The Rangers will turn to one of the most promising arms in their system to start tomorrow’s game, as they announced Wednesday that lefty Taylor Hearn will be recalled from Triple-A Nashville to make his MLB debut tomorrow. Right-hander Wei-Chieh Huang will be optioned to Triple-A to open a spot on the active roster.
Hearn, 24, has been a key piece in a pair of notable trades. Originally drafted by the Nationals in the fifth round back in 2015, Hearn was flipped to the Pirates as part of the 2016 Mark Melancon trade and then traded a second time to the Rangers in last summer’s Keone Kela swap. He currently ranks as the Rangers’ No. 9 prospect at Fangraphs, No. 11 at MLB.com and No. 7 at Baseball America. Scouting reports on Hearn tout a plus fastball that sits 93-96 mph and tops out at 98 mph, as well as a pair of above-average secondary offerings (changeup, curveball). Control and durability are the biggest questions surrounding the southpaw.
Thus far in 2019, Hearn has a 4.05 ERA with a 26-to-10 K/BB ratio and a 28.9 percent grounder rate through 20 innings of work. Missing bats in the minors has never been an issue for Hearn, as evidenced by his career 10.5 K/9 mark. Though he’s a fly-ball pitcher, home runs have never been a substantial problem for Hearn. Maintaining that stinginess (0.8 HR/9) will be a tall task but all the more important given the homer-friendly confines of his home park in Arlington.
It’s not yet clear whether this’ll be a one-off promotion for Hearn or if he’ll be given the opportunity to earn a longer-term look if he impresses tomorrow. Hearn had been expected to start tonight for Nashville, but a short outing from Rule 5 pick Kyle Dowdy earlier today forced Thursday’s scheduled starter, Adrian Sampson, into relief action for the Rangers. Texas is already without Edinson Volquez and Drew Smyly, each of whom is on the injured list, so there does appear to be room in the rotation for Hearn if he can show well in his debut against the Mariners.
He was a decent prospect with the Bucs. Hasn’t done as well since going to the Rangers minors system, but good luck to him.
My thoughts exactly hope he does well.
I don’t know if his stats were that bad with Texas last year. My experience is the AA Texas League is fairly hitter friendly and his xFIP was 3.45 last year. A 4.05 ERA isn’t stellar but isn’t bad and the rangers seem fine with it.
I’m not saying he’s ready for the mlb yet but he hasn’t disappointed necessarily.
That’s pretty crazy to be drafted 4 times in the draft.
His gambles paid off since he jumped to the 4th round
5th round*
Wow Sampson and hearn… liked both of the when they were with the pirates… hope they do well
Man I hope Daniel’s knows what he’s doing. Holes in lineup, holes in the pen, shaky rotation.
I bought cable for this?
Holes in lineup? They are 3rd in runs scored in the AL. I wouldn’t want to give up defensively what you may have to change offensively to get better. Mazara is the big glaring hole though if there were to be a change. I am about at my patience end waiting for him to figure it out.
But yes to the rest. I had hopes that at least one of the 3 injury recovery guys would return to form but that glimmer of hope is fading. Hopefully Hearn can come in and get 5-6 innings a night and only give up around 3-4 runs per game. That would make him a solid 3 in the rotation which is what I would hope from him in the long run anyway. I wished they had gone harder after Gio but I could understand him wanting to go to a better team and one that he knew.
And the last thing I would ever want to be in life is to be declared the closer coming out of camp for the Rangers as that is just a curse as you will either get hurt, traded, or forget how to pitch. Soria, Tolleson, Dyson, Claudio, Kela, and now Leclerc. 6 years of bad. I guess it is now time to see what the Kela trade brought back though.
Oz10……..Mazara homered twice yesterday, hope he has pulled out of his funk, I can’t wait for Rouggie to get back, But what about the guy playing his position Santana, he is batting 333, and doing pretty good, Hopefully Hearn does good cause we need a little luck.
Best everyday lineup would have Santana In center for Deshields, Pence In Left, Gallo In Right, Odor At 2nd, Guzman At 1st, DH Choo. Bench Mazara & DeShields. Never going to happen though. Daniels pulls the strings, and he LOVES Mazara. Mazara began the year Hitting 6th. Moved up to 3-4 permanently even though he was hitting.188
Wow did not know Santana was centerfielder till I looked it up, why is he not playing center, Deshields has has a couple years and still can’t get it together, but our manager has already stated he is sticking with Deshields no matter what,per our local radio show. I also wouldn’t give Mazara to much leash. We still have plenty of time to get it together.
But Pence has been a RF most of his career (1409 vs 46 games) with Gallo a LF (138 vs 16). Gallo has the arm to play RF but better to leave him where he is at. Other than that I agree. This is the year to see if Maz can make it. Luckily we have a few OFers on their way up to take his place if he fails.
Did not know that about Pence and Gallo. I was just going based on arm strength. Either works for me.
I’ve always been a fan of Deshields talent, but he’s been given plenty of opportunity. He can’t get it done. He’s a good bench OF/Pinch runner. That’s what he should be.
Texas has a winning record and the Relative Power Index which considers opponent strength has us at 8th all while being in a rebuild year. It’s way too early to call a season but we’re playing way above expectations. There’s no reason to criticize yet.
I loved Hearn in the the Nats system and was more bummed out about him in the Bucs trade than Rivero. He has really earned this. Rangers fans are lucky for getting to see the birth of his MLB career.
“So there does appear to be room in the rotation for Hearn.” Dang straight there does.
For the Deshields and Mazara haters, just some facts. Mazara projects out currently to finish with 28 homers and 105 RBI. Deshields with 42 stolen bases, 105 walks, and an OBP over .350. Deshields gets to balls nobody else can in CF and Mazara has a great arm. Yep, let’s bench them.
Lots of discussion about the offense ……. and it’s all good. But the bottom line is a team will only go as far as the quality of its pitching. Jon Daniels owns the show! Until he quits looking for “good deals” and long shot rehab projects for pitching, the Rangers will continue to dwell in the lower half of the MLB. Perhaps he’ll spend the money for 2020. This year however is looking eerily like 2018…. wouldn’t be surprised to see Bartolo suit up any day now!!!