The Rangers intend to get Joc Pederson work at first base this spring, manager Bruce Bochy said (link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). While the Rangers still plan to use him primarily as a designated hitter, they could get him occasional first base work over the course of the season.
Pederson was a full-time DH with the Diamondbacks last season. He’s never been a good defender, but that was the first time in which a team kept him off the field entirely. Pederson had played regularly in the outfield before that. He broke in as a center fielder with the Dodgers but had moved more or less to a corner role by 2019.
Bochy downplayed the chance of using Pederson in the outfield at Globe Life Field. “I would imagine he could go out there, but I think the focus is more at first base right now, to help out a little bit. I don’t envision needing more depth in the outfield,” the veteran skipper told Grant and other reporters. “He hasn’t been over there very much, so I imagine he’s got a little rust on him. But he’s taken some ground balls already and we’ll make a call later. We think it’s going to work.”
Pederson has played 154 major league innings at first base. He made a pair of late-game appearances there for the Giants two seasons ago. His only 19 career starts as a first baseman came with Los Angeles back in 2019. He committed six errors in 149 innings, leading to very poor defensive metrics in that tiny sample. It’s an unfamiliar position, but it’s not uncommon for corner outfielders to log occasional first base action.
Texas should have a strong defensive outfield. They’re lined up with Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter and Adolis García as their starting trio. Leody Taveras is on hand as a quality fourth outfielder who can step into everyday center field work if Carter has any kind of recurrence of last year’s injury issues.
First base is a little less established. The Rangers traded Nathaniel Lowe to Washington for reliever Robert Garcia. That came on the heels of acquiring corner infielder Jake Burger from Miami. He’s lined up for the majority of playing time at first base. Burger doesn’t have great on-base skills but brings a lot of right-handed pop. He has respectively hit 34 and 29 homers over the past two years. While he divided his playing time equally between the corner infield spots for the Fish, he’s unlikely to play much third base on a team that has Josh Jung and Josh Smith.
Pederson will work primarily as a designated hitter against right-handed pitching. Burger has had neutral platoon splits for his career. He’ll play frequently against righties, but there’s little harm in testing if Pederson can adequately step in on occasion. That’d also give Bochy some flexibility to get García or Langford off their feet at times, potentially drawing Taveras into the lineup on days when Texas wants a stronger defensive outfield.