Texas Rangers Non-Roster Invitees: Outfielders

Oct. 3, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Bryan Petersen (11) connects for a double during the first inning against the New York Mets at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Continuing my series on a group of players that you may not know that much about but will see at spring training for the Texas Rangers this year. Yesterday I took a look at the infielders who are not on the roster but were still invited to camp. and today I will look at the outfielders. The list of outfielders is not as long as infielders or pitchers. Pitchers is the big one. Every year all teams invite some of these guys, many times they are veterans trying to get back to the show, to come and basically try out to see if they can still compete at the highest level. Here are the outfielders.

Bryan Petersen – Petersen has gotten into 181 games in his career, all with the Marlins organization. He has a career major league line of .220/.303/.305/.608 with 2 home runs and 29 RBI. The 27 year old Petersen is a career .290 hitter in the minors, but it doesn’t seem to have translated to the majors. Peterson was drafted by the Marlins in 2007, and made it to the majors for the first time May 6, 2010. I am not sure that Petersen will really impress the Texas Rangers organization, but the front office seems to want to take a look at him.

Brad Snyder – Snyder signed with the Rangers on November 14 of last year. Snyder does not have a lot of major league experience, in fact he only has 36 major league at bats. Snyder has some power, he has hit over 20 home runs twice in his career at the AAA level, one of those coming in 2012. Snyder is one of those guys who just have not gotten a real chance to prove himself at the major league level yet, seeing that he only has 36 at bats. I look for him to get some serious playing time in spring training to see what the coaching staff thinks about his talent and his desire.

Kensuke Tanaka – Tanaka made his major league debut with the Giants on July 9, 2013. He wound up getting 30 at bats for the Giants before being released on September 4 of that same year. Tanaka did most of his playing in Japan, but he did get 343 at bats at the AAA level where his line was .329/.400/.397/.797 with one home run and 32 RBI. Tanaka played second base almost exclusively in Japan and with the Giants AAA affiliate, but the Giants put him in the outfield in the majors. Tanaka is another one of those guys that the Texas Rangers just want to get a look at in spring training and see what kind of player they picked up.

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