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Rangers announced lefties tonight Danny Duffy and outfielder Clint Frazier* When Travis Jankowski Signed a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to major league camp.Texas also confirms previously reported minor league deal Reyes Moronta When Ian Kennedy.
Duffy is MLB’s most notable addition to a 12-year veteran. A longtime starter for the Royals, he played a key role in the club’s 2014-15 Kansas City pennant (coordinated by former Royals GM and current Texas Special Counsel Dayton Moore). was). Duffy was at his best in the first of these two seasons when he contributed his 149 on the ball and his 1/3 innings in his 31 appearances for Kansas City with a 2.53 ERA. bottom.
The veteran Hurler posted mid-rotation production through 2017 before a trio of over 4.00 ERA shows in 2018-20. He is looking to catch up in his 2021, and in the first half of the season he posted his best 2.51 in 61 innings. Unfortunately, Duffy went on injured reserve with a forearm flexor strain. The Dodgers acquired him at the deadline that summer when he was on the shelf with his eyes on a late-season return. Duffy was frustrated and didn’t pitch for Los Angeles before becoming free agency.
During the offseason, Duffy underwent surgery and was expected to miss him until June. I signed the contract. It was expected that he would return as a second-half reliever while restoring the starter’s workload for the following season. Again, those plans were dashed by a setback in the summer that ended his season.The Dodgers rejected his option and sent him back to the open market.
Duffy has spent a year and a half with the LA organization, but has never thrown an MLB pitch for any team other than the Royals. He and the Rangers are looking to change that in 2023, but first he needs to secure a way back to his MLB roster. Duffy said he hasn’t played in an MLB game since July 2021, and thanks to a shortened schedule in 2020 and recent injuries, in the last three seasons he’s played 117 and he’s only played 1/3 innings. I have not. This raises obvious questions about how much workload he can carry, perhaps considering a relief or hybrid starter role. , to gauge his form in spring training, there’s obvious appeal in bringing in a respected veteran with a career 3.95 ERA in 234 MLB trips.
Frazier, now 28, was selected fifth overall by Cleveland in the 2013 draft. A right-handed hitter praised for his electric bat speed and great power potential, he was traded to the Yankees as a prospect. He appeared in his 2014, 16 and 17 baseball his list of America’s 50 Most Talented Minor Leaguers. Frazier got off to a solid start in his first four years with the Yankees, albeit with sporadic playing time.
From his MLB debut in late 2017 to the end of the shortened season, he had 589 plate appearances in 160 games. Frazier roughly equaled his one season, batting . 258/. 331/. 475 with 32 doubles and he had 24 home runs. Despite a few defensive mistakes and a higher-than-average strikeout tendency, he looked like a potential regular right fielder thanks to his power and plate discipline.
However, the last two campaigns have made things worse. Frazier hit his 218th at-bat with the Yankees in 2021, limping to the .186/.317/.317 line. He walked with a staggering 14.7% batting average, but his home runs only led to his five. More worrying than his struggles on the field was Frazier battling dizziness and missing the second half of the season. The Yankees released him at the end of the year.
Frazier signed a $1.5 million deal with the Cubs at the start of last offseason. He was only able to participate in 19 MLB games and was sidelined for some time with appendicitis. The Cubs named him for a mid-June assignment. Frazier was not required to waive and spent the rest of the year in full commission with Triple-A Iowa. He had a dismal .190/.283/.302 show before entering minor league free agency, with a 34.7% strikeout rate in 66 games.
Texas hopes the change of scenery will help him rediscover some of his early career successes. Even with a 40-man roster spot, the Rangers could send him back to the Triple-A round rock.
The 31-year-old Jankowski has played for five different clubs in each of the past eight seasons, matching the level of the major leagues. A left-handed hitter, he has averaged a 10.4% batting average against a 22.6% strikeout average. Jankowski’s Solid Strike His zone awareness is negated by a lack of power as it leads to just his nine homers in just over 1200 at-bats.
Stoney Brooks’ product is getting a fair amount of runs as an outfielder of speed and defensively oriented depth despite not having much offensive punching. Appeared in 44 games as a substitute and pinch runner (all but one as a member of the Mets). Jankowski has 72 stolen bases in his 470 games and can play all three outfield seats. The public defensive his metrics rate him positive at all three of his positions, making him a potential center and his depth-of-field option. Leodi Taveras in Arlington.
* The Rangers announced his signing as Clint Frazier in a press release while Frazier played the 2022 season under the name Jackson Frazier.
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