Righty swinging catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez was an outstanding catcher for the Texas Rangers.  He had a rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder and he was a pretty solid hitter.  Rodriguez’ best season for the Rangers came in 1999 when he was the MVP of the American League.  Rodriguez played in 144 games for the Rangers in 1999 and he was 199 for 600 (.332 avg, .914 OPS) with 116 runs scored, 35 homers, 113 RBIs and 25 stolen bases.  He played in 1,507 games in his 13 years with the Rangers and he was 1,747 of 5,754 (.304 avg, .828 OPS) with 866 runs scored, 217 homers, 842 RBIs and 81 stolen bases.  Rodriguez is still #4 in games played (1,507) in Rangers’ history.  He is also #2 in hits (1,747), #2 in doubles (352), tied for 4th in triples (28), #7 in batting average (.307), #9 in OPS (.828), #4 in runs scored (866), #4 in homers (217) and #4 in RBIs (842) in Rangers’ history.  In his 13 years with the Rangers, Rodriguez was an All-Star 10 times, he won 10 Gold Gloves and he won 6 Silver Slugger Awards.

25-year old righty Josh Lindblom will be called up next Monday to replace Alexi Ogando (on the D.L.) in the starting rotation.  Lindblom has pitched in 8 games (7 starts) in AAA-ball this year for the Rangers and he is 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP.  He has given up 27 hits and 11 walks while whiffing 33 batters in his first 43 1/3 innings in AAA, which is impressive.  Lindblom has pitched in 101 games (0 starts) in his first two years in the majors and he is 4-5 with 1 save, a 3.31 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP.  The Rangers acquired Lindblom on December 9th 2012 from the Phillies in the deal which sent Michael Young out of town.

The Rangers have placed 29-year old righty starting pitcher Alexi Ogando on the 15-day disabled list due to biceps tendinitis.  Ogando has pitched in 9 games (all starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 4-2 with a 3.08 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP.  Ogando has now pitched in 142 games (39 starts) in his first four years with the Rangers and he is 23-11 with 3 saves, a 3.12 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.  The Rangers have called up 25-year old righty reliever Cory Burns to replace Ogando on the active roster.  Burns has pitched in 14 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the Rangers so far this year and he is 0-1 with 8 saves, a 1.38 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP.  He has given up 12 hits and 4 walks while whiffing 18 batters in his first 13 innings this year in the minors, which is pretty impressive.  Burns pitched in 17 games (0 starts) for the Padres last year in his first taste of the majors and he is 0-1 with a 5.50 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP.

The Rangers have signed 33-year old righty starter/reliever Scott Richmond to a minor league deal.  Richmond pitched in 3 games (0 starts) for the Blue Jays last year and he was 0-0 with a 6.00 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP.  Richmond has now pitched in 36 games (29 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 9-14 with a 5.27 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP.  Richmond might get a shot with the Rangers if he looks good in the minors.

26-year old righty starting pitcher Yu Darvish is looking like the pitcher they thought he would be when they signed him a couple years ago out of Japan.  Darvish has started 8 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 6-1 with a 2.73 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP.  He only gave up 30 hits and 18 walks while whiffing 80 batters in his first 52 2/3 innings for the Rangers.  Darvish has now pitched in 37 games (all starts) in his first two years with the Rangers and he is 22-10 with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP.  Darvish could make a real run at the Cy Young Award in 2013 as long has he keeps throwing a lot of strikes.  His control looks improved so far in 2013 and they need for that to continue.

19-year old switch-hitting 2B/SS Luis Sardenas came into this season as the Rangers’ #7 prospect according to Baseball America.  He has played in 33 games in A-ball so far this year and he is 35 for 127 (.276 avg, .676 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 0 homers, 6 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.  He has now played in 169 games in his first four years in the minors and he is 192 of 656 (.293 avg, .702 OPS) with 117 runs scored, 2 homers, 51 RBIs and 52 stolen bases.  The Rangers will take things slowly with Sardenas.

31-year old righty swinging infielder Jeff Baker is swinging a hot stick for the Rangers so far this year.  He has played in 17 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 11 for 33 (.333 avg, 1.103 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 3 homers and 6 RBIs.  It would be smart of the Rangers to find more ABs for the Rangers in the near future if Baker keeps raking like he is right now.  Baker can handle playing 1B, 2B, 3B and the corner outfield spots….which should make it easy to find him more ABs moving forward.

The Rangers have placed 36-year old lefty swinging catcher A.J. Pierzynski on the 15-day D.L. retroactive to May 6th due to a strained right oblique muscle.  Pierzynski has played in 26 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 25 for 95 (.263 avg, .708 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 4 homers and 11 RBIs.  30-year old righty swinging Geovany Soto will likely draw most of the starts until Pierzynski is ready to return to action.  He has played in 10 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 7 for 33 (.212 avg, .570 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 1 RBI.  The Rangers have called up 28-year old righty swinging catcher Robinson Chirinos to replace Pierzynski on the active roster.  Chirinos played in 23 games in AAA-ball for the Rangers this year and he was 23 of 78 (.295 avg, .891 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 2 homers and 14 RBIs.  His only big league experience came back in 2011 with the Rays.  He played in 20 games for the Rays in 2011 and he was 12 for 55 (.218 avg, .592 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs.

30-year old righty swinging 2B Ian Kinsler is on fire with the bat so far this year for the Rangers.  Kinsler has played in 28 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 39 for 114 (.342 avg, .958 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 5 homers, 18 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.  Kinsler has walked more times (11) than he has whiffed (10) so far this year as he is really locked in at the plate right now.  The Rangers need Kinsler to stay healthy this year, as he is the guy that makes the offense go for them.

30-year old righty starting pitcher Randy Wells has decided to retire from baseball.  He pitched in 5 games (all starts) in AAA-ball for the Rangers this year and he was 0-4 with a 6.08 ERA and a 1.86 WHIP.  He gave up 32 hits (4 homers) and he walked 12 batters while whiffing 20 of them in 23 2/3 innings in AAA-ball as he was getting hit hard.  Wells pitched in 98 games (86 starts) in his five years in the majors and he was 28-32 with a 4.08 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP.  This isn’t much of a loss moving forward for the Rangers.