Rangers reunite with dependable veteran outfielder via trade
Robbie Grossman
The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired outfielder Robbie Grossman from the White Sox in exchange for minor league right-hander Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa. To make room on the 40-man roster, Texas designated lefty Kolton Ingram for assignment.
Grossman, 34, returns to the team with which he won a World Series ring just last season. He signed a minor league deal with the White Sox, but his stint with the South Siders will ultimately last only 25 games and 85 plate appearances. The veteran switch-hitter turned in a .211/.329/.268 slash in that small sample but was a solid part-time player for manager Bruce Bochy last year when he batted .238/.340/.394 in 420 trips to the plate. He’ll be a cost-effective addition for the Rangers, as his deal with the ChiSox carried a $1.5M base salary.
As has been the case throughout his career, Grossman was particularly effective from the right side of the dish last season. He hit .309/.416/.536 against southpaws, giving Texas a highly productive right-handed bat to mix in at left field and designated hitter. Things have played out similarly in his brief time with the ChiSox; Grossman is 6-for-16 with a pair of doubles, four walks and four strikeouts against lefties this year. In his career, he’s a .283/.383/.427 hitter against lefties – far superior to his .228/.331/.357 slash from the left side of the plate.
While Texas has a pair of big right-handed bats in Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia – plus switch-hitting catcher Jonah Heim, who’s better right-handed – the lineup generally skews left-handed. That’s all the more true with third baseman Josh Jung on the injured list following wrist surgery. Promising young hitters Wyatt Langford (strained hamstring) and Justin Foscue (strained oblique) are both on the injured list as well, subtracting another pair of potentially impactful right-handed bats from the equation.
The Rangers, as a whole, have been flummoxed by left-handed pitching this season. The team is currently batting a collective .231/.288/.343 against southpaws. The resulting 80 wRC+ suggests that Rangers hitters have been 20% worse than average against lefties this year, ranking 25th among MLB teams.
Grossman can give the Rangers a platoon partner for young outfielder Evan Carter in left field. Carter has pummeled right-handed pitching but is just 2-for-33 against lefties in his young big league career and has fanned in 44.4% of his left-on-left matchups to date. And while Grossman doesn’t have the strongest career numbers from the left side of the dish, his keen plate discipline still allows him to post quality OBP marks from that side of the dish, making him a corner outfield or DH option against right-handed starters.
In exchange for Grossman, the Rangers will part with a bullpen prospect who’s approaching MLB readiness. While Hoopii-Tuionetoa hasn’t cracked the Rangers’ top-30 prospect lists at Baseball America or MLB.com, he’s breezed through Double-A opposition thus far, rattling off 12 1/3 shutout innings with a hefty 34% strikeout rate against a solid 8.5% walk rate. That strong start to his 2024 campaign comes on the heels of a 2023 season that saw the Hawaiian-born righty pitch 24 1/3 innings of 2.96 ERA ball with a 25% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate between Low-A and High-A.
Shoulder troubles limited Hoopii-Tuionetoa’s workload last year, but he finished the season healthy and also tacked on 9 2/3 innings of shutout ball in the Arizona Fall League. Hoopii-Tuionetoa went unselected in December’s Rule 5 Draft despite being eligible – Texas selected him in the 30th round of the 2019 draft – but he’s only further enhanced his stock with a terrific start to the 2024 campaign.
Grossman’s acquisition pushes the 27-year-old Ingram off the Rangers’ roster. He’d been claimed off waivers out of the Mets organization just under three weeks ago. The Rangers will have five days to trade him or else place him on outright waivers or release waivers, which could last another 48 hours. Whichever route the Rangers take, Ingram will know his next destination within a week’s time.
Ingram made his big league debut with the Angels in 2023 but totaled just 5 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on eight hits and five walks in that tiny sample but did fan seven of his 30 opponents. He’s had far more success in the upper minors, logging 102 1/3 innings of 2.46 ERA ball in Double-A and 40 2/3 innings of 3.54 ERA ball in Triple-A – including a pair of scoreless frames with the Rangers’ affiliate in Round Rock.
Broadly speaking, Ingram has shown a knack for missing bats throughout his career – evidenced by a sharp 29.3% strikeout rate in the minors. However, he’s also battled command issues, walking 11.1% of his opponents in addition to another 14 plunked batters (1.6%). Primarily a fastball/slider pitcher, Ingram sits 92-93 mph with his heater and has proven to be a consistent headache for left-handed opponents. They mustered an awful .151/.245/.186 slash against him in 2023 and hit just .141/.243/.219 against him the year prior. Righties have had more success but primarily due to his sub-par command. Right-handed opponents still hit in the low .200s against Ingram, but they’ve walked at a 12.5% clip against him over the past several seasons.
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