Tuesday Newsletter time: Nick Hundley added as a special assistant to the GM. Here’s how he will help Texas Rangers
General manager Chris Young and Hundley were teammates for three seasons in San Diego and worked together with Major League Baseball.
The Texas Rangers have no shortage of special assistants to the general manager, all of them hired while Jon Daniels held that post.
Chris Young was hired as GM in December 2020 after Daniels was kicked up to president of baseball operations, and had yet to select a special assistant of his own.
Nick Hundley isn’t replacing any of the six — six! — special assistants on the Rangers’ payroll, and he isn’t going to be serving Young his daily cup of tea. He’ll be found all over the place, including in uniform during spring training, instructional league and with affiliates.
“It’s a great opportunity for Nick continue to learn and develop and also contribute and give us suggestions, ideas and, and thoughts regarding the organization based on his experience,” Young said.
Young and Hundley were batterymates with the San Diego Padres from 2008 to 2010, and then worked together at the MLB offices in 2020. Hundley had been working as senior director of baseball operations.
The other Rangers special assistants are all former Rangers players: Michael Young, Darren Oliver, Colby Lewis, Brandon McCarthy, Ivan Rodriguez and Steve Buechele.
Camp invitee
The Rangers added to their spring-training roster Monday by signing outfielder/first baseman Joe McCarthy to a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training.
A few thoughts:
He’s definitely not the most famous Joe McCarthy in baseball history or in U.S. history.
McCarthy turns 28 on Feb. 23. He was college teammates at Virginia with Rangers reliever Josh Sborz. His little brother, Jake, made his MLB debut in 2021 with the Diamondbacks.
The Rangers might be catching a player who is a late bloomer. McCarthy had the best season of his career in 2021 at Triple A Sacramento in the Giants organization, posting career-highs in home runs (15), batting average (.305), on-base percentage (.384) and slugging percentage (.542).
McCarthy is a left-handed hitter, which means he won’t be part of a platoon with at first base with the lefty-hitting Nathaniel Lowe. The Rangers have need for the depth in the minors at first base, where Blaine Crim stands as their top prospect at the position with Dustin Harris moving to the outfield. First base is also a relatively new position for McCarthy, who has played outfield most of his career.
But expect to see a lot of McCarthy this spring. He will get a chance to play and put himself on the radar.
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Doggy video!
I think these two are on the lam and trying to evade The Man. Enjoy. See you Wednesday.
