Crim to AA, Harris to hi-A, Mateo to lo-A

The Texas Rangers announce a series of minor league promotions today, on the heels of yesterday’s news that four Frisco Roughriders were going to Round Rock.

Pitcher Tai Tiedemann and first baseman Blaine Crim have been promoted from high-A Hickory to AA Frisco. Reliever Chase Lee, the Rangers’ sixth round pick in the 2021 draft, goes from the ACL to Frisco. First baseman Dustin Harris is moving up from low-A Down East to high-A Hickory. Outfielder Daniel Mateo is now with Down East, moving up from the ACL.

The position player promotions here are the most noteworthy. Crim, 24, was the Rangers 19th round pick in 2019. I did not expect him to get the nod, as Justin Foscue and Josh Smith are both at Hickory and potentially warrant a call up, plus Crim being limited to 1B and DH makes it harder to get at bats. Crim got off to a slow start to the season, but became red hot in July, and now will get a chance to show what he can do against more advanced pitching.

Harris, who just turned 22, is a lefty hitting corner infielder who has primarily played first base this year. He is slashing .300/.386/.471 in 303 plate appearances this year, and is 20 for 21 in stolen base attempts. Harris was an 11th round pick of the Oakland A’s in 2019, and came over in the Mike Minor trade. Harris has quality bat to ball skills, with the question having been how much power he would develop. Since July 1 he has a 1010 OPS.

Mateo, who just turned 20, wasn’t really on our radar when the season started, but he has slashed .321/.393/.547 while playing all three outfield positions in the ACL. He will be one to which over the rest of the minor league season as he gets a shot at full season ball.