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The Texas Rangers announced yesterday that they had received minor league outfielder Carl Chester as a player to be named later from the Tampa Bay Rays. This completes last month’s deal that brought Nate Lowe and Jake Guenther from the Rays to the Rangers, with Texas sending Heriberto Hernandez, Osleivis Basabe and Alexander Ovalles to the Rays.
Chester was a 12th round pick of the Rays out of the University of Miami in 2017. He is a righthanded hitting centerfielder who turned 25 last month. He split the 2018 season between low-A and high-A, slashing .292/.330/.427, and split 2019 between high-A and AA, slashing .257/.310/.358. He has primarily played center field as a pro, though has also played both the corner spots.
Chester was #257 on the BA top 500 board as a high schooler in 2014, but dropped to the late rounds before he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers, who didn’t sign him. He was seen as a guy with “plus-plus” speed who had approach and hit tool issues coming out of high school, and he didn’t play well enough in college to alleviate those concerns, though he did get a $125,000 signing bonus (the max allowed without dipping into your draft bonus pool) when he signed with the Rays.
Chester looks to be minor league depth, a guy who will be in Frisco or Round Rock depending on which team needs an outfielder, I suspect.
The Rangers also announced the signing of righthanded relief pitcher Drew Anderson to a minor league contract with an invite to the major league spring training camp yesterday. Anderson, who turns 27 in March, was a 21st round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2012, and appeared in the majors with them from 2017-19, then with the Chicago White Sox in 2020, but has still just accumulated 10 appearances and 22.1 IP in the majors over those four seasons. He worked almost exclusively as a starter in the minors, so I’m not sure if he’s being looked at as minor league rotation depth or as a reliever (or as just a pitcher who would fill whatever role in the minors is needed). He also had Tommy John surgery back in the day that cost him the 2015 season, for whatever that’s worth.