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Rangers DFA Botts, recall 1B Shelton

With a career .293/.399/.484 minor league line, Jason Botts has proven that he can mash with the best of them at AAA. However, the 27 year-old has found far less success at the major league level, batting just .242/.329/.336 in 244 career at-bats. Convinced that Botts’ minor league success just doesn’t translate to the big leagues, the Texas Rangers designated Botts for assignment.

Taking Botts’ place on the Rangers roster is Chris Shelton, another 27 year-old with impressive minor league credentials. Acquired in the offseason from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for outfielder Freddy Guzman, Shelton was hitting .354/.429/.625 in 56 PA for Triple-A Oklahoma.

TG Analysis

The 6-5, 250 pound Botts has plenty of power and high walk rates, but issues with breaking balls and subsequently huge K rates appear to doom the switch-hitter to “Quad-A” status. In 244 major league at-bats, Botts has whiffed a Jack Cust-like 90 times. Perhaps a power-starved team will take a flyer on Botts, but he seems likely to clear waivers.

Speaking of Triple-A sluggers, Shelton is back in the big leagues for the first time since 2006. Fresh off an underwhelming 2007 season at Triple-A Toledo (.270/.380/.421), Shelton resembles the man he’s replacing on the Texas roster in many ways- he’s a 27 year-old with good patience and power, but he also possesses a propensity to swing and miss (23.7 K% in ‘07 at  Toledo). With Ben Broussard struggling badly (.173/.244/.293 in 83 PA), Shelton could work himself into significant playing time. At the very least, he should serve as a lefty-hitting caddy for Broussard. A career .281/.348/.477 major league hitter, Shelton is likely the better option of the two, though that’s more of an indictment of Broussard than a compliment to Shelton.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Jaosn Botts, Chris Shelton, Rangers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.