{"id":495790,"date":"2026-02-28T14:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495790\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T14:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:55:10","slug":"surprises-on-the-opening-day-roster-rangers-insider-evan-grant-weighs-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495790\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprises on the opening day roster? Rangers insider Evan Grant weighs in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Rangers spring training is in full gear, and though it\u2019s still early, you can start to make out the opening day roster<\/a> if you squint your eyes.<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s always a surprise or two.<\/p>\n

After having spent the last two-plus weeks in Surprize, Ariz., at spring training, Rangers insider Evan Grant offered up his knowledge to the masses in a live Q&A on Friday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among the (non-burger-related<\/a>) questions fielded by Evan: Are there any non-roster invitees or otherwise surprising players who could wind up on the opening day roster?<\/p>\n

Rangers<\/p>\n

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The Rangers have a few candidates who have already impressed in Surprise, and could carve themselves out a roster spot should they keep it going through March.<\/p>\n

Check out what Evan had to say below, and watch the full Q&A session here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Question: Is it possible a non-roster invitee makes the opening day roster?<\/p>\n

Grant: \u201cWell I think it\u2019s very possible that Mark Canha<\/a> makes the roster as one of the extra bats. He can also play some first base, he can play the outfield, he can be a right-handed DH against left-handers, if you want him to. The Rangers signed him with the intent of making the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanha\u2019s coming off a bad year, no doubt. The Rangers got him because he fit into a budget that just had no real room for, not even making a splash but a ripple. … It\u2019s not like there weren\u2019t other bats to be had, but the Rangers just didn\u2019t have the money. So I do think on the position player side, yeah, I think it\u2019s real possible that Mark Canha [makes the roster]. I think he\u2019d probably be the only non-roster guy on the position player side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think there\u2019s a scenario where Cal Quantrill<\/a> makes the staff. Let\u2019s say the Rangers really determine that they\u2019re committed to Jacob Latz being in the bullpen<\/a>, particularly in April when the Rangers have to come out of the gate fast, and when they\u2019re going to need some piggyback opportunities for pitchers who will be on pitch counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Rangers decide that\u2019s the way they wanna go, and Kumar Rocker doesn\u2019t convince them that he\u2019s ready for the rotation, I think Cal Quantrill could be an option in that rotation. Right now, the intent is for Kumar to make this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question: Is Carter Baumler making the opening day roster?<\/p>\n

Grant: \u201cI think right now, I\u2019d answer in the affirmative. I think the Rangers are very impressed with what they\u2019ve seen<\/a>, but as Skip Schumaker has said every day when we ask him questions about the roster: It\u2019s February 27th. There\u2019s a long month [ahead], Baumler hasn\u2019t pitched in back-to-back games yet, he hasn\u2019t really faced guys, hasn\u2019t faced a lot of big-league hitters … He\u2019s been pitching later in games so he\u2019s been facing most minor-league call-ups.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s plenty of time to really figure that out, but first impressions have been \u2018yes.\u2019 And the Rangers drafted him [in the Rule 5<\/a>] with the intent of keeping him on the roster. It would have to go sideways for him to not make the roster.\u201d<\/p>\n

See the rest of Friday\u2019s livestream here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Signed by Skip: See photos of Rangers’ new manager, more from spring training in Arizona<\/p>\n

\"TexasView Gallery\"Texas<\/a>Texas Rangers top 30 prospects: No. 25 Maxton Martin has power to the max<\/a><\/p>\n

The rest of the young outfielder\u2019s game needs work, but Martin\u2019s \u201cjuice\u201d is real.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Team Mexico manager Benji Gil raves about Rangers\u2019 Alejandro Osuna: \u2018He\u2019s a winner\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s manager for the World Baseball Classic had some big-time praise for Texas\u2019 young outfielder.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers spring training is in full gear, and though it\u2019s still early, you can start to make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,9895,99,2330],"class_list":["post-495790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-rangers","tag-sports","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}