Grading the Texas Rangers’ signings and trades ahead of Opening Day

Grading the Texas Rangers’ off-season acquisitions

INF Brad Miller: B-

The Rangers need more guys who pimp flip home runs. Brad Miller is good at doing this. Miller will likely fill the Charlie Culberson/Brock Holt utility role for the team in 2022, and he’ll do so with nearly a full season of MLB experience under his belt. 2021 saw Brad Miller getting the most playing time (by a significant margin) that he’s had since 2017, as he had 331 at-bats in 140 games.

Brad Miller is the epitome of a mixed bag type player. He strikes out a fair bit, but he cranked 20 home runs last year in Philadelphia, and when he makes contact he has a lot of pop in his swing. His career strikeout rate is higher than the league average, but the same applies to his walk rate, exit velocity, and rOBA numbers. He’s a lefty hitter that is capable of hitting well against right-handed pitching. His 106 WRC+ (weighted runs created plus) in 2021 ranked higher than every Texas Ranger not named Joey Gallo, Nate Lowe, and Andy Ibanez. Is he gonna be a .300+ hitter smacking home runs left and right? Probably not.

He probably won’t see much playing time once Josh Jung is healthy again. In the meantime, he will be able to split platoon time with Ibanez at third base and get the Rangers at least a fair share of production in the bottom third of their lineup.