The Rangers have purchased the contract of Sam Haggerty
The Texas Rangers have purchased the contract of infielder/outfielder Sam Haggerty, the team announced today. To make room for Haggerty on the active roster, the Rangers have optioned outfielder Dustin Harris to AAA Round Rock. The Rangers had an open 40 man roster spot due to Leody Taveras being claimed on waivers, so there was no move necessary on that front.
We mentioned Haggerty this morning in the post discussing Leody Taveras and the luxury tax, noting that Haggerty was the only real outfield option currently in AAA other than Jonathan Ornelas who, like Haggerty, has played more infield than outfield in his career. Haggerty has played more outfield in the majors than infield, however, although he only has 202 career major league games. Haggerty has primarily played the outfield for Round Rock this year, however, including 11 games in center field.
Haggerty is a switch hitter with a career .232/.312/.351 slash line. Most of his major league action has come with the Seattle Mariners, and he had a very solid 2022 season for them, slashing .256/.335/.403 with 13 steals in 14 attempts in 201 plate appearances while primarily manning corner outfield spots, putting up a 2.2 bWAR. He dropped off some in 2023 and then had just 8 major league games last year, spending most of the season not hitting in AAA.
Haggerty was battling for a bench spot in camp this spring, but didn’t make the cut and ended up going to Round Rock. He’s slashing .313/.383/.398 overall, but is slashing .429/.429/.619 in his last five games. He’s also been crushing lefties this season, albeit in a very small sample size, and has been much better in his major league career against lefties. He will likely get an opportunity to get some starts against lefties.
Harris going down isn’t surprising at this point, as he’s slashing .200/.263/.343 and doesn’t really have a path to regular playing time. He started off hot when he was first called up, but currently has one hit in his last 20 at bats.