Texas Rangers: Steele Walker responds to Angels’ booth heckling with homer

Turns out the players aren’t the only ones who are rusty during spring training.

The Texas Rangers-LA Angels spring training game in Tempe on Wednesday afternoon was broadcast on local affiliate Fox Sports Southwest via the Angels’ Fox Sports West feed, and it’s safe to say the Angels broadcast team had no idea what they were talking about when it came to their division rivals during the broadcast.

From misunderstanding the reason behind “Condor” Ronald Guzman’s nickname, to roasting the Rangers’ minor league system, and even confusing prospects Bubba Thompson and Justin Foscue (who play two different positions!), it was a rough day at the office for the Angels broadcast team.

About that roasting, it appeared as though Rangers No. 13 prospect Steele Walker heard the bulletin board material and subsequently took the broadcast booth (and pitcher Raisel Iglesias) the opposite way for an opposite field solo blast in the top of the third inning.

Steele Walker dished out revenge against the Angels’ broadcast for their disparaging Texas Rangers comments.

Sweet, sweet revenge!

It was the first career spring training home run for Walker, who was acquired in the Nomar Mazara trade with the White Sox in 2019.

Not bad for the supposedly moribund Texas Rangers farm system!

The Angels broadcast team is far from the first entity to disrespect the talent in Texas’ minor league ranks, and they certainly won’t be the last.

But if Steele Walker and other prospects continue to hit this spring, the doubters will soon come to their senses.

Ranger Rumblings:

• Rangers No. 7 prospect RHP Hans Crouse wasn’t as successful in his spring debut against the Angels, walking two batters and allowing a home run to Shohei Ohtani before having his inning rolled. He’s young yet, so don’t be too discouraged. Still, a lackluster debut for Crouse, to say the least.

• Ronald Guzman continued his strong spring, going 1-2 with a walk, a single and a hard lineout in his three plate appearances, pairing that day at the plate with a nice catch in left field. Guzman continues to make his case for the Opening Day roster, while Nate Lowe notably struck out and had an 0-2 day at the plate in the same game.
• The Rangers went a whole four innings on Wednesday without evoking the roll rule! Alas, the game would end on consecutive rolled frames, which makes us wonder if we’ll ever see a Rangers game without a rolled inning this spring.