Leody Taveras Making a Hard Push at Opening Day Roster; “I Don’t Think He Could Push Any Harder"

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward is playing his cards close to the chest on who will or won't make the roster on Opening Day.

We have enough evidence to make educated guesses, but until there's official word, that's all they are—just guesses.

With the active roster expanded to 30 men for the first two weeks of the season, clubs will get an opportunity to carry extra arms for the bullpen, extra speed on the bases, or extra defensive replacements. Whatever their prerogative is, clubs will fill out their rosters to give them the best chance to get off to a fast start in a 60-game season.

The journey Leody Taveras has traveled in 2020 is truly remarkable. He went from having no shot at making the roster out of camp in Arizona to being "in the mix" for the Opening Day roster after COVID-19 derailed the 2020 season.

Yes, the unique circumstance has forced the Rangers to reconsider how to handle one of their top prospects. But Chris Woodward reiterated again on Saturday night that the changes Taveras has made seem to be permanent—and could catapult him to the major leagues much quicker than originally anticipated.

"This isn’t a fluke why he is as good as he is right now," Woodward said. "He’s got kind of a pit bull mentality while he’s out there. You could see it in that last inning, how important he felt that was to get on base to lead off the inning. The kid’s got a lot of talent, man. We’re seeing it on a daily basis here.”

In the last inning of Saturday night's intrasquad game, Taveras led off the final inning with his team trailing a run. Not only did he get on base, Taveras smacked a Jonathan Hernández changeup up the middle with an exit velocity of 101 miles per hour.

Woodward has studied Taveras' work ethic and consulted with his coaching staff on every facet of his game. Woodward was already impressed with Taveras' improvement at the plate earlier in the spring. Adjustments made by Taveras allowed him to stay closed at the plate and prevent his hands from drifting, allowing him to have a better path to the ball on the inner-half of the plate.

Taveras picked that up right where he left off when camp resumed a couple of weeks ago. In his first at-bat of Summer Camp, Taveras pulled a cutter from Corey Kluber and planted it several rows deep in the right field seats.

“I thought he was Barry Bonds after his first at-bat," Woodward laughed afterwards. "To come in, his first at-bat against Corey Kluber, and take a cutter in off the plate and keep it fair, that was pretty impressive.”

Over the past couple of weeks, Taveras has continued to impress Woodward and the coaching staff. Now with Opening Day less than a week away, the Rangers have a tough decision to make. They could add Taveras, which would give them a reliable defender and speed on the bases late in games, or they could preserve his service time clock and go another route.

"Just the way he fits with speed and defense," Woodward said on Friday. "His at-bat quality has been great. He's had a ton of walks since camp started. Every day he's had an opportunity to work on the bases, he's done it. He works hard on defense. He's that guy. He understands what the role would be."

Whatever the club ultimately decides regarding Taveras, he has done everything in his power to make that decision as painful as possible. And that could only mean good things for the Rangers now and in the future.

“I don’t think he could push any harder," Woodward said. "He fills so many needs for us. He’s doing everything right."

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