Just got this email from Jon Daniels in response to whether Chris Davis will be joining the club tonight: "Yes. He'll be with the team in Houston tonight."

 

There is no truth to the rumor that this was ordered by the Pacific Coast league because of the damage he was inflicting upon baseballs and ballparks throughout the league. Davis was hitting .333 at Oklahoma in just about a month's worth of games. Since June 1, he hit .357 with nine homers and 25 RBIs, a .422 OBP and a 1.086 OPS.

 

Counting his time at Frisco, he was tied for fourth in the minors in homers (23), second in RBIs (73), first in runs scored (68), second in total bases (191) and fifth in slugging percentage (.643), but only third among Rangers minors leaguers (Nelson Cruz is at .714, Max Ramirez at .662).

 

This is about more than just those stats. A lot more. It's after the jump.

 

This is Jon Daniels explanation of the reason for making the move today:

 

"We had been patient waiting for Hank to return. Now that it might be a little longer, makes sense to give Chris an opportunity."

 

This move has huge potential ramifications. Here's a list of potential winners/losers:

 

•  Chris Shelton (Loser): Unless there is a shocking DL move coming in the form of Milton Bradley or Josh Hamilton and that is HIGHLY unlikely, Shelton will be designated for assignment to make room for Davis. This falls in the department of "no big deal." Shelton's biggest attribute has been his ability to see pitches, but even that has tailed off lately. He's hitting .216 with a .333 OBP and a .663 OPS. Unacceptable for a corner infielder.

 

•  Frank Catalanotto (Loser): It seems clear now that the Rangers have to move Catalanotto. He's the third left-handed hitting first baseman in line for playing time behind Davis and Blalock (when he comes back). There is no room in the outfield for him with Brandon Boggs, David Murphy, Josh Hamilton and Marlon Byrd ahead of him. And the DH spot is going to be primarily occupied by Milton Bradley. Shame, too, because Catalanotto was hitting .306 with a .372 OBP and .760 OPS at first. The problem was he wasn't driving in any runs. He is hitting .200 with runners in scoring position and he has just 10 RBIs in 167 at-bats. His at-bats-per-RBI ratio of 16.7 is 242nd among 248 players with at least 150 at-bats. There has got to be an NL trading partner out there for the Rangers for a left-handed hitter who can play first and left field and who has the highest pinch-hitting batting average and OBP among active players.

 

•  Max Ramirez (winner): At least until Blalock returns, this is going to increase playing time for Ramirez. I expect he'll catch once or twice a week and play first base vs. most, but probably not all, lefties. The plan was for him to play first tonight against lefty Wandy Rodriguez; we'll have to wait until this afternoon to see if that holds. I imagine it will.

 

•  Hank Blalock (loser): It seems clear now that Blalock is at least two more weeks away from returning and maybe he doesn't come back until the second half. When he does, who knows what awaits him? Daniels indicated Blalock will likely play first when he's 100 percent, but can they be sure. If Davis gets off to a hot start, are the Rangers going to send him back to Oklahoma? Bench him? Ask Blalock to move to third? The next month holds a whole lot of intrigue there.

 

•  Rangers player development (winner): Over the last month alone, Eric Hurley, Max Ramirez and Davis have now all busted into the big leagues. The first two have handled themselves very well in short exposure to the big leagues. This is just another example of how the Rangers "rebuilding" process may be a little further along than the team expected at the start of the year. It appears that some of those minor leaguers are ready to contribute now. If at the end of this year, the Rangers have brought up at least two starting pitchers from the minors (Scott Feldman and Hurley), a catcher/DH/first baseman (Max Ramirez), an outfielder (Brandon Boggs) and now a first baseman (Chris Davis), they are well ahead of schedule. And that's saying nothing about the development of David Murphy, C.J. Wilson and Luis Mendoza.