SURPRISE, Ariz. — You’ve heard of split-squad games. How about split-sibling games?
The Rangers had both Thursday. One half of the roster played the Milwaukee Brewers at Surprise Stadium and the other half played the Athletics at Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium. Both halfs of the Anderson family played in the former.
Rangers right-handed pitcher Aidan Anderson, a minor league extra on Thursday’s roster, recorded one out in the top of the fifth inning vs. the Brewers. His brother and former Rangers right-hander Grant Anderson pitched for Milwaukee in the bottom half of that frame.
How’s that for familial?
Rangers
Here are three other observations from Thursday’s game.
Highly-touted prospect debuts
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker called right-handed pitcher David Davalillo “one of the fun guys to watch” when he spent last season in an advisory role and observed the minor league system.
He was able to watch Davalillo in (sort of) a big league setting Thursday.
Davalillo, the club’s sixth-ranked prospect per Baseball America, made his Cactus League debut Thursday vs. the Brewers. He pitched 1⅓ innings, allowed allowed one run on three hits, two walks and exited in the top of the ninth with two runners on base.
“He has the ability to throw any pitch any time,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Thursday morning. “That’s what makes him attractive. He still has velo behind the fastball, he’s a competitor. He was one of the fun guys to watch in Double-A the few times I went down there [last] year.”
Related
Bullpen arm update
Rangers right-handed pitcher and potential bullpen candidate Gavin Collyer lit radar guns up once again with a sinker that averaged 98.5 mph and nearly touched triple digits in his one inning of work.
The slowest of his three pitches might’ve been most interesting.
Collyer prioritzed his cutter, which averaged 91.7 mph, and used it five times against left-handed hitters and six times right-handed hitters. He totaled five whiffs and called strikes with the pitch and used it to strike out shortstop Cooper Pratt and first baseman Tyler Black. Collyer, who threw 13 of his 20 pitches for strikes, implemented the cutter last year but largely threw it to lefties. He said last week that he hopes to use his cutter more often against hitters on both side of the plate this season to help set up hs high-octane swing-and-miss fastball.
It was an effective tool Thursday.
“He was impressive and confident coming off the mound talking to him,” Schumaker said. “The arrow is definitely still pointing up for him.”
Duran at third base
If we need to nit pick, we’ll nit pick. The Rangers played utility infielder Ezequiel Duran at third base Thursday with Josh Jung out because of hamstring discomfort. Duran, who is in contention for a roster spot, had two iffy throws defensively in attempts to get a pair of speedy runners out, though neither were technically ruled an error.
Duran projects to get the majority of backup shortstop reps behind Corey Seager if super-utility man Josh Smith becomes the everyday second baseman.
How Kumar Rocker is balancing tweaks to his game and his path to the rotation this springPodcast: Finding defense for Cowboys and a make-or-break year for a Ranger
Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.