Rangers sign former Blue Jays centerfielder and fan favourite.
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The Texas Rangers have signed former Toronto Blue Jays centerfieder Kevin Pillar to a minor league deal.Rangers Sign Kevin Pillar To Minor League Deal.
The Rangers announced this morning that they've signed outfielder Kevin Pillar to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training.
Pillar, 36, is a veteran of 12 MLB seasons. After getting his start as a 32nd-round pick with the Blue Jays back in 2011, he made his big league debut in 2013 and has fashioned a solid career for himself as a glove-first outfielder who can provide some offense against left-handed pitching.
His peak seasons as Toronto's everyday center fielder where he posted 8.2 fWAR and 14.0 bWAR from 2015 to 2018 are long behind him, but in more recent years he's transitioned into being a serviceable fourth or fifth outfielder for a variety of MLB clubs.
In 2024, Pillar started the season with the White Sox but struggled badly through 17 games.
The veteran was cut by Chicago but managed to find a job with the Angels in Anaheim after Mike Trout went down for the year due to a meniscus issue.
Pillar joined the club's outfield mix and did fairly well for himself, appearing in 83 games for the club while primarily playing center field. In 282 trips to the plate for the Halos,
Pillar slashed .236/.291/.378 with a decent 88 wRC+ that suggested he was a touch below league average as a hitter.
That's perfectly serviceable for a depth piece, but Pillar notably crushed left-handed pitching with a .310/.352/.500 slash line against southpaws last year.
That seems to suggests he could be more productive on a team with a deeper outfield mix who can offer him more platoon protection against right-handed hitters, and that makes the Rangers a decent fit for his services despite their full outfield mix.
Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia are expected to be the club's regular outfielders in the corners, with Evan Carter getting regular reps in center field and Leody Taveras serving as the club's fourth outfielder.
Taveras is a somewhat imperfect complement to the lefty-swinging Carter in center, however, as he's just a .231/.291/.320 hitter for his career against southpaws including a dismal .189/.270/.244 showing against them last year.
