Rangers Now Perilously Thin at Key Position after Trade with Blue Jays

The Texas Rangers took a chance on waiving a key piece of depth and lost that player in one day.

The Texas Rangers logo | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers needed a reliever. Losing Willie MacIver was the cost of doing business. Now, the Rangers have depth issues at catcher.

When the Rangers called up reliever Peyton Gray to take Robert Garcia’s place in the bullpen, they need a 40-man roster spot. Texas opted to designate MacIver for assignment, their only other catcher on the roster besides Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka. Texas was likely hoping that MacIver would slip through waivers so he could be optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.

The Toronto Blue Jays had other ideas. The Blue Jays are without All-Star Alejandro Kirk due to injury and need depth at the position, so they traded cash considerations to the Rangers for MacIver, Texas announced on Friday.

Jansen and Higashioka have played well and have remained healthy. But one injury puts the Rangers in a bind. What does the organizational depth look like behind the pair?

Texas Rangers Minor League Catching Depth

Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Jose Herrera. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The only catcher with Major League experience in the organization is Jose Herrera, who was signed as a minor league free agent last offseason and didn’t make the opening day roster. He played for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2022-25 and slashed .200/.280/.259 with three home runs and 42 RBI. He’s at best a stopgap if Jansen or Higashioka must make a short detour to the IL. Herrera is slashing .167/.390/.300 at Round Rock.

The other catcher at Round Rock is Cooper Johnson, a 2019 Detroit Tigers draft pick who has yet to play in the Majors. He’s carrying the better slash in the minor leagues — .239/.340/.413 with two home runs and six RBI.

If Texas needed either of them, it would require a 40-man roster move, which would require either designating a player for assignment or moving a player to the 60-day injured list so they would not count against the 40-man roster. The Rangers don’t have an injured player in line for the latter, which is good news. But it puts Texas in the position of risking the loss of valuable depth.

The Rangers have three catchers at Double-A Frisco — Julian Brock, Tucker Mitchell and Ian Moller. A jump from Double-A to the Majors is unlikely, but not unheard of. In 2022, Ezequiel Duran jumped from Frisco to Arlington due to injuries. Miller is red-hot at the plate in nine games, slashing .387/.441/.516          

Texas had hoped that 2024 first-round pick Malcolm Moore would be further along. But injuries have limited his growth and he’s batting .200 at High-A Hub City.

Losing MacIver puts the Rangers in an uncomfortable position for catching depth. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them trolling the waiver wire and flipping the cash they just got to another team for a veteran back-up. Texas can’t afford a lack of coverage at the position.