Rangers Second Week of Spring Training Recap
February 23rd-
Early Sunday morning we were hit with the unfortunate news that one Rangers top pitching prospect in the system also in all of baseball in Alejandro Rosario needs elbow surgery, and will miss the 2025 season. Here is a quote from Chris Young, ” It’s likely UCL, I don’t want to officially say, but yeah, it’s elbow and will probably require Tommy John.”
The Rangers played their third spring training game being against the Cubs. Cody Bradford started the game looking like Cody Bradford of last year. He worked two innings striking out one hitter, and giving up one hit. He threw a strike 75% of the time, and he had 7 first pitch strikes. Adrian Houser wasn’t bad in his two innings of work. He gave up one hit, striking out 1 hitter, and walking one hitter on 33 pitches. Walter Pennington also looked solid in his one inning of work striking out one hitter and giving up one hit. Luis Curvelo’s command wasn’t great yesterday he waled two hitters, but he did strikeout one hitter. The Rangers bats woke up in this game tallying eight hits and scoring five runs. Marcus Semien lead off the game with a single, then Corey Seager walked after the single. Jake Burger stepped up to the plate singled to right field and Marcus Semien scored to make it 1-0 in the first. In the third inning Corey lead off the inning with a single. Two batters later Josh Jung walks on eight pitches from Ryan Pressly. Then Tucker Barnhart lines a single to centerfield getting the bases loaded for Sam Haggerty. Haggerty gets the RBI on a ground out to make it a 2-0 game. Two innings later in the top of the 5th Trevor Hauser continues the tear he is on early in spring training belting a solo HR to right field making it 3-0. In the top of the 6th Sam Haggerty lead off with a single. Kellen Strahm now pitch-running for Haggerty and will take his spot in the lineup. Zeke Duran steps up to the plate and lines a double to right field. Now the Rangers have runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Alejandro Osuna steps in to the box after Leody Taveras strikes out, and hits a sacrifice fly to left field to extend the Rangers lead 4-0. Duran then later scores on a wild pitch to make it a 5-0 game in the top of the 6th. How ever that lead didn’t last. Caleb Boushley and Michael Plassmeyer blew the lead by the end of the 7th inning, and the Rangers fell short in this one losing 6-5.
February 24th-
The Rangers are set to play their 4th spring training game against the Chicago White Sox. The first inning was certainly one to forget for the White Sox with the Rangers scoring 9 runs in the inning. The game started off with two walks to Josh Smith and Joc Pederson. Then after a Jonah Helm strikeout Adolis Garcia hit an RBI single to center field making it a 1-0 game. Next batter Dustin Harris hits a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 2-0. The next three batters resulted in a walk, a HBP, and an RBI walk to make it 3-0. The next hitter Jonathan Ornelas the next batter hits a line drive single to right field to make it 5-0 still in the first inning. One pitch later Josh Smith makes it a 6-0 game on an RBI single lined to center field. One of the Rangers top acquisitions in Joc Pederson shows why the Rangers wanted him. He launches a flyable to left center field over the wall to make it a 9-0 game, still in the first inning. Jon Gray was the starter of this game. He threw 2 perfect innings while striking out a hitter. Shawn Armstrong also made his first appearance of the spring only giving up one hit. Gerson Garabito was set to throw 2 innings in this one. Garabito was great ins two innings of work only walking one hitter while striking out 4 hitters and not allowing any hits. Marc Church closed out this game, command looked to be off a little. He was leaving sliders up and down the middle of the plate, and his veto went up and down kind of. In the top of the 9th the Rangers added two runs to bring their run tally up to 11. Abimelec Ortiz and Jax Biggers hit back-to-back HRs. The Rangers won their first Cactus League game of the year.
February 25-
The Rangers are facing the Kansas City Royals for a second time in Cactus League play. This was a crazy game. The Royals feasted on the Rangers pitching in this game. The Royals got a total of 22 hits in the game, and they scored 15 runs. Only four of the Rangers 12 pitchers used that day didn’t give up runs. Those being Patrick Murphy, Robby Ahlstrom, Winston Santos, and Emiliano Teodo. Murphy tallied 1 strike out and gave up 1 hit, and Ahlstrom had the same line. Santos pitched 2/3 innings and gave up 1 walk and no hits, and Teodo gave up 1 hit and 1 walk. Kumar Rocker did start this game and didn’t look like the Kumar Rocker we have seen. However, Rocker seemed to be working on some pitches. He didn’t throw his 80 grade slider once, and he threw 22 pitches. The Rangers bats were hot today, they scored 6 runs in the game. Leody Taveras got the Rangers on the board with a 3-run home run, Josh Smith doubled to get on and Kyle Higashioka singled to get Josh Smith to third. In the 6th inning Cody Freeman singled to get on base for Justin Foscue. Foscue then doubled home Cody Freeman to get the Rangers run tally up to 4. Tucker Barnhart then singled home Justin Foscue to get the Rangers to 5 runs. In the 7th inning Sebastian Walcott hit a two out double then was singled home by Cody Thomas. The Rangers lost 15-6 to the Royals.Â
February 26th
Wyatt Langford is now resuming baseball activities after taking a few days off due to an oblique issue. Sebastian Walcott will be down for a few days due to arm soreness. Robert Garcia will throw a live bullpen on Thursday.
The Rangers play their 6th game against the Cleveland Guardians. Nathan Eovaldi started this game and had 3 innings of work. Nathan struck out 3 hitters, no walks, but he did allow 3 hits and a run. Dane Dunning came in after Eovaldi. Dane has looked good so far this spring, through his 2 innings of work he struck out 3 hitters and didn’t give up any hits or walks. Jacob Webb slated to work after Dane Dunning, Webb didn’t allow any hits or walks. Holy Milner only got through 2/3 innings of work after Jacob Webb, Milner had 2 strikeouts but did give up 4 hits and 2 earned runs, including a home run. Matt Festa came in to finish the inning where he got a flyball to end it. He then went on to pitch the next inning where he gave up one hit and no runs. Cole Winn came in to close out the game he got 1 strikeout and he ended the game on a double play. The Rangers got the scoring started with a walk and then a double by Kyle Higashioka. Next batter, Justin Foscue singled up the middle to untie the game and the Rangers now lead 2-1. A wild pitch got Justin Foscue over to second, then Nick Ahmed added to the Rangers lead by hitting a single to center field. Now it is a 3-1 Rangers lead. Then Alejandro Osuna hits a single as well to stretch the Rangers lead to 4-1. In the top of the 7th inning Nick Ahmed hit a solo home run to left center field to make it a 5-1 Rangers lead. In the top of the 9th, Rangers 2024 first round draft pick Malcolm Moore walks to lead off the inning, then after a fly out from Alan Trejo, Jax Biggers lines a double into right field which makes it a 6-4. Jax Biggers advanced to third base on a ground out from Josh Hatcher. Bigger then scores on a wild pitch to increase the Rangers lead to 7-4. The Rangers do hold Cleveland to no runs in the 9th, and they win the game 7-4.Â
February 27th-
The Rangers are set to face division rivals Seattle Mariners in the Cactus League game. Tyler Mahle gets the start in this game. The Rangers got the scoring started in the 3rd inning. Tucker Barnhart led off the inning with a single, then Marcus Semien blasted a triple to center field that allowed Tucker Barnhart to score, the Rangers lead 1-0. In the 5th inning Josh Jung got a two out double and then Jake Burger blasts a home run to left center field to extend the Rangers lead 3-0. Then in the sixth inning the Rangers scored 3 runs courtesy of an error, a walk, a double, wild pitch, and lastly a ground out. The rangers now lead 6-0. In the 7th inning Rangers top prospect Sebastian Walcott blasts a solo home run to left center field, I would like to note that the wind was HOWLING during the game. Then in the 8th inning Sebastian Walcott gets another RBI on an RBI groundout. Tyler Mahle worked through 3 innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 1 hitter. Walter Pennington comes in to get an inning of work where he gives up 2 hits, but doesn’t give up a run. Adrain Houser now comes into the game to get 2 innings. Houser allowed 1 hit, 1 walk, and he struck out 1 hitter. Then Caleb Boushley takes the mound. He pitched 2 innings and struck out 4 hitters. He didn’t give up any hits or any walks. Marc Church then came on to close out the game for the Rangers. Church did not allow any hits or any walks, and he struck out 1 hitter on a fastball that was clocked in at 97 MPH. The Rangers win their third Cactus League game 8-0 over the Mariners.Â
More on the Jake Burger home run. His four month old daughter Penelope, born with Down syndrome had a successful open heart surgery on Monday. Burger was at a Nashville hospital until 11PM Wednesday night, caught a flight at 5AM, and reported to camp at 7:45AM on Thursday morning. Then proceeded to hit a home run while also wearing Penelope’s hospital band.
February 28th-
The Rangers face the Cubs for a second time this spring. Cody Bradford got the ball to start this game. The Rangers got the scoring started in the 2nd inning on a Kyle Higashioka 2 run home run, scoring Jake Burger who singled to get on base. Then in the 4th inning Josh Jung led off with a walk, Adolis Garcia singled to get Jung to second base, Jake Burger then hit a single to load the bases. Then Kyle Higashioka hit a sacrifice fly to untie the game for the Rangers, they now lead 3-2. Adolis Garcia led off the 6th inning with a single, Dustin Harris now pitch-running for him. Harris steals second base, then Jake Burger walks. Then Kyle Higashioka once again hits a home run, this time a 3 run home run, now it is a 7-2 Rangers lead. Later that inning Jonathan Ornelas doubled home Alejandro Osuna who hit a single to get on base. The Rangers lead 8-2. Now for the pitching side of things. Cody Bradford started the game off by striking out 2 hitters then got into some trouble, but got out of the inning without letting up a run. Cody went on to give up no runs while striking out 3 hitters, allowing 3 hits and 1 walk. Jack Leiter now on to pitch for the Rangers. Jack continued his spring success striking out 4 hitters, but did give up a home run because a strike 3 call was overturned due to the ABS system. Jesse Chavez then came in and gave up 4 runs, now the Rangers only leading 8-6. Emiliano Teodo came in to finish the inning for Chavez, he didn’t give up any runs. Robby Ahlstrom then came in and didn’t give up any runs, striking out a hitter. Shawn Armstrong then came in to close out the game but the Cubs got two because of an error. Armstrong did end up striking out a hitter. The Rangers and Cubs tied 8-8 in this Cactus League battle.
March 1st-
Jacob deGrom threw his first live bullpen today, and will make a Cactus League start on Friday.
Robert Garcia is expected to make his Cactus League debut on Monday.
Kumar Rocker is the starter of this game against the Brewers. Not a great start for him again. It was hard to track his stats on his pitches in this game because there was no statcast, but according to Jared Sandler and Matt Hicks of the Rangers radio broadcast it seemed he was working things again similar to his first start. Rocker’s final stat line was 4 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K and he gave up a home run that was pushed by the wind over the fence. In Jacob Webb’s inning of work he allowed a home run, but he did strike out 2 hitters. Patrick Murphy, Codi Heuer, and Matt Festa all had clean innings. Codi Heuer struck out 2 hitters and walked 1 hitter. Matt Festa struck out 1 hitter, and Patrick Murphy got all of his hitters to hit into outs. The Rangers got on the board in the second inning. Jonah Helm led off with a single. Then Dustin Harris clobbered a home run to right field cutting the Rangers deficit to 4-2. Then in the top of the 8th inning Blaine Grim got an RBI ground out scoring Cameron Cauley who was a pitch-runner for Nick Ahmed that hit a single to lead off the inning. The Rangers run tally now up to 3. Sebastian Walcott led off the 9th with a hustle double. Tucker Barnhart then grounded out to push Walcott over to 3rd. Abimelec Ortiz singled home Walcott to make it a 9-4 game. The Brewers held on in the 9th inning and beat the Rangers 9-4.
