Tuesday Newsletter time: Injuries running through Texas Rangers' farm system. Timing couldn't be worse.

2020 draftees Evan Carter and T.K. Roby are facing significant absences, which puts a dent in development during the Year of the Rebuild.

Jun 29, 2021

Credit: Matthew Edwards/Down East Wood Ducks

Broken bones heal. Some take longer than others.

Torn elbow ligaments, though, too often don’t heal quick enough or well enough in the baseball world. They usually result in Tommy John surgery.

Evan Carter, an outfielder who has a stress fracture in his lower back, is expected to play again in September. T.K. Roby, a right-hander who’s dealing with elbow woes, might not pitch again until 2023.

Gulp.

The Rangers revealed both injuries Monday after Jeff Wilson’s Texas Rangers Newsletter broke the Carter news and Evan Grant over at the DMN had the Roby news.

Carter and Roby were the Rangers’ second- and third-round picks in the five-round 2020 MLB Draft. They are both still teenagers and are at Low A Down East, so they are in their pro baseball infancy.

(Right-hander Tyree Thompson, a 26th-rounder in 2016 who was at Down East, will miss the rest of the season after having a brace inserted in his elbow.)

But the Year of the Rebuild doesn’t apply only to the big-league club. It’s imperative that prospects continue to develop in the minors without major setbacks. Forty percent of the draft last draft class seems majors.

It’s not all bad news on the minor-league injury front.

Top prospect Josh Jung is healthy and producing at Double A Frisco.

Justin Foscue, the 2020 first-rounder, should be able to play in the first half of July after receiving a cortisone injection for what has been diagnosed as a strained oblique.

Sam Huff, the No. 2 prospect behind Jung, started his rehab assignment from right knee surgery as the Arizona League Rangers opened their season Monday. He isn’t going to be catching any time soon, but will play at designated hitter and first base.

It’s just the bad news always seems to outweigh the good.

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TR’s Memoirs

Shortly after I sent my first tweet introducing this newsletter, TR Sullivan called and asked me what this was all about. It didn’t take long for him to say the following:

“I want to write. I don’t want any money. I just want to write.”

He had me at “don’t want any money.”

Here’s the plan: He wants to tell stories from his time on the Rangers beat, which covered 32 years. Thirty. Two. The Jeff Wilson’s Texas Rangers Newsletter creative team, which consists of me, came up with TR’s Memoirs.

It rhymes, kind of.

The JWTXR Newsletter marketing specialist, Mrs. Wilson, is thrilled with having TR aboard.

He’ll be contributing another type of story each week, or whenever he wants. He is retired, after all.

So, stay tuned and subscribe.

Maybe I’ll eventually buy him a case beer.

Thin at catcher

I went ahead and filled out a ballot for the All-Star Game, as I do just about every season. I will admit that a lot of the charm and fun of the voting process was eliminated when MLB did away with the in-ballpark vote.

Now, MLB wants your e-mail address and birthday before they will even take your ballot. Fun.

To be completely honest, I don’t remember who all got my vote, but Shohei Ohtani did and so did Adolis Garcia. His is a great story that baseball needs to highlight next month at the Midsummer Classic.

I was blown way by the three finalists for AL catcher: Salvador Perez, who received my vote thanks to his 18 home runs, .277 average and .817 OPS; Yasmani Grandal, who is batting .177 with a .804 OPS; and Martin Maldonado, who is batting .171 with a .541 OPS.

Really, fans?

In their defense, it’s not a great field. Gary Sanchez, the Yankees catcher, has better offensive numbers than Grandal (White Sox) and Maldonado (Astros). Sean Murphy with Oakland has a case.

But, yeah, the AL is pretty thin behind the plate.

3 Jack National update

Club Pro Guy had a tough meeting Monday with his bankers. It’s hard to understand how this project, 3 Jack National, continues to run into complications.

In the end, though, it looks like CPG found the right solution.