MESA, Ariz. -- Andrew Heaney’s final start of Spring Training didn’t exactly go as planned.
Facing the Cubs in Texas’ penultimate Cactus League game Friday, Heaney allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings in a 5-3 loss at Sloan Park. That’s the way things go sometimes, he admitted.
“I was just trying to do the most basic things, just trying to throw strike one, trying to get the ball over the plate, working on some [pitchers fielding practice] over there,” Heaney said. “It was just not a good day. There's really nothing really great to say. I mean, not my best stuff, not my best day, not my best results. But you know, unfortunately, it happens sometimes. Just gotta hang with it.”
Throughout the spring, Heaney has focused on using his changeup more, which he threw only 5.1 percent of the time in 2022 with the Dodgers. Though his fastball and slider are elite pitches, he wanted to get more comfortable with a third pitch that would be able to play off the other two.
Heaney estimates that he threw more changeups this spring that he did the entirety of last season.
“That was, in some ways, by design,” he said. “You gotta throw it, you got to see every hitter and in every count, in every situation. It’s just seeing what I can and can't get away with and how fine I need to be with it. … Today, again, kind of an exception to pretty much everything. But I did throw some good ones and got some really weak contact. So I think that there is a time and a place for that, and I'm gonna mix it in more than I did last year. But I also kind of need to make sure that the bread and butter [fastball and slider] is there before that.”
Despite finishing with a 6.75 ERA in Cactus League play, Heaney feels perfectly ready to get going with the season.
“Yeah, I mean, it's really tough to say that after, obviously, an outing, like I had today,” Heaney said. “You know, there's definitely a lot of things that I can do better. Some of them are very simple things that I think I do pretty well 99 percent of the time. I just didn't do it. Again, it's kind of a tough thing to say obviously, like after having not had a great outing today. But again, you have them and you just gotta grind through them.”
Heaney is scheduled to start the fifth game of the season against Baltimore at Globe Life Field, joining a loaded group of veterans in the Rangers’ rotation.
“I feel great about the rotation, I really do,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “I like our five guys. They’re going to be exciting to watch, they really are. I know today, when we look at the results, they weren't great. but it was a 5-3 ballgame.”
Seager's hit streak
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager is coming off the worst offensive season of his career, but he has looked in perfect form in Spring Training. In Friday’s loss, Seager extended his Cactus League-leading hitting streak to 15 games, the longest by a Texas hitter in Spring Training since spring stats started being officially tracked in 2006. The last Ranger to come close to Seager's streak was former shortstop Elvis Andrus in 2013 (14 games).
Seager is hitting .468 with four home runs and a 1.264 OPS this spring, all team highs. He ranks among the Cactus League leaders in hits (first, 22), home runs (tied for second) and total bases (tied for first, 35).
Roster moves
With just one more Cactus League game to go, Bochy announced multiple roster moves involving non-roster invitees to camp. Outfielder Clint Frazier and first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo were both informed they will not be on Texas’ Opening Day roster, while outfielder Joe McCarthy and right-handed pitcher Reyes Moronta were released from their Minor League contracts.
Cactus League stats from all four:
• Frazier (18 games): .244/.311/.463
• McCarthy (17 games): .258/.343/.387
• Tsutsugo (11 games): .240/.296/.400
• Moronta (7 games): 5 ⅔ IP, 9 H, 10 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 15.88 ERA
Frazier and Tsutsugo will likely join Triple-A Round Rock when camp breaks, but McCarthy and Moronto are free to speak with other clubs.
“We just didn't have any room for them,” Bochy said. “So we're letting them explore other opportunities.”