Texas Rangers Opening Day Roster Projections

It’s always fun this time of year to try and project which Texas Rangers players will be on the opening day roster. Almost all the writers and bloggers do it. I’m going to take my shot at it.

The Obvious Ones

We are going to start today with the ones that we know are going to be on the roster. Infield: Jonah Heim, Nathaniel Lowe, Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Josh Jung and Mitch Garver.

We move to the outfield: Leody Taveras, Adolis Garcia, Brad Miller and Robbie Grossman. I’ll do the bench players after pitchers.

Pitchers: Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray, Nathan Evoldi, Andrew Heaney, Martin Perez, Brock Burke, Jonathan Hernandez, Jose LeClerc, Will Smith, Taylor Hearn.

At this point I have six players to go. Some will be pitchers, some will be position players.

The Rest:

Bubba Thompson will be on the team as a bench player. I would be really surprised if he wasn’t. I also believe that Ian Kennedy will make the club. That leaves 4 players.

Cole Ragans is making a case to be on this team in spring training. If they want him to remain a starter, he may go down to AAA. He deserves to be on the club.

Joe Barlow will also make the team in my opinion. He pitched well in 2022 and the Rangers are high on him as a reliever.

I believe that Josh Smith will also sneak on to this team. His ability to play infield and outfield helps him for sure. That leaves me one spot.

I’m giving the final spot to another pitcher. I think Glen Otto makes the team as a reliever. The Rangers are high on him, and they believe he can be successful as a reliever.

So to recap:

Starting Rotation:

Jacob deGrom

Nathan Evoldi

Martin Perez

Jon Gray

Andrew Heaney

Bullpen:

Brock Burke

Jonathan Hernandez

Jose LeClerc

Will Smith