31-year old righty swinging infielder Jeff Baker is getting his big shot to play due to the injury to 1B Mitch Moreland.  Baker has played in 8 games so far in June for the Rangers and he is 7 for 27 (.259 avg, 1.051 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 4 homers and 7 RBIs.  Baker has now played in 36 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 26 of 78 (.333 avg, 1.140 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 9 homers and 16 RBIs.  Baker has been sharing P.T. with 25-year old lefty swinging 1B Chris McGuiness, who was called up to replace Mitch Moreland on the active roster.  McGuiness has played in 3 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 2 for 8 (.250 avg, .625 OPS) with 1 RBI.  He has also played in 55 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 53 of 193 (.275 avg, .858 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 6 homers and 34 RBIs.  The Rangers hope that Baker and McGuiness can keep up the good work while Mitch Moreland is out of action.

UPDATE:  (6/19/2013) - The Rangers have placed Jeff Baker on the 15-day disabled list due to a sprained right thumb.  Baker has played in 37 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 26 of 82 (.317 avg, 1.086 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 9 homers and 16 RBIs.

The Rangers have placed 29-year old righty starting pitcher Alexi Ogando on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 6th, due to right shoulder inflammation.  Ogando has pitched in 10 games (all starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP.  The Rangers have called up 25-year old righty starting pitcher Josh Lindblom to replace Ogando in the starting rotation.  Lindblom started 1 game earlier this year for the Rangers and he is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP.  Lindblom has also pitched in 10 games (9 starts) in AAA-ball for the Rangers so far this year and he is 6-0 with a 2.04 ER and a 0.92 WHIP.

The Rangers have placed 26-year old lefty reliever Michael Kirkman on the 15-day disabled list, due to cutaneous lymphoma in his right triceps.  This is something that can be controlled by treatment, so it won’t likely endanger Kirkman’s career by any means.  He has pitched in 25 games (0 starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 0-2 with 1 save, a 8.18 ERA and a 2.32 WHIP.  Kirkman has now pitched in 82 games (0 starts) in his first four years with the Rangers and he is 2-5 with 1 save, a 5.17 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP.

The Rangers have lost 27-year old righty reliever/starter Collin Balester for the rest of the 2013 season due to Tommy John Surgery.  Balester pitched in 6 games (5 starts) in AAA-ball for the Rangers this year and he was 1-4 with a 7.33 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP.  Balester has pitched in 73 games (22 starts) in his first five years in the majors and he is 7-16 with a 5.30 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP.  This isn’t much of a loss moving forward for the Rangers.

The Rangers have placed 27-year old lefty swinging 1B Mitch Moreland on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained right hamstring.  Moreland has played in 58 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 57 for 198 (.288 avg, .899 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 12 homers and 29 RBIs.  This is a bad break for Moreland as he was finally getting to be a full-time starter.  He is 20 for 72 (.278 avg, .779 OPS) with 1 homer and 7 RBIs against lefty pitchers so far in 2013.

The Rangers have lost 22-year old righty reliever/starter Roman Mendez to a stress fracture in his right elbow.  Mendez pitched in 16 games (0 starts) in AA-ball for the Rangers this year and he was 2-0 with 2 saves, a 1.82 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP.  He has now pitched in 108 games (73 starts) in his first six years in the minors and he is 25-18 with 5 saves, a 3.59 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP.  This is a bad break for Mendez, as he was pitching really well in the minors.

The Texas Rangers have placed 30-year old righty swinging 2B Ian Kinsler on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 18th due to a strained intercostal muscle.  Kinsler has played in 40 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 49 for 162 (.302 avg, .869 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 7 homers, 20 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.  The Rangers have called up 20-year old switch-hitting SS/2B Jurickson Profar to replace Kinsler on the active roster.  Profar played in 37 games in AAA-ball this year for the Rangers and he was 40 for 144 (.278 avg, .807 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 4 homers, 19 RBIs and 6 stolen bases.  Profar has now played in 341 games in his first four years in the minors and he is 361 of 1,306 (.276 avg, .816 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 34 homers, 169 RBIs and 53 stolen bases.  He got his first taste of the majors in 2012 for the Rangers, appearing in 9 games in which he was 3 for 17 (.176 avg, .647 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs.  Profar came into this season as the Rangers’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America.  That being said, the Rangers are still going to miss Kinsler.

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 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.

The Rangers have placed 27-year old lefty starting pitcher Matt Harrison on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 7th, due to a strained lower back.  Harrison has pitched in 2 games (both starts) so far this year for the Rangers and he is 0-2 with a 8.44 ERA and a 1.97 WHIP.  Harrison will be replaced in the rotation by 24-year old righty Justin Grimm.  Grimm came into this season as the Rangers’ #5 prospect according to Baseball America.  He has started 1 game in AAA-ball this year and he was 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP.  Grimm did pitch in 5 games (2 starts) for the Rangers in his first taste of the majors in 2012 and he was 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP.  The Rangers hope that Grimm is better for them this time around.

UPDATE:  (4/19/2013) - The Rangers will be without Matt Harrison until after the All-Star break as he had surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back today.  This is a huge blow to the Rangers’ starting rotation.  They will likely have 24-year old righty rookies Nick Tepesch and Justin Grimm at the back end of the rotation for a while, as long as they can handle it.  Tepesch has started 2 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 1-1 with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP.  Grimm has started 1 game so far this year and he is 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP.

UPDATE II:  (5/1/2013) - The Rangers will be without Matt Harrison until at least August, as he had a second surgery on his back earlier today.