Tuesday Newsletter time: Texas Rangers starter Taylor Hearn wants to meet your local high school team
The left-hander can't use Rangers facilities during the lockout or work with their coaching staff.
Some ballplayers, it seems, can only go so long without being part of a team.
Case in point, Taylor Hearn. The Texas Rangers left-hander went to Twitter on Sunday night and asked if any Metroplex high school teams would mind if he joined in on a few practices as the MLB lockout continues.
Prep pitchers take pitchers fielding practice, too.
Hearn, though, isn’t necessarily looking for a place to work out, but rather a chance to get to know some of the players and programs in the area where he grew up and plays professionally.
Area teams were quick to invite him. He said he is gathering a list and plans to drop in on a few, weather permitting. He always has an open invitation to his alma mater, Royse City High.
“That will definitely be my last stop,” Hearn said. “Basically, I just want to get to know a bunch of kids. Why not go to some high schools and work out with them.”
MLB players are not permitted to use team facilities or interact with the coaching staff or medical staff during the lockout. Spring training is supposed to begin in mid-February, but that seems doubtful.
Hearn has been working out this offseason at L.D. Bell High School in Bedford and at TMI Sports Medicine in Arlington. He’s been throwing bullpen sessions and hopes spring training starts on time.
“I’m ready to go,” he said. “A lot of us are ready to go.”
Hearn, who was selected as the 2021 Richard Durrett Hardest Working Player, is projected to be in the Rangers’ rotation along with right-handers Jon Gray and Dane Dunning. The Rangers are hoping to add a veteran and possibly fill the last spot with a tandem of young starters.
Still locked out
No progress has been made on the labor front since the owners and players met last week on consecutive days to discuss core economic issues. A report by The Athletic then threw cold water over those who were feeling optimistic that a new collective bargaining agreement wasn’t far off.
The report, by good guys Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, flat out states “a new CBA is not close.” It presents the issues, with super agent Scott Boras explaining the players’ angst. He’s on the players’ side, of course.
The good news is that Drellich later reported the owners and players are scheduled to meet Tuesday. The only way to narrow the gap is to negotiate, and the nature of negotiations is for both sides to seek the moon early on.
Time is not on baseball’s friend right now. An on-time start to spring training seems like a pipe dream, though a baseball source speculated that camps could start on time as long as there is an agreement by Feb. 10.
The ensuing weeks would be a madhouse, but it seems that all 30 teams have braced themselves for that.
The Big 7-5
Nolan Ryan turned 75 on Monday, which, to be honest, I thought was a little light.
But he pitched until he was 46, retiring in 1993, and we’re now into the second month of 2022. The math checks out.
The last time Rangers fans saw Ryan was Sept. 28, 2019, at the final game at Globe Life Park. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch, much to the delight of the sellout crowd, and quickly exited stage left.
As the story goes, Ryan had a charity event scheduled for that night and didn’t feel he could make the time to drive up from Georgetown and back and still make the event.
So, he made an offer: The Rangers would fly him up and right back as soon as his duties were done, and they would make Nolan Ryan Beef the official hot dog and meat of Globe Life Field.
Ryan still knew how to deal.
Doggy video!
It’s funny because it’s true. Enjoy. See you Wednesday.
Nolan is a great guy. Got to know him when I was on the Rangers Season Ticket Holder Board. Different in person than on TV. He's has some health issues and so glad he's doing well at 75. Sure wish he was back in Arlington every once in a while.