3 Rangers placed on COVID-related IL

The Rangers placed three players on the COVID-19 injured list prior to their makeup game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Monday: right-handed pitchers Drew Anderson and Mike Foltynewicz, and infielder Brock Holt.

Left-hander Wes Benjamin and infielder Curtis Terry were recalled from Triple-A West Round Rock and were expected to be with the team for the finale in Boston. The third roster move will be made ahead of Texas' opener in Cleveland on Tuesday, which left it a player short vs. the Red Sox.

The Rangers have four players on the COVID-19 IL, including third baseman Charlie Culberson, who went on the IL on Friday. None of the four will travel with the team to Cleveland.

All players and staff were given polymerase chain reaction tests Sunday morning, general manager Chris Young confirmed. Asked how much he’s concerned about this becoming a team-wide outbreak, Young, pointing to the Delta variant that has reignited the spread of COVID-19, said, “It’s real.”

“We have players who are in the COVID protocols right now,” Young said. “And certainly, it's a situation that we're trying to manage as proactively as we can. That said, we assume this is a Delta variant, and it is strong. So while we have vaccinated players, and several unvaccinated as well, we want to protect everybody just the same.

“We're going to try to work through the situation as well as we possibly can, and we'll be prepared to make further roster moves if necessary to field a team for our games in Cleveland and coming home this weekend.”

Procedurally, the Rangers do not disclose the health or vaccination status of individual players, but a Rangers PR representative said that Anderson gave permission to reveal he has been vaccinated. Per COVID protocols, players on the COVID IL will be out a minimum of seven days. Vaccinated players can return to play after that if they are asymptomatic and pass future tests. The unvaccinated will be out seven to 10 days, depending on whether they were a close contact case or if they had a positive test.

Manager Chris Woodward, wearing a mask while addressing media on his Zoom session Monday morning, said the positive cases were “just a matter of time, to be honest with you.” Woodward commended Major League Baseball for doing a good job up until this point keeping COVID-related cases low, but, “We knew the virus was an issue.”

“We're obviously in Texas, where it’s rampant there,” Woodward said. “Getting this far, honestly, was a positive, in my opinion. It is what it is, and we're going to deal with it just like we would any other thing we have to come across.”

Woodward pointed to the youth and inexperience that takes up a large part of the Rangers' roster as all the incentive players need to be vigilant through this latest COVID wave. The simple lure of playing time, and making an impression for next year, should be plenty motivating.

“If they have to miss 10 days or however many days they’re out, they understand the importance of that right now,” Woodward said. “We have less than 40 games … for them to miss 10, it could cost them their job. I don't think I have to explain anything to these guys. They’ve got to obviously do their part.”

Woodward said the team will most likely bring up a pitcher on Tuesday to bring the roster back to full strength at 26 players.

This will be Benjamin’s sixth stint with the Rangers this season. He has allowed runs in five of eight appearances, posting a 7.53 ERA. He was 2-5 with an 8.42 ERA in 12 games (10 starts) with Round Rock.

Terry had hit safely in five of six games with Round Rock at the time of his recall. Overall, he was batting .200 with one home run and five RBIs for the Express. This will be his second stint with the Rangers.