Rangers<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cNot only was I willing, but \u2018needed,\u2019 is the word I\u2019d use for it,\u201d\u00a0O\u2019Hoppe said of being optioned to the minors where he slashed .328\/.414\/.623\/1.037 over the past 15 games. \u201cI wasn’t very confident with what I was doing, wasn’t convicted in really anything I was doing on the field. But I knew that what I had done in the past was in there. So, when I was told I got optioned, I was excited for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was actually more excited than if I just came over here. I got that spark back in me, like waking up in the morning and feeling really excited to get to the field again. Enjoying the game again is what I got out of it. That may not sound like a lot on paper, but it’s a pretty big deal to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hoppe, who went into the lineup immediately as the DH, replaces Jared Kelenic on the roster. Kelenic was designated for assignment for the second time since joining the Rangers organization earlier this year. Kelenic hit .200 with a .533 OPS in 24 plate appearances with Texas. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Kelenic is a left-handed hitter and the Rangers are in need of some more offense, especially from the right side. Starting with Sunday\u2019s game against the Angels and lefty Yusei Kikuchi, the Rangers were scheduled to face left-handed starters in four of their next eight games. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Adding O\u2019Hoppe primarily as the DH in that stretch allows the Rangers to move Justin Foscue from DH to second and shift Ezequiel Duran to center in place of lefty-hitting Evan Carter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Manager Skip Schumaker acknowledged the Rangers may have to stress early offense over defense given their recent slump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to get going offensively, and there’s guys that are fighting right now and doing the best they can,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for a spark and if we get that O\u2019Hoppe, that\u2019s great. But I\u2019m also not putting all the pressure on him. He\u2019s hitting seventh.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
And O\u2019Hoppe is kind of tired of putting pressure on himself anyway. Without blaming the Angels organization, he said that he \u201cneeded\u201d the change of scenery that came with the trade. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t like the dude in the mirror on or off the field,\u201d O\u2019Hoppe said. \u201cIt was the hardest four years of my baseball life over there. It taught me a lot. I’m really grateful for that. Met a lot of good people over there. Had a lot of good experiences, but it brought a lot of challenges. And I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t true. I wouldn’t change anything if I could, but the bottom line is it was hard. I’m really happy that I can use what I learn now and help this team as much as I can get in the playoffs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He may also have additional time to do that for the Rangers and not just this year. With the time he spent in the minors, his service time will now fall just short of four years at the end of this season. It gives the Rangers an additional year of control they didn\u2019t have when they got him. He would not be eligible for free agency now until after the 2029 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really feel like I had a stroke of luck when I got traded over here,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody here has helped me take steps in the right direction.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON \u2013 Logan O\u2019Hoppe returned to the majors for the first time in nearly a month on Sunday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,1638,89415,89898],"class_list":["post-417609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-brief","tag-tp-globe-life-field","tag-tp-skip-schumaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}