Hearn progressing and 'in a much better place'

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- When describing Taylor Hearn's development, Rangers manager Chris Woodward compares it to throwing a dart at a dart board.

Through his first two years in the big leagues, the lefty has grown from a flame-throwing reliever into a consistent starter since transitioning from the bullpen in the back half of 2021.

“The analogy I've used is, the dart player who can barely hit the dartboard and now they can basically get right around that bullseye every time,” Woodward explained. “That's where he's at. He's really refined his stuff and just continues to do that. He knows he doesn’t have to be perfect to beat the team we’re facing. He's able to deal with adversity much better. He's able to execute better, just in a much better place.”

Hearn threw four innings in the Rangers' 8-2 win over the Dodgers on Thursday, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks against almost the entire Los Angeles regular-season starting lineup.

Hearn said the coaching staff hasn’t told him anything yet, so he’s still fighting for a spot in the rotation in his mind. But it’s almost certain that he’ll slot in behind Jon Gray by the time Opening Day rolls around. He’ll need to continue that growth and development, however, in order to keep succeeding.

“I think I need to just keep doing what I have been doing this spring, been pounding the zone and just trying to throw strikes and trying to make them put the ball in play,” Hearn said. “As I've gotten older, I've learned to stop chasing strikeouts, and more so just make them put the ball in play and trust my stuff. It's been paying off for the last two years from when I was in the bullpen and in the rotation.”

Woodward noted that it’ll be important for guys like Hearn, Dane Dunning and whoever wins the fifth starter spot to take it to the next level in order for the Rangers to succeed as a whole this season.

“I'm asking everybody in the organization to kind of level up,” Woodward said. “I expect those guys to. If I didn't think they were capable of it, I wouldn't say it out loud. With those guys, Taylor and Dane, their success obviously has a lot of parallels to our success as a team. If they perform well, if they perform better than expected, we’re going to be a pretty good team.”

Is time running out for Leody Taveras?

Leody Taveras was one of the Rangers' top prospects as recently as 2020. But after making his MLB debut that season, he’s struggled to stay with Texas due to troubles at the plate. In 82 big league appearances over two years, Taveras slashed just .188/.249/.321 with a .570 OPS.

While he is an elite defensive center fielder, Taveras will need to contribute at the plate in order to stick around with a deep outfield crop.

Woodward has emphasized that the 23-year-old Taveras still has time to grow, but with the outfielder starting the season with Triple-A Round Rock, his window may be closing. The Rangers’ outfield is already crowded as it currently sits, with Adolis García, Kole Calhoun, Brad Miller and Nick Solak. If Eli White makes the big league club out of camp, that leaves another roadblock for Taveras to get through.

It’s closing in from the other side, as well. No. 29 prospect Bubba Thompson will break camp with Round Rock, while No. 6 prospect Dustin Harris has been assigned to Double-A Frisco. The youth and depth within the system is rising quickly and Taveras, once one of those rising prospects, will need to do what he can to hold them off.

“I think that's a good thing for everybody,” Woodward said of the depth and competition. “There's so many guys pushing each other. When you're in the big leagues, there's guys right on your back. And that's what good organizations are like, they all have that depth. There's a standard of performance that it takes to be on a winning team and we're in much better shape than we have been in the last couple of years.”

Minor League assignments

Top prospect Jack Leiter will make his professional debut with Double-A Frisco this season, the Rangers announced along with the full Minor League break camp rosters for the club’s four full-season affiliates.

Leiter will join the RoughRiders along with Harris and No. 4 prospect Ezequiel Duran. Other notable prospect assignments include Josh Smith (No. 7) and Davis Wendzel (No. 17) accompanying Thompson in Triple-A Round Rock this year alongside pitcher Cole Winn (No. 3).

A trio of pitching prospects returning from injury will hold down the High-A Hickory rotation in Ricky Vanasco (No. 14), TK Roby (No. 15) and Owen White (No. 8), while the outfield will be manned by Aaron Zavala (No. 12), Evan Carter (No. 9) and Trevor Hauver (No. 19).

The Triple-A Opening Day is on April 5, and the opener for each of the other three levels will be on April 8.