Wednesday Newsletter time: Changing teams isn't easy, but Mitch Garver pumped for chance with Texas Rangers
The catcher, who was acquired from Minnesota for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, is busy learning his new pitching staff.
Mitch Garver was about to take a flight to Florida on Saturday when he got the word that the Minnesota Twins had traded him to the Texas Rangers.
So, he went back to his Colorado home and quickly changed his plans. He also started to process being traded by the only team he had ever known.
That’s not easy.
“It’s just the relationships that you build throughout your career that you build year in and year out,” Garver told reporters Tuesday at the Surprise Recreation Campus.
But he sees what’s happening with the Rangers on the baseball side. Everybody in baseball saw the Rangers spend more than $500 million shortly before the lockout on four players, and Garver is now teammates with them.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “It’s a young group, talented. Obviously, it looks like ownership is making a push. They want to win. It’s a really good opportunity.”
Garver needs to learn the pitching staff, and the best way to do that is by catching as many pitchers as he can this spring.
“If I’m not actually catching, I feel like I’m getting know these guys on a smaller level,” he said. “The most important thing is to get back there, catch as many guys as I can, and make sure they’re comfortable with how I call a game.”
Perez returns
The good news for Garver is that he is former Twins teammates with Martin Perez, who has returned to the Rangers on a one-year, $4 million deal.
Perez is one of the Rangers’ solutions to an innings shortage in the rotation. Though he threw only 114 innings last season with Boston, he has thrown as many as 198 2/3 in his career.
He’s also a veteran who has experience he can pass on.
“Being on a different team and coming back here is big for me because I learned a lot from those teams and I get to come here and give them to my teammates,” Perez said. “Sometimes we try to make things hard. Make things easy. When you’re trying to much, you’re not going to get the results you want.”
The Rangers are still seeking another starting pitcher to go with Perez, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning and Taylor Hearn.
Video of the Day
Those who have subscribed to the Texas Rangers Baseball Podcast YouTube channel may have already seen this. For those who haven’t subscribed, you should.
As a tease, here’s one of the many videos posted in the past week.
It’s of top prospect Jack Leiter getting the final out of his first inning Friday vs. Royals prospects. Actually, he gets the last two outs thanks to some lousy Royals base running and a heady play by Davis Wendzel.
More videos are coming during upcoming trips back to spring training. I could be back either Saturday or Monday, depending on how the TCU men’s basketball team does Friday and Sunday at the NCAA Tournament in San Diego (I’m covering the game(s) for frogstoday.com).
If the Frogs sneak into the Sweet 16, well, it might get complicated, but I for sure will be back for the end of camp.
Doggy video!
Not the best at hiding things, is he? Enjoy. See you Wednesday.
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