Rangers Kick Off Three-Game Intrasquad Series as Tough Roster Decisions Lay Ahead

ARLINGTON, Texas — Simulating season-level competition is a tough endeavor when teams have to resort to intrasquad games. Even so, the Texas Rangers devised a way to raise the intensity.

Manager Chris Woodward selected Robinson Chirinos and Jeff Mathis to draft teams for a three-game intrasquad series dubbed the Texas Rangers Summer Showdown. In addition, the Rangers decided to honor the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues by naming their teams after two local teams that played in various leagues early last century. Chirinos' team was named the Dallas Black Giants while Mathis' team was named the Fort Worth Wonders.

“With the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, I thought it was important to include some of the local teams,” manager Chris Woodward said. “I researched a bunch of teams. There were some pretty fascinating stories.”

To up the ante, the Rangers are playing for a trophy and some hefty bragging rights. Though these are only intrasquad games, the players are taking it pretty seriously.

“Something must be on the line because Lance Lynn hung around to watch the game for the other team,” Gibson said. “He is not going to stick around unless he has to. He is obviously in it to win it. He would love to have that third game [on Saturday] mean something so he can throw Game 3. It sounds silly, but there is a little bit of pride and you want to win the three games.”

Game one on Thursday night was claimed by Mathis' Fort Worth Wonders with a 3-2 victory in a seven-inning game. Fort Worth's Nick Ciuffo broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning with an opposite field two-run home run off Dallas starter Kyle Gibson. Dallas' Jose Trevino pulled the Black Giants within a run in the home half of the fourth inning, but Joe Palumbo pitched three scoreless innings to close out the game for Fort Worth.

Game two of the series on Friday night will be streamed on texasrangers.com with Jared Sandler on play-by-play. First pitch will be approximately at 6:10 p.m. CST. Rangers starter Jordan Lyles will be one of the starting pitchers.

Roster Decisions

Manager Chris Woodward informed three young pitchers they will be on the Opening Day roster: RHPs Luke Farrell, Nick Goody, and Jonathan Hernandez.

Hernandez has arguably been the most impressive bullpen candidate throughout camp. With the shortage of arms at the very beginning, he could play a variety of roles given his versatility.

“I closed and pitched in long relief during winter ball in the Dominican," Hernandez said on Thursday. "I was a starter last year. I don’t think about (the situation) too much. I just want to go out there, do my work and help the team with whatever I can do.”

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There are a number of position players that have had strong camps, namely Scott Heineman, Adolis Garcia, Rob Refsnyder, Andy Ibáñez, and Yadiel Rivera. Even with Calhoun potentially missing time at the start of the season, Woodward admitted Nick Solak is first in line for those at-bats.

The strong performances in camp give Woodward the bittersweet privilege of having too many options.

“For me, it’s great. But it’s also tough because you can’t keep everybody. It hurts having to tell a guy that he didn’t make the team when he’s done everything possible to make the team," Woodward said.

"I think the thing that I’m kind of floored by, just by looking at our group, is the quality of the character of the guys. There’s competitiveness there that I’ve never seen in intrasquad games. They’re hungry, they’re ready to start this thing and help us win games. There’s going to be tough conversations in the next few days to tell people they didn’t make the team, but it’s also very rewarding to let guys know they have made the team based on the work that they’ve done, especially in the three months off.”

LHP Brett Martin was officially added to the COVID-19 Injured List on Thursday, which opens up a spot on the 40-man roster. As usual, a player must be on the 40-man roster to play in the major leagues. For players on the 40-man roster that don't make the team on Opening Day, clubs will have to use their minor league option to assign them to the taxi squad.

Moving Martin to the COVID-19 IL leaves the Rangers with 38 players on their 40-man roster.

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