Davis playing in ATS game today

The Texas Rangers announced today that Khris Davis has joined the Alternate Training Site crew as he continues his rehab back from a strained quad. He is in the lineup today for the ATS Rangers against the ATS Royals, DHing and batting second.

Davis started the year on the injured list after straining his left quadriceps trying to beat out a bunt hit in a spring training game. My guess is that he will get at least a few games in Round Rock before the Rangers look to activate him. The team is currently carrying just a three man bench, since Leody Taveras was just sent down, so I would expect that the team would send down a pitcher to make room for Davis once he returns.

The question will then be, how much playing time does Khris Davis get? Willie Calhoun is expected to get the bulk of the DH at bats, and Davis is largely limited to DH at this point in his career. With Adolis Garcia, a righthanded hitter, manning center field right now, if both Eli White and Khris Davis are going to play against lefties, then both David Dahl and Willie Calhoun would sit, unless Joey Gallo or Nate Lowe are getting a day off. The Rangers could relegate White to more of a reserve role, and sit either Dahl or Calhoun against lefties to allow Davis to start. It also remains to be seen if the Rangers will try to get him in the lineup on an everyday basis, though that seems unlikely, barring an injury to one of the current regulars.

Davis, 33, come over to Texas in the Elvis Andrus trade as a way to take on some salary in order to get Jonah Heim and Dane Acker from the A’s in that deal. Davis is in the final year of a 2 year, $33.5 million deal, and has slashed just .217/.297/.378 since the start of 2019. The Rangers’ best case scenario is probably him hitting enough over the next month or two for a team to be willing to take him off the Rangers hands without the Rangers having to pay the entirety of his remaining salary.