{"id":602674,"date":"2026-03-03T01:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/602674\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:22:15","slug":"tyler-wades-different-element-has-him-in-thick-of-competition-for-rangers-roster-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/602674\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Wade\u2019s \u2018different element\u2019 has him in thick of competition for Rangers roster spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 The Texas Rangers signed utility player Tyler Wade to a minor league contract<\/a> in the midst of the winter meetings. <\/p>\n

A phone call with first-year manager Skip Schumaker was enough to convince the veteran that the Rangers<\/a> were a worthy employer. <\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, Skip called me, and we just talked for a little bit,\u201d Wade said Monday morning. \u201cI\u2019ve always admired Skip and the way guys talk about him that played for him. His career was kind of like how my career is. He understands it, and understands how vital this role is on a winning team. He kind of just conveyed to me, \u2018Hey, man, come in, do your thing and compete.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade, 31, is in the thick of competition for a spot on the Texas bench. He\u2019s slashed .600\/.647\/.933 in seven Cactus League games, has played shortstop, center field, right field, designated hitter and will soon see some time at first base. <\/p>\n

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\u201cHe is a perfect role player, in my opinion, because he can do so many things,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cHe brings a different element. There\u2019s a different vibe in there with him around inside the clubhouse and inside the dugout. He\u2019s high energy, sort of an all-or-nothing kind of guy, which is great. He gives you everything he has every day which, as a bench player, that\u2019s part of the role, to bring some sort of value to the clubhouse and the vibes and positivity to get the guys going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade played six different positions for the San Diego Padres last season and has started at every position except first base and catcher in his nine-year big league career. The Rangers will need defensive versatility on their bench if super utility man Josh Smith wins the second base job<\/a>. Wade has more experience in a flex role than any other candidate on the roster and is in competition alongside infielder Ezequiel Duran, infielder Cody Freeman, outfielder Michael Helman and outfielder Alejandro Osuna for one of the final roster spots. <\/p>\n

Schumaker said Wade\u2019s short, compact swing fits as a pinch hitter. Wade said he\u2019s made adjustments to his swing in order to shift away from pull-hitter tendencies and revert back to the all-fields approach he prioritized early in his career. Two years ago with the Padres, he pulled 44% of all balls; last season it dropped to 33%. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s helped him to a fast start in camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all you can ask for,\u201d Wade said, \u201cbeing able to compete for a job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rangers\u2019 Jacob deGrom set to make spring debut vs. Team Brazil at Surprise Stadium<\/a>3 Texas Rangers observations: Lots of work for Josh Smith, WBC departures and more<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 The Texas Rangers signed utility player Tyler Wade to a minor league contract in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,3417,4,149,14902,185,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-602674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brief","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-rangers","12":"tag-skip-schumaker","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-texas-rangers","16":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116162628792587545","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}