Rangers, Sam Haggerty Agree To Minor League Deal

The Rangers have agreed to a minor league contract with utilityman Sam Haggerty, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The BHSC client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

Haggerty, 30, was non-tendered by the Mariners back in November. He suffered a torn Achilles tendon while running down a flyball with the team’s Triple-A affiliate last May, which unsurprisingly proved to be a season-ending injury.

The switch-hitting Haggerty spent parts of five seasons with the Mariners, plus a very brief MLB debut with the Mets organization (four plate appearances) back in 2019. He’s a career .232/.312/.351 hitter in 477 trips to the plate, including a career-best .255/.345/.382 (113 wRC+) in 309 plate appearances with Seattle from 2022-23.

Haggerty is lacking in power but makes up for that with plus speed and a good bit of versatility. Statcast credited him with 92nd percentile sprint speed (29.2 ft/sec) as recently as 2023, and Haggerty boasts a career 33-for-36 (91.7%) mark in stolen base attempts in the majors. He’s played all three outfield spots and each of first base, second base and third base in the big leagues as well. The bulk of his time has been spent in the outfield — left field, specifically — and he’s drawn solid grades for his glovework there. Haggerty is best-suited for the short side of a platoon; despite his switch-hitting status, he’s just a .209/.278/.272 hitter as a lefty but carries a sharp .263/.355/.452 output when batting from the right side of the plate.

Given that Haggerty has spent the past half decade in the AL West, the Rangers have seen him plenty. He’ll give Texas some depth around the diamond but particularly in the outfield, where Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter and Adolis Garcia are slated to start and veteran Leody Taveras is projected to be the fourth outfielder. (Of course, Taveras stands as a viable trade candidate, which could improve Haggerty’s chances of making the roster.) If Haggerty does crack the big league club, he’s at 4.036 years of MLB service, making him controllable at least through 2026.