With the 2024 regular season over, it is time for us to go back and take a look at the players who appeared for the Texas Rangers this season.

Today, we look at outfielder Dustin Harris.

Dustin Harris had quite a season for the Texas Rangers. He led the team in batting average (.333) and slugging (1.000), and and was second in OBP (.429, trailing only Matt Duffy, who had a .500 OBP).

Yes, Harris only had seven plate appearances, but you can only do what you are given the opportunity to do, and by going 2 for 6 with a double, a homer and a walk, and definitely took advantage of his very limited opportunity, which came literally at the last possible moment — his two games played were starts in Game 161 and Game 162. Harris didn’t get called up until the final week of the season, when Ezequiel Duran went on the paternity list and Josh Jung went on the injured list.

It was a nice ending to what was, at best, a middling season for Harris. He played 131 games for Round Rock in 2024, but slashed just .272/.358/.391, which is disappointingly low for a guy viewed as a hitting prospect (versus a glove-first guy) in the offense-crazy Pacific Coast League. The Express team, as a whole, slashed .260/.348/.410, to put Harris’s line in perspective.

The disappointing nature of Harris’s season is also reflected in the BA rankings for the Rangers. After being ranked among the team’s top 10 prospects from 2022-24, BA dropped him to #18 on this year’s list, noting the drop in power and lackluster exit velocity numbers.

Interestingly, though, the Rangers challenged Harris in regards to his defensive positions in 2024. Originally drafted by the Oakland A’s in 2019, Harris played mostly first base with a dash of third base mixed in his first year as a pro. After not playing in 2020 due to the pandemic and then being traded to the Rangers, along with Marcus Smith, in the Mike Minor deal, Harris split time between first base and third base in a roughly 75/25 fashion in his breakout 2021 campaign, which saw him slash .327/.401/.542 between low-A and high-A.

The Rangers then had him primarily play left field with Frisco in 2022, with a few appearances at first base and some work at DH. 2023 saw him split time between Frisco and Round Rock, as well as split time between left field and first base.

But in 2024, Harris got a plurality of his appearances in the field in center field, with a good number of appearances in left field, but also 12 starts at third base. It would seem that the Rangers are seeking to increase his potential versatility and test his ability to handle more challenging defensive positions, something Harris will likely need to be able to add to his repertoire with his current offensive profile. It would be nice if Harris could be a viable centerfield option, though BA didn’t have good reports on his defense in the outfield.

2025 will be a critical season for Harris, as, unless he spends most of the year on the injured list, he will be on his last option. He has contact ability and the hit tool is there, but its a round ball and a round bat and you’ve got to hit it square, and Harris hasn’t been doing that often enough the last few seasons.

Previously:

Jesus Tinoco

Marcus Semien

Josh Sborz

Sam Huff

Jacob deGrom

Michael Lorenzen

Adolis Garcia

Gerson Garabito

David Robertson

Davis Wendzel

Grant Anderson

Sandro Fabian

Yerry Rodriguez

Carson Kelly

Daniel Robert

Corey Seager

Jon Gray

Shaun Anderson

Ezequiel Duran

Walter Pennington

Nathaniel Lowe

Derek Hill

Chase Anderson

Robbie Grossman

Max Scherzer

Austin Pruitt

Kirby Yates

Matt Festa