spring. Davis, traditionally a slow starter to spring training, homered three times last week and collected an RBI double Monday. Until more is known about his leg injury from Tuesday, he makes the team in this projection.
In Taveras’ case, he was sent a wake-up call by being dropped from the leadoff spot early in Cactus League games. His at-bats have improved, and he has even batted leadoff in a few games. With the minor leagues delayed until May, Taveras needs to play somewhere, and it might as well be the majors.
Pitchers
Starting rotation (7): RHP Kyle Gibson, RHP Mike Foltynewicz, RHP Kohei Arihara, RHP Jordan Lyles, RHP Dane Dunning, RHP Kyle Cody, LHP Wes Benjamin
Just missed: LHP Kolby Allard, LHP Hyeon-Jong Yang
Changes: None
The past week hasn’t been the best for the rotation, though Gibson helped turn things around with a strong B game (5 1/3 innings, two runs, 11 strikeouts) on Monday. Dunning wasn’t bad, either, against Colorado.
Allard and Yang have pitched well and are under consideration for one of the four tandem spots. Depending on how those in the tandems feel between starts, they might be asked to work as relievers on their bullpen days.
Bullpen (6): RHP Matt Bush, LHP Taylor Hearn, RHP Ian Kennedy, RHP Josh Sborz, RHP Brett de Geus, RHP Hunter Wood
Injuries: RHP Jonathan Hernandez, RHP Demarcus Evans, RHP Jose Leclerc, LHP Brett Martin, LHP Joely Rodriguez
Changes: Wood, de Geus added; Leclerc, Martin, Rodriguez to injured list
General manager Chris Young delivered more bad injury news Monday morning, the worst involving Leclerc. Martin and Rodriguez should be available by mid-April. The injuries to Leclerc and Jonathan Hernandez make it almost a necessity to have Hearn’s potentially dominant stuff in the bullpen.
The Leclerc injury also ensures Bush and Kennedy make the team as non-roster players. Wood’s ability to pitch multiple innings also makes him a candidate to be added to the 40-man roster.
De Geus, the Rule 5 pick, has been very effective and appears to have his stomach woes under control. Another former Los Angeles Dodger, Sborz, has power stuff that could play late in games.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 9:29 AM.
