The Texas Rangers have had a pretty nice run of youngsters coming up to the big club and making a splash, and they could be close to another one.
Robinson Chirinos was drilled in the hand by a first-inning Jeff Samardzija offering on Tuesday night and actually stayed in the game defensiveiy for the next two innings before Carlos Corporan pinch-hit for him in the third inning and went on to have a pretty historic night on a night full of them.
Corporan's big night aside, it was probably the one negative for the Rangers on Tuesday night when they routed the Chicago White Sox, 15-2, to continue their hot play and got a legendary big-league debut from top prospect Joey Gallo.
Chirinos has been a solid catcher for the Rangers, especially defensively, and if he needs to hit the disabled list after suffering the bruised hand, the Rangers could get another youngster coming up to see some time behind the plate.
Chirinos' X-rays were negative, but it doesn't mean he'll be able to play soon. So if he has to take a seat for a couple of weeks, it'd likely mean the Rangers would call up Tomas Telis from Triple-A Round Rock. Telis had a cup of coffee in the bigs last year and hit .250 with eight RBIs in 18 games.
This year, Telis is stroking the ball in Round Rock, hitting .319 with four homers and 17 RBIs to go with 10 doubles in 40 games. He's more seasoned than the Rangers' top catching prospect, Double-A's Jorge Alfaro, and would be the obvious choice to come up if Chirinos is down for any extended amount of time.
Of course, the hope is that Chirinos will be able to return within a couple of days, but time will tell.
