The Rangers introduced that right-hander Tyler Mahle has been reinstated from the 60-day injured checklist. In corresponding strikes, the membership optioned left-hander Walter Pennington and designated catcher Andrew Knizner for task.
Knizner, 29, signed with the Rangers within the offseason after being non-tendered by the Cardinals. Texas gave him a one-year cope with a $1.825MM wage, realizing that he may very well be retained through arbitration past this season as properly.
Sadly, the membership has been struggling to get a lot manufacturing from the catcher place this 12 months. Jonah Heim hit .258/.317/.438 final 12 months for a 103 wRC+ however he has dropped to a line of .232/.277/.346 and a 73 wRC+ this 12 months. The falloff from Knizner has been much more drastic as he slashed .241/.288/.424 with the Playing cards final 12 months for a 92 wRC+ however he’s hitting .167/.183/.211 this 12 months for a wRC+ of 4.
Maybe a few of that may be attributed to a .206 batting common on balls in play however Knizner has additionally drawn walks at a paltry 1.1% clip and hit only one house run in his 93 plate appearances, in comparison with the ten he hit in 241 journeys to the plate final 12 months. The Rangers fortified their catching corps by buying Carson Kelly from the Tigers previous to the deadline after which optioned Knizner to Triple-A, although he has now been got rid of the 40-man roster altogether.
With the commerce deadline now handed, the Rangers must put Knizner on waivers within the coming days. Regardless of his tough season, he might maybe garner curiosity based mostly on his previous efficiency and contract standing.
He has one possibility left and due to this fact a claiming membership wouldn’t want to present him an lively roster spot straight away, although he can be out of choices subsequent 12 months in that state of affairs. He has not but spent 20 days on non-compulsory task this 12 months, so it’s doable he might retain that possibility subsequent 12 months if he both doesn’t get claimed or is saved within the majors by another membership. He additionally got here into this season with 4 years and 21 days of service time, placing him simply shy of the five-year mark at current. If any membership felt particularly bullish about Knizner’s future, they may declare him, hold him on non-compulsory task for the remainder of the 12 months after which management him through arbitration for 2 extra years.
As for Mahle, he can be taking the mound for the primary time in over a 12 months. He required Tommy John surgical procedure in Could of final 12 months, only a few months from free company. The Rangers signed him to a two-year, $22MM cope with the data that they must look ahead to his arrival.
With Mahle and Jacob deGrom each on their means again from surgical procedures final 12 months, the membership felt ok about their rotation depth to deal Michael Lorenzen to the Royals previous to the deadline. However each Jon Grey and Max Scherzer lately landed on the IL, thinning the group out additional. As of proper now, the group consists of Mahle, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, José Ureña and Cody Bradford, with Dane Dunning in a long-relief function within the bullpen.
