The Rangers have agreed to a minor league contract with corner infielder Matt Davidson, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’ll presumably head to Major League Spring Training, and, interestingly, will work as both an infielder and a pitcher with his new organization, according to Passan. Davidson is represented by MVP Sports.
Davidson, 28 in March, more than doubled his career walk rate last season, walking in 10.5 percent of his plate appearances after doing so at only a 4.3 percent pace in 2017. That increase in plate discipline came at the expense of some of Davidson’s power, though, and strikeouts remained a severe issue (33.3 percent). Overall, he hit .228/.319/.419 with 20 home runs in 496 plate appearances last year and has 46 home runs in his past 939 PAs. He’s primarily been a corner infielder and, if he makes the MLB roster, would give the Rangers a right-handed bat to back up at first base, third base and designated hitter.
On the pitching side of the equation, Davidson is obviously even more of a work in progress. To his credit, though, he tossed three shutout innings of relief last season with a pair of strikeouts, one hit and one walk allowed. Davidson’s fastball sat at only 90 mph in that tiny sample, though one would imagine that with greater focus on pitching, that number could trend upwards.
I was sad to see Matt go because I thought the two-way thing was pretty cool. I also think the Sox should have let him play 1B, but anyway…
Man I’m in the complete opposite boat heading the other direction. Davidson was awful and pretty much defined the type of player the White Sox need to get away from. Almost entirely useless other than home runs. To me the pitching was laughable. Almost a guaranteed out at the plate but man he was sure fun to watch pitch when the Sox were down 15 in the 7th!!
“Down 15 in the 7th” that’s great.
Wow, My team just keeps getting better and better, He’s no Bryce Harper or Manny Machado but here we are, no right here, hey over here,kinda reminds me of the Movie (Major League) when the guy in the cafeteria says Who the hell are these guys and another says the xxxx. But as much as I love baseball I’m still gonna root root root for the home team TEXAS RANGERS.
I say hell and you delete my comment?
Your comment was deleted because you said ‘hell’? What? How can they do this?! It’s outrageous, it’s unfair!
Should be plenty of blowout in Arlington, so he should pitch more.
Shohei 2.0
Actually where I hoped he would end up. Hoping he can cut down on his strikeouts but glad he went to move hitters park if he makes Rangers. Anyone know if deal comes with major league spring invite?
low risk, high reward signing.
Ah, he of the three-homer game on Opening Day last year.
Hall of famer in the number of times he takes his hat or helmet off to wipe his brow. Just didn’t work hard enough on reducing his strike outs. Has decent power but not much of a glove. Platoon possibility but not an every day type
Joey Gallo 2.0. With all the fanning, should be a cooler ballpark this summer.
Haha. Imagine if they had Peter O’Brien as well
Why do these teams keep signing players that hit below .250?
Thats above average nowadays
Well they haven’t positioned themselves to win this year, (waiting on the new park next season) so they figured they would go ahead and secure that top draft pick. Win something would you!
I think a lot of MLB players over the years have gone both ways……..
Careful!
… not that there’s anything wrong with it.
Will miss Mattie D. His attitude, off field charity and public relations are off the charts. A great guy.
Although they won’t be as competitive as I prefer, I will make a trip to the ballpark this season since it will be the last year. My wife might actually let me stay for a Sunday afternoon game when they get a lid on the field. Arlington day games are tough in the summer, sweatfest!
Certainly never hurts to take a minor league flyer on a guy who hit 20 bombs in the majors the year before.
As the start of spring training approaches, think about that under the radar trade with the Braves. How about sending Jose Leclerc and Nomar Mazara to the Braves for highly touted MLB ready pitching. Mazara has not hit as expected so he could be expendable for the right return, Leclerc is a valuable piece but really does not fit into expected window for a championship. The Braves could send Kolby Allard, a 1st Round draft choice a few years ago and an MLB top 100 prospect along with Patrick Weigel who just a couple years ago was the most advanced of the Atlanta prospects before going down for TJS, which he returned from late last year. Both Allard and Weigel have been through AAA with Allard having a little time in MLB. Could get Atlanta to add Raffy Lopez maybe since they have no plans except to stash him in AAA. For Atlanta their stated need to improve the bullpen would be satisfied without spending for Kimbrel and they add an outfielder to their young lineup to platoon with Inciarte or Markakis.
You still have 4 years of control over Leclerc so he is the exact type of cost controlled asset you keep during a rebuild. In 2 years if they are nowhere then it is time to trade him to somebody. But most likely in two years you are hoping to have someone like Leclerc in the bullpen as the hopeful rise back to a playoff team has started. Trading Mazara now would be selling low and you wouldn’t get back what his potential is. Better to wait and hope for a strong first half and then flip him at the deadline or even next off season. True hope is that the light finally clicks and he becomes somebody the team is built around as he is still very young at only 23 years old.