Catching Prospect Ready for a Look

The Texas Rangers cleaned house of some of their veteran catchers over the weekend, sending away both recently demoted Chris Gimenez and recently injury-free Geovany Soto to the Cleveland Indians and Oakland A's, respectively.

The biggest thing the pair of moves did was open things up for veteran Robinson Chirinos, the Rangers' de facto starting catcher for much of this season who has surprisingly taken charge behind the plate and has been an excellent defensive catcher.

But the pair of moves also opens up a window for prospect Tomas Telis, a 23-year-old under-the-radar prospect.

Telis has quietly done well in the minors, hitting .303 in Double-A Frisco before being sent up to Triple-A Round Rock, where he's really taken off. Telis is batting .406 since Aug. 15 and has hit .345 with three homers in his 139 Triple-A at-bats. Now, he'll get a shot to show what he has on the big-league level, most likely serving as a backup to Chirinos and a getting a couple of starts per week over the last month of the season.

Telis isn't the star that top prospect Jorge Alfaro, who was recently called up to Double-A, projects to be, but he's more solid and big-league ready right now, especially behind the plate. Alfaro is unquestionably the Rangers' future behind the plate, but that probably (ideally) doesn't come until 2016, so a solid showing from Telis could mean a big-league roster spot in 2015.

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