Tejeda, Henriquez to AA Frisco

The Texas Rangers have assigned shortstop Anderson Tejeda and pitcher Ronny Henriquez to AA Frisco, the team announced today. This is a promotion for Henriquez, who had been pitching for high-A Hickory, and a demotion for Tejeda, who was at AAA Round Rock.

Tejeda is swapping places with infielder Trace Loehr, who was recently signed out of the Indy League as depth, and who had been playing for Frisco. He has spent a brief period of time in the majors when Brock Holt was on the injured list, and struggled mightily, slashing .063/.118/.063 with 10 Ks in 17 plate appearances. He also, however, was not hitting in AAA, slashing .152/.236/.273 in 111 plate appearances for Round Rock. Tejeda had never played above high-A before making his major league debut in the abbreviated 2020 season, and it appears the assignment to AAA was overly ambitious. He will presumably play shortstop every day for Frisco.

Henriquez, on the other hand, is being moved up. The almost-21-year-old (he turns 21 in 10 days) spent 2019 with what was then low-A Hickory, putting up a 4.50 ERA in 82 IP while striking out 99 against 27 walks. He has struck out 27 and walked 8 in 24 IP over 5 games for Hickory this year, with a 3.75 ERA. He’s very small — Henriquez is listed at 5’10”, 155 lbs. — but he throws hard, although his fastball doesn’t have a ton of movement. Henriquez spent time at the Alternate Training Site last year, and is one of the young pitchers the team has appeared to hold in high regard. He will be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft for the first time this offseason, and how he manages in AA will probably inform the decision whether to protect him or not significantly.