Locked on Rangers Podcast: Josh Jung injured, exciting prospects, spring training feel
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00:00 We're not even a week into spring training and the Rangers are already getting some bad
00:05 injury news.
00:06 We'll talk about all that and more on this episode of Locked on Rangers.
00:08 Let's get into it.
00:11 You are locked on Rangers.
00:13 Your daily Texas Rangers podcast.
00:18 Part of the Locked on Podcast Network.
00:20 Your team every day.
00:22 You are locked on to the World Series champion Texas Rangers.
00:36 I'm Bryce Patrick, a cripplingly addicted Texas Rangers fan covering this team for 10
00:40 seasons, including all five as the founder and host of this podcast.
00:43 Thank you all so much for making Locked on Rangers your first listen every single day.
00:46 If you're not already, you can follow me on Twitter at Bryce Patrick.
00:48 You can follow this show at Locked on Rangers.
00:50 You can follow my guest at OG Show.
00:53 Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and on YouTube.
00:55 For the best way you can help grow the show is to comment nearly any single thing below.
00:59 Joining me today is Grant Schiller, the prospect prognosticator, writer at Baseball Perspectives
01:04 General Baseball Enjoyer.
01:06 How are you doing today, my friend?
01:08 I'm doing great.
01:11 I am overdosing on the like just hearing ball hit mid and crack of the bat videos all over
01:18 Twitter and Instagram.
01:20 The green grass, I'm ready to get out there.
01:23 It's just nice to see and hear these things again.
01:26 Are you in the best shape of your life?
01:28 It is spring training, so I got to know.
01:32 Most definitely not.
01:33 But you know, we're working to get there.
01:36 Might be more of a second half performer this year, but hopefully by the summer we'll be
01:41 in best shape of our life territory.
01:42 More of an Anthony Rendon appearance at spring training than Alec Manoa.
01:50 I feel that, but unlike Anthony Rendon, you actually do enjoy baseball very much.
01:54 Today we're going to get into the Josh Young entry.
01:57 What that means.
01:58 If we could sign one more free agent, who would it be?
02:00 Some prospects that Grant is very excited to see.
02:02 But first, today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.
02:05 Pick everyone with more.
02:06 New customers join today, you'll get $150 in bonus bets with your first bet of $5 or
02:10 more wins.
02:11 Visit Fanduel.com/locked on to get started.
02:15 Now for the last three years, unfortunately a staple of spring training has been my large
02:21 adult son, Joshua Ryan Young, sustaining some silly, random fluky injury that just puts
02:29 a bummer to my spring training vibes and to his season for the most part has two out of
02:34 the last three years.
02:36 And this year, unfortunately, is no different.
02:39 Josh Young was fielding grounders at third base, felt something in his calf, and he is
02:44 going to be out for three weeks with that calf injury.
02:49 Thankfully, it's not as bad as I was worried about, but literally day one of spring training.
02:55 I mean, these injuries for, for Josh Young, I mean, he had a stress fracture in his foot
03:00 back in 2021 that made him miss about six or eight weeks.
03:03 It was quite a long time.
03:06 Then in 2022, um, he had a torn labrum, which we thought was going to put him out for the
03:13 entire season.
03:14 Thankfully, he worked his butt off in rehab and came back and made his major league debut
03:19 at the end of 2022.
03:20 And then 2023, even though he didn't sustain an injury or miss any time, he got in a car
03:25 accident and totally five week old car.
03:28 Thankfully he was okay.
03:31 But I mean, this is now four spring trainings in a row.
03:35 I mean, do we just need to wrap this man in bubble wrap or just say, no, you're not going
03:38 to Arizona.
03:39 You will start the season when the season starts.
03:42 Maybe you can play in that spring training, like, uh, you know, uh, what is it?
03:46 Dress rehearsal game in globe life the couple of days before opening day, but this is just
03:51 extremely bad juju for Josh Young.
03:54 Yeah.
03:55 Arizona doesn't seem to, uh, do well with him other than winning world championships
04:00 in the area.
04:01 Um, but I think I might have a solution that works as a win-win for a lot of people, as
04:07 long as the NCAA, uh, will allow it.
04:10 Okay.
04:11 So let's say you let him work out in Lubbock, uh, for February and March, let him play in
04:16 the games for tech.
04:17 So he gets his game reps, uh, avoid the injuries of Arizona and, uh, maybe you can help tech,
04:24 uh, have a good season while also getting prepared to win a championship with the Rangers.
04:28 Good.
04:29 Good.
04:30 Two rings in one year.
04:31 I think, I think that'd be good.
04:32 I think that I would be okay with that.
04:34 Um, and if I am running the NCAA, I am as an unbiased person who just happened to go
04:40 to Texas tech university.
04:41 I think that'd be fine.
04:42 I mean what he'd only hit like, I don't know, 700 against college pitching right now, a
04:48 current all-star and a world series champion.
04:50 Yeah.
04:51 I think that might, um, might be difficult for some college pitchers to contain an all-star
04:57 big leaguer.
04:58 Um, but you know, how else are you going to get better if not facing the best?
05:03 I mean, what's better draft prep than facing an all-star right now?
05:07 Yeah, absolutely.
05:09 I think, uh, I mean, it looked kind of like high schoolers to do against Jordan Lawler
05:13 when he was in the area.
05:14 Like you have one guy who's up there that clearly is going to be a, in Lawler's case,
05:19 a future major leaguer and very good one against a lefty throwing 73 who can't find the strike
05:25 zone.
05:26 Um, you just changed that to current MLB all-star versus lefty who's throwing 84 and can't
05:32 throw the strikes, can't find the strike zone.
05:34 Um, and that's where the magic happens.
05:37 I'm curious, would he have like just an a thousand on base because they're just going
05:41 to walk them every single time?
05:42 Because I feel like that might be your best move.
05:44 Or is someone going to, you know, Mr. Mr. You know, intentional walk pitch and throw
05:51 him a cookie and he's going to, you know, take them deep.
05:53 Yeah.
05:54 I think once you get the conference play, you'd have some, some Friday starters and
05:57 some back of the bullpen guys who, who try to challenge them with nobody on base.
06:02 Um, I do worry that you'd get young in such a swing mode because he'd be used to walk
06:07 walking so much that he'd be chasing after anything.
06:09 Um, so I guess that's the concern, but I still think it's worth, worth checking out doing
06:16 some due diligence on.
06:17 I think so too.
06:18 And you know, one of the things I'm looking for for Josh young this year is to improve
06:22 that walk rate.
06:23 He had a much better walk rate in college at just every single level.
06:25 It's gone down, down, down, down, down.
06:27 Same with the strikeout rate has gone conversely up.
06:30 It might be, um, too dangerous to give him a metal bat though.
06:34 I think that, uh, that could do some damage to some spectators in the outfield, um, or
06:39 just some position players that are not, I don't think that should be fair.
06:45 Just let them use a, a wood bat and maybe that might even it out, make it a little more.
06:49 Even he'd still probably hit like 800, but you know, make it a little easier on those
06:54 college pitchers.
06:55 Cause that would be a little difficult, but there are still some free agents on the market,
07:02 even though we are, uh, what, five days into spring training, there are still some big
07:07 names on the market.
07:09 And, uh, it seems like the Rangers are all good on signing more free agents, but if the
07:15 Rangers could sign one more free agent, excluding Jordan Montgomery, cause that's too obvious
07:20 an answer.
07:21 I'm curious, who would you like to sign to the guys that are still out there?
07:25 Grant?
07:26 Yeah.
07:28 Nobody really jumps top of mind of who's out there, right?
07:32 You have maybe Ryan Sandick's the best reliever out there, but he violates by no clown policy.
07:38 Um, so do a couple of the better starters out there and, and Bauer and Urias, uh, who
07:44 are beyond clowns.
07:46 Um, so you're looking at Lorenzen, who's probably going to get more than he, he should get.
07:51 And then you're looking at a bunch of five and dive guys.
07:53 Zach Rinky, Hunjin Ryu are probably two of the better ones.
07:58 Uh, obviously they both throw upper eighties at this point.
08:01 Uh, you were just trying to get through the lineup two times without dying.
08:06 Um, but that's still valuable depth.
08:09 So you're looking at one of those two, maybe you do go after Brandon Belt who hit righties
08:13 extremely well last year.
08:14 Um, but that's not necessarily as much a position of need.
08:18 Uh, so I'd probably settle on Ryu.
08:22 Uh, but if you want to argue Zach Rinky, I'd be okay with that too.
08:25 Neither of those excite me.
08:27 It's just a need for a body.
08:30 That's fair.
08:31 I feel like those are solid options, but I'm going to go a little off the board and go
08:34 JD Martinez just for a one year deal.
08:38 Since the Rangers have got their, their, they're worried about their TV money for the future.
08:43 They got a settlement or lump sum for this year.
08:46 So they're going to already be in the tax.
08:49 So why not go sign a 36 year old DH, take this lineup from probably one of the top five
08:56 offenses in baseball to pretty comfortably in that.
08:59 I'd say if they sign JD Martinez, they're pretty comfortably in that Dodgers or Braves
09:05 range, maybe not quite as good as the brave.
09:06 I mean, I feel like there's still some people there that are, I mean, it's an incredibly
09:09 deep line of incredibly good.
09:11 I think some of those guys are still due to, to fall off a little bit.
09:14 We saw what Sean Murphy fell off in the second half.
09:16 He was incredible in the first half, but fell off a lot in the second half.
09:19 I don't know that Matt Olson is going to have another 55 Homer season.
09:24 Still a very good first baseman, still all-star silver slugger worthy, but I don't know.
09:28 He's going to have 50 plus bombs again this year.
09:31 I don't know that Acuna is going to put up an insane world beating like record setting
09:37 season.
09:38 I mean, very easily could, but it's a difficult thing to rep a repeat of 40, 70.
09:45 But still I think you add JD Martinez and this line up goes absolutely nuclear.
09:49 And again, I like just adding little cherries on top of the Sunday.
09:53 That is this incredibly deep and talented lineup that won a world championship.
09:57 And we're going to talk a little bit about the future of this team, some prospects that
10:01 grant is excited to see in just a second, right after this word from our sponsors.
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11:01 Spring dual official sports book partner of the NBA.
11:08 Now grant Schiller, you are the prospect prognosticated, the guy who knows things that others do not.
11:13 And you are once again, headed to spring training for the first time to see the world series
11:18 champs in surprise Arizona.
11:22 And while I'm sure you're excited to see Josh spores throw some pitches and, um, and Josh
11:28 young sit there with maybe he won't be injured by the time you get there.
11:33 But there are also some, some young prospects that are off of most people's radar, not off
11:38 of your radar.
11:39 Cause your radar is picking up all kinds of things like whatever, whatever a very good
11:45 radar is.
11:46 I don't have any radar dishes by brand name, uh, top of mind.
11:51 Also I don't have any, you know, sponsorship deals with them.
11:54 So, you know, no free ads to those, those radar dishes, but who are some guys on your
11:58 radar that you're excited to see either for the first time or to get a better look at
12:02 some prospects in process in spring training this year?
12:07 Uh, before I get there to two quick things on your buildup there.
12:12 Um, it was well executed, but I won't stand for this Royals erasure.
12:17 This is the second time that I have seen a world series champions in surprise, but the
12:20 first time I cared about it.
12:22 Um, and then second, maybe some, some hype man coaching, uh, a radar that could pick
12:27 up the red October.
12:29 I think that would have been a good line there.
12:32 Oh, but we'll, we'll move on.
12:34 You know, you live and you learn, uh, it's a, it's a learning experience.
12:38 It's all it is.
12:39 We, we either win or we learn there's no failure.
12:42 It's spring training for everybody.
12:44 Exactly.
12:45 That's perfect.
12:46 Use the phrase there, Bryce.
12:49 There you go.
12:51 Um, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw five names at you real quick.
12:55 There's three young, uh, international signings on, on the position player side that I'm really
13:00 excited to see.
13:02 You've got a Chedri Vargas who is getting praise from just about everywhere right now.
13:08 He's a smaller kid.
13:10 I think he's five 10 or five 11, but the data on his bat out of the complex league was really
13:17 strong.
13:18 Uh, the top line numbers were also really strong.
13:20 He hits the ball hard.
13:22 Uh, he hits it enough.
13:25 Uh, he seems like he's going to be capable of sticking it short.
13:29 Um, and if you hit the ball hard and you can play shortstop and your approach isn't total
13:35 dog, you do, you are absolutely a legitimate prospect.
13:40 Um, I think we at baseball perspectives had him at number 10 in the system and it seemed
13:44 like that's about where he landed across the board.
13:50 Um, and the next two are both out of Venezuela.
13:54 Uh, there's Marcus Torres, who's a 19 year old who spent the last couple of weeks of
13:59 the season and down East that didn't necessarily go so well, but prior to that in the ACL,
14:04 he had really shown a lot.
14:06 Um, he also had hit the ball fairly hard, pretty good data, uh, not as good as Vargas
14:10 for sure.
14:11 Uh, but interesting enough, and he's a quick guy, uh, 23 stolen bases and 48 games.
14:17 Uh, here, here's some good things.
14:19 They're not necessarily off the charts, but definitely an interesting prospect at such
14:23 a young age.
14:24 And the third one is Jesus Lopez who made his way Stateside as an 18 year old catcher,
14:29 which is pretty rare.
14:30 Um, if you think back to their international signings, the last one who did that may have
14:36 been David Garcia, who were there very high on at the time.
14:38 And then he kind of stalled out.
14:41 Uh, he's just Lopez.
14:43 Hopefully we'll not do that.
14:44 But early signs there were fairly positive and a very small sample.
14:48 Uh, again, the, the, the data behind his, uh, batted ball numbers was not spectacular,
14:56 but at his age, it was strong enough to be worth a follow.
14:58 So I'm excited to see him, uh, Torres and Vargas on the position player side.
15:04 It's normally these lower level guys and international guys who are the most interesting, uh, cause
15:09 I haven't seen them.
15:10 Uh, they haven't been here through Frisco and Round Rock.
15:13 On the arm side, I'll throw out Aiden Curry who had a big pop up here last year.
15:19 Um, he's long been a guy that the Rangers organization has been high on and I haven't
15:25 quite seen it myself when I've gone to spring training.
15:28 Uh, but last year he started to put it into numbers and into, um, Scouts and, and prospect
15:35 analysts were starting to see it as well and over the full season ball.
15:39 So I'm interested to see, has he taken a step forward?
15:42 Is he the same guy and maybe I'm just missing something?
15:44 Uh, get another look at him and then Mitch Bratt, who I have not seen, but very interestingly,
15:50 uh, made the fan graph SIPS top 100 overall prospects.
15:54 Um, and it's had a lot of success, uh, at the lower levels at a young age.
15:59 Um, so he's very advanced.
16:01 I don't know that he has the projectability to really live up to what the, the numbers
16:06 alone would project him to be as a big leaguer.
16:09 Um, but he has been very successful.
16:13 Uh, and I found it interesting that he rated as highly there as he did.
16:17 Yeah.
16:18 I mean, a fifth round pick back in, in 2021, I mean, to be, to be where he is already.
16:23 And you know, it seems like he's, yeah, like you said, he's not a guy who's like, Oh, well,
16:27 this guy is, is putting up these insane numbers.
16:30 So that means that he's going to do the same thing at the big league level.
16:32 It's just like, this guy is very polished, very advanced.
16:35 I mean, in 2022, the year after he was drafted, he pitched 80 at two thirds innings and for
16:41 the sub two five ERA and full season ball as a 19 year old.
16:46 That's incredibly impressive.
16:47 I mean, last year I had a, around a three and a half ERA and 61 innings for Hickory
16:51 as a what?
16:52 20 year old.
16:53 Um, yeah, he was turned 20 beginning of the season and you know, it's impressive.
17:00 He was impressive enough to make the world baseball classic roster for team Canada and
17:05 to be thrown to the wolves in against team USA, which he got an out and did not allow
17:10 a home run.
17:12 And uh, those are the positives there.
17:14 Don't ask how he got the out.
17:15 Was it a sack fly?
17:16 Maybe, but Hey, he was a 19 year old at the time against peak team USA lineup.
17:22 And uh, that's about how that's going to go for anybody, no matter how advanced they are
17:28 as a 19 year old, unless you've got like, I don't know, unless you're like Yuri Perez,
17:34 which even then I think Yuri Perez might've also gotten lit up by team USA.
17:39 Maybe not, but like as a tournament lineup, and there's no shame in taking one on the
17:43 chin when you are literally being thrown of like, all right, our rotations kind of, um,
17:49 you know, beat up right now.
17:50 We're going to throw this teenager out there and, um, it will be a learning experience
17:54 as we have said.
17:57 Um, but yeah, I'm excited about what he's going to do next year.
18:01 I feel like, you know, the next logical step is making that, you know, being 21 in double
18:07 a for a full season, see if he can get more innings under his belt.
18:10 The most he's thrown is 80 and two thirds back in 2022.
18:13 So hopefully you can get a fully healthy, healthy season there.
18:17 Maybe 20 starts, maybe a hundred innings.
18:20 I don't know.
18:21 We'll see.
18:22 Maybe that's a little on the aggressive side, but I mean, being his age and showing this
18:27 much trust in him, even if he is like, just project it's like a number five starter.
18:33 We've talked about it a lot that that's valuable.
18:35 And that's something the Rangers haven't done a whole lot of, if any, in the past five years,
18:40 and they could really use a solid serviceable number five homegrown starter, uh, this year
18:45 even, maybe that's Cody Brass.
18:48 They could, but Hey, even if they don't get that, this is still hope.
18:55 Yeah, go ahead.
18:57 No, I was just going to say, or kind of agree with your point.
19:04 If he's developed into any caliber of big league starter, that is a big win for this
19:08 team's pitching development.
19:10 Given where they've been.
19:12 I was thinking about it the other day doing the, the Rangers top 10 podcast would be B
19:18 how many starters have they developed since 2000 in this, this century, how many of the
19:22 guys have they developed?
19:23 You have, uh, CJ Wilson, you have, um, Martine Perez, Derek Holland.
19:30 Uh, there was one other who is not Scott Feldman.
19:35 Um, and then maybe you can claim Colby Lewis, although the bulk of his development really
19:40 happened when he went to Asia.
19:42 Um, and that that's about all that came to mind, unless I was missing somebody big, it's
19:47 a low, low number
19:49 of just the straight up homegrown homegrown guys.
19:52 No trades, no drafted and stayed with the Rangers.
19:57 Um, drafted or signed and stayed with since 2000.
20:00 Um, when was Kenny Rogers?
20:03 He was, he was before that, right?
20:04 He was before that.
20:06 Yeah.
20:07 Well, I mean, he did, he did pitch with the Rangers in the year 2000, he was 35 then.
20:12 Um, but you know,
20:17 they're really brown was before that.
20:20 And they had more success prior to that.
20:23 But, uh, since the turn of the century, it's been very far and few between, and that's
20:28 across multiple, um, groups of pitching coaches and pitching philosophies and, uh, general
20:36 managers.
20:37 And it's, it's pretty crazy.
20:40 It's honestly insane that they've had that little success.
20:43 I mean, it's hard for anybody to develop starting pitching, but the amount of starting pitching,
20:47 they haven't developed is like, as it's a little bonkers, but coming up, we're gonna
20:51 talk about some positive things, how this off season has felt different as the reigning
20:55 world champs and what the vibes are this spring training as well as our random Rangers.
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22:00 Now this spring training, this off season, the shortest off season in franchise history
22:04 since the Rangers won the world series in case y'all happen to forget, which by the
22:09 way, we did get some news about that world series, courtesy of Mr. Evan Grant of the
22:14 Dallas morning news.
22:15 One of the things that I was saying the Rangers needed to do before pitchers and catchers
22:18 reported, I think, I think they only did one of these things and they didn't do this one
22:23 before pitchers and catchers reported because the main thing was signed Monty.
22:27 That has not happened.
22:28 But one of the things that I was asking for, I think the fifth one in particular was for
22:33 the Ranger to get a world series documentary because every year since documentaries and
22:39 baseball were a thing, the world series champion had had a movie about them behind the scenes
22:44 interviews highlights sprinkled in.
22:46 And this seemed like the first year that they weren't going to do it, but we did finally
22:50 get some confirmation that that is going to happen.
22:53 Rangers will get their world series documentary.
22:56 They're doing some filming at spring training.
22:59 Thank God because I can't imagine not making a movie about the single most important event
23:04 to happen in human history.
23:06 What about you, Grant?
23:07 No, I think it would be spitting on Ken Burns's future grave if you didn't do it.
23:16 And far be it for me to spit on that same sort of man's grave.
23:20 So now I was so happy to see that.
23:23 I wish it was out already.
23:25 And logistically, it's better to have the interviews while everybody's there at spring
23:29 training.
23:30 But I want to watch it and I want to watch it now before I go out to spring training
23:35 and start thinking more about 2024.
23:38 So I think kind of to the point you're about to get to this offseason, like 2024 has mattered,
23:45 but so much less than the next season, like ever matters.
23:49 It's just been riding the high and the joy and watching highlights and very much nothing
23:53 can hurt me vibes.
23:54 Can you imagine if they had lost the world series last year?
23:59 How mad everybody would be about not having Montgomery back.
24:01 But they won.
24:03 And so it's like, you know what, I'm worried about this.
24:06 I don't think it's going to go great.
24:07 I really wish they'd bring him back.
24:08 But hey, like ring, we're good.
24:11 Yeah, I mean, that's kind of been the entire vibe.
24:14 And I don't know if this is going to be the same vibe for the rest of time.
24:18 I like to think so.
24:19 I like to hope so.
24:22 It didn't quite work out that way with Mavs fandom.
24:25 It's been what 12, 13 years since the Mavs title.
24:30 And they went from one generational superstar to another with a whole year of overlap.
24:35 And they're still mad about a lot of things.
24:37 I hope that's not us in 13 years after this Rangers title, because I don't know about
24:43 you, but I can't imagine like it would take a lot of bag fumbling for me to be like, all
24:50 right, now I'm mad about the Texas Rangers.
24:52 Like it's going to take like, I feel like, I don't know, maybe five years minimum for
24:57 me to be like, okay, y'all need to like get it together because like that run was just
25:02 so amazing and so magical.
25:03 And we both waited for it so long and never thought it happened.
25:06 Right?
25:07 Yeah.
25:08 I really, I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime.
25:12 No matter how long that lifetime went, no more than after the Altuve Homer in game five.
25:19 So yeah, I think it'll take a long time.
25:21 I hope it never wears off.
25:24 They'd have to do a lot of things wrong for me to be anything, but, oh, I'm upset.
25:28 Let me just go watch a Doley's Garcia hit a grand slam again.
25:32 Like, or Corey Seager hit one 450 feet off ball Seawald.
25:38 It would take a lot for that not to just be my default at this point.
25:42 Yeah.
25:43 I mean, even watching, watching every highlight from that ALCS, even the ones that the Astros
25:48 did, it's like, oh, look at that.
25:49 Wow.
25:50 Good for them.
25:51 Look at them making the drama more dramatic.
25:53 Look at them getting their own hopes up and then being absolutely soul crushed and them
25:58 using that home run to announce the Jose Altuve extension is just, oh, chef's kiss.
26:05 It's it's so beautiful.
26:06 It's so wonderful.
26:07 And this entire spring, like I'm glad that the Rangers players in front office and everyone
26:11 like with the actual team, they don't have the same mentality as us, which I worry for
26:17 them and their mental health.
26:18 It's less, I'm sure it's less beneficial to them as human beings to not be able to enjoy
26:22 the supreme successes and just be more wired to hate failure more.
26:28 But for us, I think that works out pretty well because they're, they're not just riding
26:31 the high, they're like, nah, screw this.
26:34 We want more.
26:35 We want a lot more.
26:36 And we're not happy with just one.
26:37 I'm like, okay, cool.
26:39 Keep doing that.
26:40 Cause I'm still going to be here.
26:41 Giddy as ever and significantly less critical of, of everything that goes wrong because
26:48 you have earned yourself a lot of goodwill with that one championship.
26:53 And even though they want more and I, I would, I would enjoy more.
26:57 I think being satisfied with, with what happened is it's going to sustain me for, for many,
27:04 many years to come, especially once they get that world series documentary out there.
27:08 It's just like, all right, I'm going to pop that in every day.
27:11 Just it's going to be a daily routine of just watching the world series documentary or Corey
27:16 Seager highlights.
27:17 It's just, it's so beautiful, but we are to the best portion of the show.
27:24 The random Ranger portion of the show.
27:26 If this is your first time watching Grant and I do an episode, welcome, happy to have
27:30 you here.
27:31 But every year, every year, every time that Grant and I do a crossover, we pick, we call
27:37 a random Ranger, the most random Ranger that we can find.
27:40 The only stipulations that they have to have been on the big league roster for at least
27:44 a day during the regular season.
27:46 And we have had some doozies of random Rangers.
27:49 And after recording the last episode that we did, I found the most random Ranger that
27:55 I was mad at myself for not using.
27:57 And I think Grant and I spent about 30 minutes going through how is this guy's career make
28:01 any sense whatsoever.
28:03 So I can start if you want, cause it'll be hard.
28:06 You might want to start cause it'll be hard for you to one up this one that I've got.
28:09 No, go for it.
28:11 Go for it.
28:12 I mean, we've already discussed this, so there's, there's no guessing here.
28:14 So we'll, we'll close out with, with a guessing game and see if you can grab it.
28:19 That's fair.
28:20 All right.
28:21 Well, my random Ranger is a left-handed pitcher who spent one season in Texas, 2014, because
28:28 2014 is, is the beautiful, I was about to say graveyard, but that's not the right, it's
28:34 the treasure trove of, of random Rangers.
28:38 Because every time we think we've done all of them, there's one more.
28:41 And this random Ranger lefty reliever pitched in six, six games, seven and a third innings
28:47 with a six 14 ERA with the Rangers as a 28 year old who just had the weirdest career
28:54 ever camping the big leagues in 2006 as a 20 year old with Seattle spent three years
28:59 there.
29:01 And then like was, was 2008 was the last time he pitched before 2014.
29:07 So he spent six years in the minors and other places before he came back up 2014 with the
29:12 Rangers.
29:13 Then it was another five years before he made it back to the major leagues.
29:17 That was with Toronto.
29:18 His career ERA is seven 34.
29:22 He has 20 starts in 33 games.
29:24 He's finished three games.
29:26 He's had one complete game.
29:27 Just the weirdest pitcher ever.
29:30 This is Ryan, Ryan fear bend the lefty six, three believer third round pick made the big
29:40 leagues at 20 and just had the weirdest career.
29:44 I think of everything you want a weird baseball reference page.
29:47 This is your pick.
29:48 Ladies and gentlemen, Ryan fear, Ben, you will sit there and look at every single one
29:52 of these stats.
29:53 And you're like, this guy doesn't make sense.
29:55 Like how is this guy keep starting games with an ERA of seven and eight and yet he did and
30:05 spend six years out of the big leagues one season and then five more years.
30:11 Like it, it does not make any sense.
30:14 This guy pitched five years in the big leagues that started in 2006 and ended in 2019.
30:19 Like it just boggles the mind that this is what happened.
30:23 This guy with a seven and seven three ERA got 119 career innings and 20 starts like
30:29 what?
30:30 No, that's, that's not how that works.
30:34 It doesn't make sense.
30:36 But Ryan fear, Ben is here to be possibly the randomest Ranger ever and to defy all
30:42 expectations.
30:43 Grant, who is your random Ranger?
30:46 Well real quick, I'll probably still be quick.
30:48 What's extra fun about that too, is this poor arm started in the stairwood era and
30:53 ended in the juice ball era and basically did not pick in between.
31:01 Also while we're on the random Ranger segment, this is not my guy, but former Ranger legend
31:07 and future random Ranger Nick Solak made history last year.
31:10 I don't know if you saw this, but he is the, was the first player position player ever
31:16 to have appeared in a game for two different organizations without getting a single plate
31:20 appearance for either of them.
31:23 So some nice baseball history for our friend Nick Solak, put him in Cooperstown, let him
31:29 live there forever more.
31:31 My random Ranger.
31:32 What would you put for him for like, would you put like the bench or like his like pants
31:36 for like sitting on the bench for those two teams?
31:40 Well was he a pinch runner or defensive replacement?
31:42 Cause I think you either go with the glove or the cleats.
31:46 Ooh, that's solid.
31:48 Maybe the batting gloves cause they were fresh.
31:51 I've never used them.
31:53 For sale batting gloves, never used.
31:57 All right.
31:58 My random Ranger is a lefty arm.
32:00 He's only 35, theoretically could still be in playing shape, but he has not played in
32:04 the major leagues since 2017.
32:07 After that he was in the Mexican league since 2021 and this last off season was the first
32:11 off season he did not pitch in the Dominican winter league with Aguiles.
32:15 He started his career as a Met, then went to the Braves and then pitched for the Rangers
32:19 in 2016 and 2017.
32:23 Career 5 0 6 ERA, a six and one record though, which means all the world for a reliever.
32:29 22 walks and 61 strikeouts.
32:32 That's not terrible in 48 innings.
32:35 Unfortunately in 2017, despite his 276 ERA, what ended his career was 14 of those 22 walks
32:42 coming in those 16 and a third innings.
32:45 Texas career at 28 innings total for 82 ERA 16 walks, 30 strikeouts.
32:51 I actually kind of liked him a bit when he pitched.
32:53 I thought he was better than this.
32:56 But Texas was the end of his major league career.
32:59 Do you know who this left handed reliever is?
33:02 Yes.
33:03 Dario Alvarez.
33:04 It is like, I don't remember him at all.
33:10 How did he walk 14 batters in 16 innings and have a sub three ERA?
33:14 How did that, that, that, that math ain't mathing.
33:18 He had 19 hits allowed too, like a whip over two and an ERA below three.
33:25 That that doesn't work usually.
33:29 You know, it's, um, it'd be, he, he's almost there, but I wonder if a whip has ever exceeded
33:35 an ERA.
33:38 That would be something special.
33:40 That would be like the FIP wouldn't know what to do at that point.
33:43 The FIP would be like, I don't know, man, I don't know what's going on here because
33:48 watching this, I'm not sure that I know what's going on, but pair of lefty weirdo relievers.
33:54 What a couple of fantastic random Rangers grant.
33:57 Thank you for joining me.
33:58 Enjoy your time in spring training.
34:00 I'm excited to hear back from you on what you think about those, the small baby Rangers
34:06 and how they're looking in spring training as a member of the world series champion,
34:12 Texas Rangers spring training, but that's going to do it for today's show.
34:14 Thank y'all so much for listening and subscribing.
34:16 And until next time, don't forget to enjoy world series champion, Texas Rangers baseball.
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