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The Texas Rangers and the city of Arlington have unveiled plans for a new stadium that will be ready to host Major League Baseball games no later than 2021.

Per T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, the agreement between the Rangers and the city for a $1 billion stadium with a retractable roof will be sent to the Arlington City Council for approval Tuesday.

Sullivan reported that the cost of the ballpark will be evenly split between Rangers ownership and the city of Arlington. He noted that if the city council approves the stadium, citizens would vote November 8 for public funding of the project.

Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram provided artist renderings of the proposed new stadium for the Rangers:

City of Arlington marketing communications manager Jay Warren issued a statement Thursday about the marriage between the Rangers and the city moving forward, via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News:

For more than four decades, Arlington and the Texas Rangers have had a strong relationship. That relationship was further strengthened last year with the announcement of the public-private partnership between the City and the Rangers for the proposed Texas Live! development in our Entertainment District. We look forward to continuing that relationship for many years to come. The City has no other comment at this time.

As part of the public-private partnership between the Rangers and Arlington, Sullivan noted the city would own the new park, while the Rangers would be responsible for its design and construction.

Globe Life Park in Arlington, the Rangers’ current stadium, originally opened in 1994. The team is often scheduled to play games in the evening during the summer months because of the sweltering heat in Texas.

If the new stadium gets approved and built, the retractable roof would allow the Rangers to combat the temperatures and protect players from injuries and fatigue over the course of a 162-game season.

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The race in the American League West is just tight enough to possibly be decided by one man.

Yu Darvish, come on down.

The Texas Rangers trail the Seattle Mariners by only a game-and-a-half, but they could use some help. They were just swept in a three-game series by the Oakland Athletics, dropping their record to 8-9 in May. Among the things not helping is their starting rotation hitting the skids in the past two weeks.

This is where Darvish comes in. Or, where he will be coming in.

Sidelined since March 2015 to recover from Tommy John surgery, Darvish is now on a comeback trail with few miles left on it. The 29-year-old right-hander has yet to hit a snag in four minor league rehab starts (via MiLB.com):

For what it’s worth, that’s a 1.29 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning, as well as an opponents’ batting average of just .125. The “for what it’s worth” part bears repeating, but that’s still good!

Hence the simple goal the Japan native expressed for the rest of his rehab. As he put it through an interpreter after his last start, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com): “I feel pretty confident right now, so just keep going.”

Darvish‘s next rehab outing is scheduled for Sunday. If that also goes well, he may be able to fulfill the kinda-sorta-official expectation that he’ll rejoin the Rangers rotation before the end of the month.

The Rangers’ hope, meanwhile, is surely that Darvish will to return to his pre-surgery form as one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Though Darvish only surpassed 30 starts in 2013, he was good enough to post a 3.27 ERA in the 545.1 innings in which he was healthy between 2012 and 2014. He was an All-Star three times and a top-10 American League Cy Young finisher twice. He also was rated as one of baseball’s top 11 pitchers by Baseball-Reference.com‘s version of wins above replacement.

In reality, he was at least a top-11 pitcher. FanGraphs‘ WAR placed Darvish within baseball’s top nine pitchers for those three seasons. The biggest reason for that was his strikeout rate. Darvish cut down 11.2 batters per nine innings, the highest rate of any qualified pitcher.

How he did that is fodder for an extended lesson in Pitchology, a recently (as in, literally just now) devised study of pitches. Brooks Baseball has tracked at least eight different pitches thrown by Darvish in his major league career. Five of those went into one of the best GIFs in the history of ever.

But like virtually every other pitcher not named R.A. Dickey or Steven Wright, Darvish works off the fastball. He used a four-seamer and sinker that sat in the 92-93 mph range and got as high as the mid-90s. According to the man himself, that velocity hasn’t gone anywhere.

“I was nice and easy and throwing 94-95,” Darvish said after his third rehab start, according to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. “I’m going to show them 97-98, but most of the time you’re going to see 94-95.”

The word is also good concerning Darvish‘s most reliable moneymaker: his slider. As Double-A Frisco manager Joe Mikulik told Will Korn of MLB.com, it was “very sharp” in his most recent start.

If Darvish‘s slider is indeed at full strength, baseball is about to reclaim one of its deadliest weapons. That slider held hitters to a .156 average and a .235 slugging percentage between 2012 and 2014, and it tended to be the star of the show whenever he had a great outing. Like so:

What Darvish may not have upon his return is a good idea of where the ball is going.

With a career rate of 3.6 walks per nine innings, his control wasn’t great to begin with. And now, his total of five walks in 14.0 innings against minor league hitters isn’t encouraging. He’s a candidate to add his name to a list of Tommy John survivors—one that even includes Adam Wainwright—who have struggled to find their control again.

Whether Darvish could get away with shoddy control would come down to his margin for error. He had a big one when he was striking out more than 11 batters per nine innings. Walks are going to be more likely to hurt him if he comes back and falls well short of that level of bat-missing mastery. Under those circumstances, he wouldn’t be much of a shot in the arm to the Rangers rotation.

However, the positive buzz around Darvish‘s key pitches bodes well. So do the projections for his return at FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus. The former projects him to strike out roughly 10 batters per nine innings. The latter puts the number closer to 11. 

A pitcher like that would be helpful for any starting staff, but there aren’t many that could use one more than the Rangers rotation. Though it boasts a solid 3.61 ERA, its collective rate of 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings is one of the worst in the majors. Outside of Cole Hamels, the Rangers don’t have another starter who specializes in strikeouts.

Darvish returning and living up to expectations would therefore be exactly the shot in the arm the rotation needs. Getting 100 or so innings out of him could easily be worth a couple of extra wins. 

Maybe that doesn’t sound like much. But to win the AL West, it could be good enough.

Comparing Seattle’s plus-38 run differential to Texas’ minus-one mark highlights the former as the better team, but the Mariners have their cracks. An offense that has to hit at Safeco Field may not be able to sustain such an impressive power performance. And if Felix Hernandez crumbles under the weight of his diminished stuff, the Mariners rotation won’t have a one-two punch as good as Hamels and Darvish.

It’s reasonably certain that neither the Rangers nor the Mariners will run away with the AL West. If it does indeed stay close, all eyes, and all of the pressure, will be on Darvish.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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After blowing his fourth save of the season on Tuesday by giving up a walk-off grand slam to the Oakland Athletics‘ Khris Davis, Shawn Tolleson has been removed from the closer’s role with the Texas Rangers.   

Per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, upon being informed of the decision, Tolleson said, “It wasn’t anything that surprised me.” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said the team is “gonna wrap our arms around Tolly and figure out what’s going on,” per Jared Sandler of 105.3 The Fan. 

Per Wilson, the Rangers will go with Sam Dyson as their new closer. The right-hander hasn’t been overpowering this year with 13 strikeouts and six walks in 19 innings, but he’s been steady with a 1.89 ERA. 

Tolleson has been awful so far in 2016. The right-hander has a 9.20 ERA with 23 hits, five home runs allowed, 11 strikeouts and five walks in 14.2 innings. 

The 28-year-old Tolleson was tied for the American League lead with 11 saves at the time of his demotion despite those horrid numbers, which says all anyone needs to know about the validity of saves as a statistic of any value. 

The straw that ultimately broke Tolleson’s back as the Rangers closer was an 8-5 loss against the Athletics on Tuesday in which he allowed two hits and one walk before Davis’ blast to end the game.

Per Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News, Tolleson was upfront about his sequencing during the at-bat against Davis and why he didn’t try to change speeds:

There’s been no decline in Tolleson’s stuff in terms of velocity. All of his pitches have actually ticked up this season, including the fastball at a career-best 93.1 mph, per FanGraphs. He’s just not locating anything and, by his own admission, not trusting his off-speed stuff, allowing hitters to sit on the heater.

Tolleson had been money for the Rangers with a 2.88 ERA the past two seasons and career-high 35 saves in 2015. There’s no reason to think he can’t regain the closer’s job, but with a team that’s good enough to make a playoff run, he’s going to have to work things out in low-pressure situations. 

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Matt Bush, the first overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft, is getting a chance from the Texas Rangers to make his major league debut after previous bids ended amid assault accusations and a four-year prison sentence for driving drunk and hitting a motorcyclist in 2012.

TR Sullivan of MLB.com first reported word of the potential promotion, and Jon Morosi of Fox Sports confirmed the roster move.

The San Diego Padres made Bush, then a shortstop with highly intriguing potential, the top selection in a 2004 draft class that also featured starting pitchers Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver and Homer Bailey, along with slugger Billy Butler.

In February 2009, the Padres traded him to the Toronto Blue Jays after he allegedly assaulted a pair of San Diego-area high school lacrosse players, according to Bryce Miller of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Less than two months later, the Blue Jays released him after he allegedly threw a baseball past a woman’s head at a party, per Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

He signed a minor league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays in January 2010 and spent two seasons with the organization without incident. However, during 2012 spring training, Bush was involved in a drunken driving hit-and-run accident in which he hit the motorcycle of a 72-year-old, causing the Rays to place him on the restricted list and ultimately release him. 

In December 2012, he was sentenced to four years and three months in prison after pleading no contest to driving under the influence with serious bodily injury. The plea agreement allowed six other charges to be dropped, but his driver’s license was suspended for 10 years.

Bush was released from prison last October. Now a relief pitcher, he signed a minor league contract with the Rangers in December.

He pitched three scoreless innings and tallied three strikeouts for Texas during spring training before being optioned to Double-A Frisco. His success continued in the minors, as he posted a 2.65 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 17 innings across 12 games for the RoughRiders.

Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News passed along comments from Rangers general manager Jon Daniels earlier this week on the Ballzy podcast about the ongoing process of helping Bush stay on the right path:

Take baseball out of it. He’s an alcoholic. There’s going to be that element to his life regardless of his occupation. He’s continuing the process day to day. We have a support network here and he has one.

Knock on wood, everything’s been very good.

Meanwhile, Sherrington asked Bush about potentially getting the call to the big club, and he said: “It’s just really going to be an extremely special moment for me.”

Don’t expect to see Bush pitching many high-leverage innings during his first go with the Rangers, however.

Although Bush has looked terrific at times during spring training and his stint in the minors, he has fewer than 90 innings of professional pitching experience. Furthermore, none of that has come above the Double-A level, and most of those innings were before he went to prison.

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After having one of the worst seasons in his MLB career, Kyle Lohse will look to rebound with the Texas Rangers. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Lohse and Texas agreed to terms on a deal. 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirmed the report, and added the deal was worth $2 million, with another $1.5 million in performance bonuses. 

In a way, Lohse’s decline serves as a microcosm for the Milwaukee Brewers‘ fortunes in recent years.

When Milwaukee signed the 37-year-old right-hander for three years and $33 million, he was coming off a successful 2012 season in which he finished 16-3 and posted a 2.86 ERA. The Brewers had finished 83-79, missing out on the playoffs after reaching the National League Championship Series in 2011.

Lohse was supposed to be one of the anchors of Milwaukee’s starting rotation and help get the team back into the playoffs. Instead, his performance declined over the next three seasons, and the Brewers went from contending to all-out rebuilding.

There’s no way getting around how poorly Lohse pitched in 2015. Brewers manager Craig Counsell moved him to the bullpen in August after he posted a 6.31 ERA and 5.19 FIP to start the year.

Following a loss to the Cleveland Indians on July 22, Lohse perfectly summed up how his season was unfolding, per Genaro C. Armas of the Associated Press: “Ever see a guy try to pull something off the shelf, drops it, tries to put it back, knocks it over some more and the whole thing falls down? Yeah, about like that.”

Beyond the obvious concerns about his performance, Lohse’s drop in velocity, per BrooksBaseball.net, raises a major question about whether he still has any value as a major league pitcher:

Lohse is a sinker-ball pitcher, which is notable considering how successful opposing hitters were against the pitch, also courtesy of BrooksBaseball.net:

Even if Lohse deviates from his past tendencies and relies less on his sinker, hitters had a lot of success against what is historically his secondary weapon—a changeup—last year.

A number of former starting pitchers have transitioned well to a bullpen role in the past, so there’s the chance Lohse could have a career renaissance as a reliever.

If 2015 is any indicator, a transformation won’t be on the cards. Lohse had a 3.81 ERA in his 15 relief appearances, while his strikeout-to-walk rate fell from 2.87 as a starter to 1.69 out of the pen.

The Rangers seem a somewhat odd destination for Lohse since they aren’t in dire need of starting pitching. Their starters rank eighth in combined ERA (3.69). Granted, they also rank 21st in combined FIP (4.46). Texas has room for improvement, but nothing from Lohse’s performance last year leads one to believe he’s the guy to address the issue.

A.J. Griffin left his start on May 7 with shoulder stiffness, which opened up a spot in the rotation. Yet, Yu Darvish’s return to the active roster appears to be imminent. Assuming Darvish doesn’t suffer any setbacks in his rehab, he won’t be in the minors much longer.

Perhaps Rangers general manager Jon Daniels views Lohse as insurance in case any other starting pitcher goes down between now and the end of the year.

Stats are courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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Texas Rangers prospect Joey Gallo will reportedly be forced to miss nearly a month with a groin injury.

Continue for updates.   

MRI Reveals Mild Strain

Tuesday, May 3

Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram shared the MRI results on Gallo’s left groin and confirmed he will miss three to four weeks. Stevenson noted Gallo dealt with the same type of injury in 2013, but it was on his right side.

According to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News, Triple-A Round Rock placed Gallo on the seven-day disabled list on Sunday before the full extent of the injury was known.

Gallo did not make the Rangers roster during spring training, but Townsend said the outfielder and third baseman has drilled seven home runs already in the minor leagues this season. His trademark power is why he is such a highly regarded prospect, and it was on full display last year when he played for the Rangers.

Gallo only appeared in 36 games for Texas in 2015 and hit .204, but he connected with six home runs, including one off dominant Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Clayton Kershaw:

Gallo was responsible for an offensive WAR of 0.4 in 2015, per ESPN.com, and has a bright future ahead of him as a 22-year-old slugger.

MLB.com ranked him as the Rangers’ No. 1 prospect coming into the 2016 campaign because of his “off-the-charts raw power” that helped him lead the minor leagues with 40 home runs in 2013 and finish in second in 2014 with 42 long balls.

There has to be some relief within the organization that the strain is only “mild,” but Gallo’s long-term future is critical for the franchise. The Rangers will likely treat the recovery process accordingly and make sure he is fully healthy before he returns to the field.

His overall health is far more important than rushing him back, especially since he hasn’t even appeared at the major league level yet this season.

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No scientific survey is needed to know that every MLB team would love for its prospects to be ready at 20 years old. Just like anyone would rather dine at a restaurant with a Michelin star.

But neither figures to happen with frequency.

That’s why the quick ascension of Texas Rangers rookie outfielder Nomar Mazara has captivated baseball like Scott Disick’s latest fling does Page Six.

Through 18 games, Mazara, now 21, is hitting .324/.380/.441 with two homers and eight RBI. He is third among all rookies in batting average and second in on-base percentage.

Talent has been a driving force, sure. But there are other promising 21-year-olds in the game, the majority of whom haven’t reached MLB. There are others who are still figuring out professional baseball in Double-A.

Maturity has been Mazara‘s biggest asset as he has navigated baseball’s professional ranks over the last four years. At 16, he signed a contract that included a then-record bonus of $5 million. So, in essence, this was supposed to happen. The Rangers expected it.

That comes with pressure, none of which Mazara felt.

“I didn’t put too much pressure on myself,” Mazara said. “I didn’t care about the money. I just wanted to play baseball.

“I was pretty young when I signed, so I had to take it step by step,” he continued. “I had to develop in the minor leagues. I think they did a pretty good job of taking care of me down there—to give me what I needed at times. It didn’t take that long. It only took four years. I respect the way they did it, and I’m here now.”

The question now: Will he stay?

Mazara was supposed to make his MLB debut this season, just not this early. A calf injury to right fielder Shin-Soo Choo necessitated that Mazara be called up April 10.

At the time of the injury, Choo was expected to be out four to six weeks. He was only hitting .188 but had an OBP of .409—his key number. So reason would suggest Choo will reclaim his starting spot once he is healthy.

That will leave Texas debating what to do with Mazara—provided he is still playing at a high level. During his interview with Bleacher Report, Mazara said he would feel comfortable with a move to left field. It would require relegating Ian Desmond to the bench, a move that the Rangers would assuredly make if Mazara‘s play warranted it.

Prince Fielder is the team’s DH and doesn’t figure to be moved from that role, giving Texas few options should the organization elect to keep Mazara at the big league level. With a prospect as young as Mazara, however, the concern is getting him regular plate appearances.

So this much is certain: He won’t remain at the MLB level to sit on the bench.

Essentially, Mazara is going to need to play at a level that forces the Rangers to keep him with the big club. A slump would make sending him back to Triple-A as easy as a network’s decision to cancel a poor-performing drama.

Few in the Rangers organization seem to feel he will fall off, though.

“The separator for Nomar is just, you can call it maturity, or you can call it just a presence,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “He seems very relaxed in his own environment. I don’t think we’ve been fooled by that at all. I think that’s real.”

Jason Wood, manager of the Round Rock Express, the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, echoed that sentiment: “His maturity level for the age that he is at right now is just off the charts.”

What makes Mazara such a prolific hitter is his ability to dictate the strike zone.

That’s not a learned skill, according to Banister, but something that is innate. The Texas manager has seen players of all ages without the rare attribute, though he admitted it’s something that can develop further.

“That’s something that he’s probably had all the way through his baseball career,” Banister said. “That’s not something that just showed up.”

Combine that with a naturally calm demeanor, and Mazara isn’t a player who looks anxious at the plate. It’s why the right fielder is hitting second in the lineup.

It’s a spot in the order that sees a high number of fastballs. Given that most teams have, in theory, their best hitters in the middle of the order, pitchers are careful not to put the No. 2 hitter on base.

But the spot is important enough that any team, especially one with championship aspirations like Texas, wouldn’t hit a player that high in the order if it didn’t think he was capable.

His demeanor—calm, without anxiousness at the plate—makes him an ideal top-of-the-order hitter. Both Banister and Wood indicated they’ve rarely seen him off balance. Wood was complimentary of Mazara‘s discipline in laying off two-strike pitches.

Regardless of what happens when Choo returns, Mazara is certain to help the Rangers in their playoff chase if he plays anywhere close to his current level.

“I want him to get healthy quick because our team needs him—but when he gets healthy, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t make decisions,” Mazara said. “So I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing right now and see what happens.”

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Talk baseball with Seth by following him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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It’s not a set-in-stone rule or anything, but it sure seems like a Major League Baseball season can’t qualify as modern unless at least one top-ranked hitting prospect takes the league by storm. 

In Nomar Mazara, the Texas Rangers may have just the guy for 2016.

The 20-year-old became the youngest player in the majors when the Rangers called him up to fill in for injured right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, and he started raking immediately. Mazara torched the Los Angeles Angels for three hits in his debut on April 10, including an absolute clout of a home run:

That remains the young outfielder’s lone home run, but the hits have otherwise kept coming in his first seven games. Mazara has 12 hits in 27 at-bats for a .444 average, and he boasts a 1.044 OPS.

As far as reasons not to get too excited, there’s obviously the whole small-sample-size thing. Seven games and 27 at-bats are not big numbers, as you well know.

But since a .444 average and a 1.044 OPS are big numbers, what Mazara is doing can’t be ignored. And if we really wanted to make him look good, we could note that his OPS is better than Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa and Kris Bryant managed in their first seven games:

• Trout: .359 OPS
• Harper: .814 OPS
• Correa: .885 OPS
• Bryant: 1.035 OPS

I’m not sure why anyone would (he said with his tongue firmly in his cheek) take this as a sign that Mazara is going to be a better player than any of them, but please don’t do that. Rather, this is more of an indication that Mazara can indeed be the next greatly hyped young hitter to actually satisfy expectations.

The hype began to build when Mazara signed with the Rangers out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old in 2011. They picked him up with a $5 million bonus, a record for an international amateur at the time.

It took some time for Mazara to find his stride in the minors, but he opened eyes with a .306/.381/.518 slash line at Double-A in 2014. That helped put him in a few top-100 prospect lists, and he moved further up the ranks after slashing .358/.409/.444 at Triple-A at the end of 2015.

Keith Law of ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus were particularly high on Mazara coming into 2016. They rated him at No. 9 and No. 5, respectively, and painted him as a perfect hitting prospect. Law praised Mazara for his “advanced approach” and his willingness to use the whole field. And with his “bat speed, plane, hand-eye coordination,” Baseball Prospectus saw the goods for a plus-plus hit tool.

Seven games into Mazara’s career, you can already see what all the fuss is about.

Though he has only drawn two walks in 31 plate appearances for a 6.5 walk percentage, Mazara hasn’t been overly aggressive. He’s averaging 4.13 pitches per plate appearance, which is safely above the major league average of 3.87. The danger of seeing that many pitches is running into strikeouts, but only 4.7 percent of Mazara’s swings have resulted in whiffs, and he has only three strikeouts for a 9.7 strikeout percentage.

For anyone who’s wondering how Mazara compares to fellow breakout hitting stars Trevor Story and Tyler White, this means he doesn’t have the same crack in his armor that they have in theirs. And knowing him, that it’s not there isn’t so surprising.

Taking a cue from Chris Mitchell of FanGraphs, here’s a look at how Mazara’s MLB strikeout rate fits with a pattern of him getting better at making contact as the competition gets tougher:

Mazara’s improvement as a contact hitter traces back to a change he made while with Single-A Hickory early in 2014. He began the year with an exaggerated leg kick but toned it down to a point where it became more of a toe tap. He’s stuck with it and has enjoyed more consistent timing as a result.

“I took [the leg kick] out because sometimes I was too in front, sometimes I was too late. Probably one out of 10 times, I was on time,” Mazara told Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. “It wasn’t working, so I had to do something different to make it [work], so I have the toe tap.”

The reality that Mazara’s contact habit is carrying over to The Show is not to be overlooked. The league’s average strikeout rate has taken a jump from 20.4 percent last year to 21.9 percent in 2016. Guys who can strike out roughly half that often are rare commodities, and it looks like Mazara can be just that.

And when Mazara has made contact, he’s lived up to his reputation as a hitter with terrific bat control.

The lefty swinger has pulled only 23.1 percent of his batted balls, preferring instead to use center field (38.5) and left field (38.5). That’s him sticking with how he operated in 2015. As MLB Farm shows, he liked going up the middle and the other way just as much as he liked going to his pull side:

This is yet another quality that’s not to be overlooked. It theoretically makes Mazara shift-proof, and the winds are already blowing that way in reality. Per new data at FanGraphs, teams have shifted on Mazara only four times.

If there’s a nit to pick with Mazara’s early results, it’s that he hasn’t crushed every ball he’s put in play. According to Baseball Savant, his average exit velocity is only 85.7 mph. That’s safely below the MLB average of 89.1.

But this may be the one part of Mazara’s first impression that is misleading. ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus agree he has enough power to hit 20 to 30 home runs per year at his peak. And as the 6’4″, 215-pounder showed with his 443.5-foot home run, he has plenty of raw power in him right now.

So the only thing clouding Mazara’s immediate future is Choo’s inevitable return. With him in right field, Prince Fielder at designated hitter and a red-hot Delino DeShields Jr. in center field, the Rangers’ only real option for continuing to play Mazara would be to play him over the slumping Ian Desmond in left field.

But don’t be surprised if that’s the route they choose. The Rangers only have $8 million invested in Desmond, after all, and moving him to the bench would give them a good right-handed platoon bat to use in tandem with either Mazara or second baseman Rougned Odor.

It’s either that, or the Rangers will send Mazara back to the minors. Despite the small sample size, it’s hard to see that happening. Mazara has done enough in the minors to establish himself as arguably the American League‘s best hitting prospect, and what worked for him there is already working for him in the majors.

The message he’s sending the Rangers is that the time is now.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Texas Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo was placed on the disabled list on Sunday after he suffered a calf strain during pregame warm-ups on Saturday. An exact return date has yet to be announced.

Continue for updates.

Choo Placed on 15-Day DL

Sunday, April 10

John Blake of TexasRangers.com revealed that Choo was placed on the 15-day disabled list and that outfielder Nomar Mazara was recalled.

The Rangers announced that Mazar was starting in right field and batting second in the lineup against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

Choo battled ankle injuries and missed 39 games during the 2014 campaign but was healthier and showed improvement last season. The 33-year-old veteran batted .276 with 22 home runs and 82 RBI, including a .404 batting average in September.

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Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish hasn’t pitched in 13 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but he could return next month.

Continue for updates. 

Brocail Comments on Darvish Recovery

Saturday, April 9

“It’s time to turn him loose a little,” pitching coach Doug Brocail said after Darvish‘s 50-pitch bullpen session Saturday, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. “He’s out of the stable and we’ve got to let him run a little.”

“I don’t feel we should go backwards,” Brocail added, per Grant. “It’s all subject to change, but if all goes well, we’re going to try and stay on schedule.”

Darvish missed the entire 2015 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right throwing elbow, but he progressed to the point where he was activated off the Rangers’ 60-day disabled list last November. 

However, the time off evidently revitalized Darvish‘s passion for the game. 

“For 10 years I’ve been throwing in my career,” Darvish said, per the Star-Telegram‘s Jeff Wilson. “Sometimes throwing in the 10 years, it’s kind of like it became routine and I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I used to when I first starting my career. Having that time [off], I feel like I’m enjoying throwing the ball more right now.”

Few players are more valuable to the Rangers than the 29-year-old Darvish, but it helps that the Rangers got aggressive and plucked Cole Hamels from the Philadelphia Phillies at last season’s trade deadline. With some more stability in the starting rotation, Texas can at least afford to wait a bit for its ace to be completely healthy.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.

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