Langford, Leiter nearing returns for Rangers
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ARLINGTON -- A pair of important Rangers players are on their way back from the injured list this week.
Outfielder Wyatt Langford, who was battling a mild oblique strain, began a rehab assignment with Double-A Frisco on Thursday night. He was the DH on Thursday and is expected to play the outfield on Friday before making his return to the big league lineup on Saturday against the Dodgers at Globe Life Field.
¡°We just think he could use a couple games,¡± Bochy said.
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Langford was one of the Rangers' best hitters when he landed on the injured list on April 9. He was slashing .244/.333/.561 while leading the club with four homers and was tied for the team lead with six RBIs at the time of his placement on the injured list.
Rookie pitcher Jack Leiter also threw about 53 pitches across three ¡°ups¡± in a live batting practice session pregame on Thursday. Leiter has been sidelined with a blister on his right middle finger since a scoreless outing against the Reds on April 2.
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Leiter wore a bandaid on his middle finger while warming up, but had nothing over it while facing hitters, and he eased back into game mode.
¡°I feel like the stuff and shapes and everything are exactly where I want it to be,¡± Leiter said. ¡°Obviously, these things can be weird, so I¡¯ll come in tomorrow, and hopefully it's good. Then I¡¯ll be confident that I'm good and we can go from there.¡±
The Rangers still haven¡¯t decided whether Leiter will immediately return to the big league rotation or make a rehab start beforehand.
¡°We'll check on him a little bit later, just make sure we came out of it fine, and we'll decide which way we're going to go as far as when he will start,¡± Bochy said. ¡°We have not made that determination [on a rehab assignment] yet. I'm gonna wait until we see how that blister is doing. You never know what can happen from this point on.¡±
Leiter has allowed just one run in his first two starts this season, logging 10 strikeouts against just one walk over those first 10 innings.
When Leiter comes back, the Rangers will have some decisions to make in regards to the rotation. The five-man rotation currently consists of Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, Patrick Corbin and Kumar Rocker.
¡°I think we wait to see what we¡¯re going to do when Jack is ready to come back in rotation,¡± Bochy said. ¡°I can't answer that yet.¡±