Tuesday newsletter time: The door to center field might be open, just not for this player
(Texas Rangers/Ben Ludeman)
Leody Taveras might have enough time to get ready for Opening Day.
He came to camp in wonderful shape, manager Bruce Bochy said, and had been playing well after an offseason without winter ball in the Dominican Republic.
This mild oblique strain, might have happened early enough in camp for Taveras to still have time to get up to speed by the March 30 opener if he’s ready to go after the prescribed rest of seven to 10 days.
The Rangers, though, are preparing for someone else to be in center field for the season opener. Bubba Thompson, Adolis Garcia, Travis Jankowski and Ezequiel Duran are candidates.
Bochy, though, put to rest any speculation that Evan Carter is a serious candidate.
“I’d say it’s a long shot,” Bochy said. “I would think that for him to be a true option it would have to be even thinner than it is now.”
It makes complete and total sense, of course. Carter has barely played at Double A. The toughest jump is from High A to Double A, so he needs more time in Frisco before he can be considered a candidate.
But that doesn’t mean the Rangers don’t want Carter thinking he has a chance.
“He’s getting a lot of playing time, and, sure, he’s thinking, ‘Hey, I’m going to do all I can to open up eyes and have a chance to make this club,'” Bochy said. “You don’t want to break that spirit.”
MLB Pipeline top 30
Six Rangers prospects are in the MLB Pipeline top 100, which was revealed in late January. On Monday, the MLB Pipeline released its ranking of the top 30 Rangers prospects.
Josh Jung is rated No. 1, followed by Carter, Owen White, Luisangel Acuna and Jack Leiter. Brock Porter, Justin Foscue, Dustin Harris, Aaron Zavala and Kumar Rocker round out the top 10.
Some rankings of interest:
TK Roby is ranked No. 12 after being ranked No. 28 by Baseball America, for whom I am a contributor but did not contribute to its Rangers top 30. The Rangers believe Roby is one of their elite pitching prospects. He’s two spots ahead of Cole Winn, who the club also believes is in that upper group.
Sebastian Walcott, the prize of the 2023 international class, lands at No. 15.
One to watch this season is right-hander Dane Acker, who was unranked by BA but lands at No. 23 in the MLB Pipeline rankings. He impressed over the offseason and continues to impress this spring as an early arrival to minor-league camp.
He has agreed to join the Rangers Today Baseball Podcast for one of the next two episodes from Surprise.
Rangers Today reminders
The Rangers Today crew will be in the air Wednesday morning, headed to Surprise. The hope is to be there in time for Jacob deGrom to face hitters and check in on the big-leaguers before they have their first off day of camp Thursday.
The coverage hasn’t stopped from Texas and will intensify this week from Arizona, so let that serve as your weekly friendly reminder to get full access to Rangers Today. The cost is $5.99 a month, $35 for six months or $60 for a year. You can subscribe or upgrade your free account here.
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As always, thanks for your support.
Doggy video!
Dog did nothing wrong here. Enjoy.
Dog wins by a nose
— Kevin W. (@Brink_Thinker) March 5, 2023
Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com
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