{"id":161682,"date":"2026-03-09T09:20:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682"},"modified":"2026-03-09T09:20:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:20:41","slug":"rangers-18-5m-disaster-joc-pederson-already-flopping-in-spring-forcing-front-office-to-chase-left-handed-bat-before-opening-day-or-face-total-offensive-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682","title":{"rendered":"Rangers&#8217; $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overflow-hidden\" data-lead-image=\"true\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full\" title=\"Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson.\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_701,w_8256,h_4644\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_rangers\/01kk6zkc595kpbdzwpey.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson.\" width=\"8256\" height=\"4644\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-grey font-group-tiny\" data-lead-image=\"true\">Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">The Texas Rangers signed Joc Pederson to do one thing \u2014\u00a0mash right-handed pitching.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">Last year was a wash due to injury. This year, the results in spring training have been less than desired.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\"><em>If you like our content, choose <\/em>Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">In eight games and 17 at-bats he\u2019s slashed .235\/.316\/.235 with no home runs and no RBI. It\u2019s no longer early in spring training. Last week, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said after the team\u2019s off day on Tuesday that game results \u2014 both the score and the stats \u2014 mattered a little more now.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">So, one must wonder about whether Pederson\u2019s slow start to camp is simply just a slow start or a sign of things to come. And, if so, is this time the for the Rangers to make one more move to give them coverage?<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-5\"><strong>A Joc Pederson Back-up Plan<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_560,y_28,w_3904,h_2196\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_rangers\/01kk6zmy7bmy101vg4w8.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson swings his bat during a game.\" \/>Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson. | Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">Pederson, a left-handed hitter, has always had good splits against right-handers, with a career slash of .238\/.349\/.501 with 121 home runs and 270 RBI. He\u2019s a liability against lefties, with a .190\/.266\/.310 slash, including just nine home runs and 33 RBI. He\u2019s a platoon player at this point in his career. But, because the Rangers faced right-handed pitching about 80% of the time, his bat can be valuable.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">It wasn\u2019t last year. He started the season in a massive slump and missed three months with a thumb injury. He slashed .181\/.285\/.328 with nine home runs and 26 RBI, though his slash post-injury was .224\/.300\/.406 with seven home runs and 20 RBI. Texas signed him to a two-year deal last offseason because of his ability to slug. That didn\u2019t materialize last year, but he has a solid on-base percentage against right-handers that can play as the Rangers emphasize on-base more.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">Texas may have already signed some protection in Andrew McCutchen, who is on a minor league deal. The former National League MVP and a right-handed hitter is great against left-handers \u2014 he slashed .267\/.353\/.389 last year. He could be used in a platoon with Pederson, assuming he makes the team and can show he can still play outfield.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">But what if the Rangers get in a pinch with Pederson? Well, McCutchen\u2019s slash against right-handers was worse last year \u2014 .228\/.326\/.358 \u2014 but he hit 10 of his 13 home runs against right-handers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\">The Rangers may see McCutchen as that back-up option if Pederson can\u2019t produce. Schumaker has said repeatedly that he likes to rotate the DH to get guys off their feet.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\">But, with more early struggles for Pederson, it may be time for the Rangers to consider making one more sweep for a left-handed bat that might offer more consistency and competition in spring training \u2014 and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images The Texas Rangers signed Joc Pederson to do one thing \u2014\u00a0mash right-handed pitching. Last year was a&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rangers&#039; $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rangers&#039; $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images The Texas Rangers signed Joc Pederson to do one thing \u2014\u00a0mash right-handed pitching. Last year was a...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T09:20:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682\",\"name\":\"Rangers' $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-09T09:20:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T09:20:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rangers&#8217; $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\",\"name\":\"XuanTan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"XuanTan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rangers' $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rangers' $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse - NEWS USA","og_description":"Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images The Texas Rangers signed Joc Pederson to do one thing \u2014\u00a0mash right-handed pitching. Last year was a...","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2026-03-09T09:20:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"XuanTan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"XuanTan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682","name":"Rangers' $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-09T09:20:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T09:20:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-27-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=161682#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rangers&#8217; $18.5M Disaster Joc Pederson Already Flopping in Spring \u2013 Forcing Front Office to Chase Left-Handed Bat Before Opening Day or Face Total Offensive Collapse"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06","name":"XuanTan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"XuanTan"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=161682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161693,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161682\/revisions\/161693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/161692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=161682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=161682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=161682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}