ARLINGTON — The Rangers inch a little closer to something they haven’t had all year: Their desired fully healthy complement of position players.
On Friday, the club activated switch-hitting outfielder Sam Haggerty, who essentially replaced Leody Taveras on the roster months ago, after a two-week stint of dealing with ankle soreness. Also, manager Bruce Bochy indicated catcher Kyle Higashioka will be able to dodge the injured list after a brief bout with some hamstring soreness. And Joc Pederson’s first game of what should be a brief rehab assignment went swimmingly.
The only lingering issue: Jake Burger’s left quadriceps strain that has prevented him from running since he suffered the injury on July 12. Burger does intend to try to take swings on Saturday for the first time since going on the IL, but is expected to be “a couple of more weeks,” Bochy said.
It is worth noting that the Rangers have not played a single game this year that includes all of Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Adolis García, Josh Jung, either of catchers Jonah Heim and Higashioka, Wyatt Langford, Burger, Pederson and Evan Carter.
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To make room for Haggerty, the Rangers optioned infielder Cody Freeman back to Triple-A Round Rock. Freeman, a right-handed hitter, had been with the club for just a week. His background with catching made him even more valuable during the time Higashioka was an uncertainty. But with Higashioka OK, the Rangers figured Freeman needed to continue to play everyday and they sent him out rather than utility man Ezequiel Duran, who has struggled in the role.
Duran is hitting just .141 for the year in the backup role and is playing infrequently. He’s also played himself out of being an option against left-handed pitching. He’s 4 for 41 against lefties this year despite being a right-handed hitter. On Friday, the Rangers started Michael Helman and Haggerty and left-handed hitting Josh Smith against Atlanta lefty Joey Wentz rather than Duran.
“He’s still got a little more versatility,” Bochy said of Duran. “We felt like Cody should go down and continue his progress, instead of sitting up here. That role is not an easy role where you’re sitting for a long time. And yeah, we could have done that with Duran, but at least he’s got some experience doing it.”
There could be another reason to holding on to Duran in the short-term: With a week to go until the trade deadline, he may be attractive as part of a package with another team that has more ability to play him regularly. Sending him to the minors at this moment might impact any value he has.
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