Friday on the Farm: Sam Huff is with the Rangers, but don’t get too excited

(AP photo/Tony Gutierrez)

ARLINGTON — The Heim family welcomed a new bundle of joy to the family Thursday morning, and as such the Texas Rangers needed a backup catcher.

The only other catcher on the 40-man roster besides Mitch Garver and a suddenly very busy Jonah Heim is Sam Huff, so he joined the team Wednesday in anticipation of Heim going on the paternity list. That happened Thursday, and he can be there for as long as 72 hours.

There is a good chance, no matter how long Heim is away, that Huff won’t play a single inning.

That’s to be decided. He could catch the Sunday series finale against the Atlanta Braves, but the Rangers were inclined to make Garver catch all three games. Even the day game after a night game, something that would seem to go against the club’s stated policy of trying to keep Garver healthy.

Sitting on Huff would also seem to smack in the face the goal of getting him as many reps as possible this season after he didn’t catch in 2021 because of a knee injury. With Monday an off day in the minors, Huff is staring at six days off.

This feels like a big waste of time.

Not necessarily, manager Chris Woodward said.