Rangers vs Athletics Pre-Game Notes: Taveras a Strong Candidate for Opening Day 2021

Even in a small sample size, Leody Taveras has emerged as a strong candidate to be the starting centerfielder for the Texas Rangers on Opening Day in 2021.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers are set to wrap up their homestand and four-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Sunday afternoon.

Oakland Atheltics (29-16) @ Texas Rangers (16-30)

Sunday, September 13, 2020
1:35 p.m. CT
Globe Life Field | Arlington, TX
Roof Closed

Probables
OAK: RHP Mike Fiers (4-2, 4.93 ERA)
vs
TEX: RHP Luis García (0-1, 3.68 ERA)

Broadcast

Oakland Athletics
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: A's Cast, KNEW 960

Texas Rangers
TV: FOX Sports Southwest
Radio: 105.3 The Fan, KFLC

Oakland Athletics Starting Lineup

1. 3B Tommy La Stella
2. SS Marcus Semien
3. RF Stephen Piscotty
4. 1B Matt Olson
5. LF Robbie Grossman
6. DH Mark Canha
7. CF Ramón Laureano
8. C Jonah Heim
9. 2B Tony Kemp

Texas Rangers Starting Lineup

1. CF Leody Taveras
2. 3B Isiah Kiner-Falefa
3. LF Nick Solak
4. 2B Rougned Odor
5. DH Derek Dietrich
6. SS Anderson Tejeda
7. 1B Ronald Guzmán
8. RF Eli White
9. C Jeff Mathis

Injury Report

10-Day IL

• Joe Palumbo (ulcerative colitis flare-up): eligible August 14
• Willie Calhoun (strained left hamstring): eligible August 30
• Danny Santana (right elbow sprain): eligible September 6
• Joely Rodríguez (left hamstring strain): eligible September 16
• Shin-Soo Choo (right hand sprain): eligible September 18

45-Day IL

• Brock Burke (left shoulder surgery): eligible May 27
• Corey Kluber (torn right teres major muscle (shoulder)): eligible September 11
• José Leclerc (torn right teres major muscle (shoulder)): eligible September 13
• Edinson Vólquez (right oblique strain): eligible September 27

• Joey Gallo is sitting out of today's lineup with a sore hamstring. It is not thought to be serious. With the Rangers off tomorrow, Woodward wanted to give Gallo a couple days to rest it.

Taveras a Strong Candidate for Opening Day 2021

With only a couple of weeks remaining in the season, there has already been some thought toward the 2021 season.

While Chris Woodward believes it would be a "leap of faith" to put Anderson Tejeda as the No. 1 guy at shortstop in 2021, he believes Leody Taveras is a strong candidate to be the starting centerfielder on Opening Day in 2021.

“I think so, honestly. I think of all the younger guys, he's probably impressed the most just because of his poise. Can he handle the everyday responsibility of not only—I think defensively he's fine. Physically is a question mark. Can he handle the physical aspect of it? 162 games? I have yet to see that. We won't see that this year, obviously. But the mental capacity, I think he can. For a young kid that's as strong of a mental makeup as I've seen. As a young kid, he’s really smart. He's engaged. He doesn't take pitches off. He has the same mentality every day, which is impressive. It's hard. You can see some guys kind of space out. They're young, they're just like, ‘Man, this is a lot to think about on a daily basis.’ He doesn't seem to be bothered by that and he can bring it every day. The questions he asks, his conversations. He's always talking about the game. He's not talking about playing video games at night. He's talking about baseball all the time. That tells me a lot. Can he do that for 162 games? I think he can. Then it just comes down to execution. Can he execute quality at-bats on a daily basis? He's shown that he can so far, but like I said, it's a small sample. It's a lot to ask for a young player, but he's been really impressive.”

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