Texas Rangers 2017 preseason profile: Hanser Alberto
Texas Rangers infielder Hanser Alberto might be the biggest defensive weapon on the roster. But unless his bat wakes up a little more, we may not see too much of him.
Infielder Hanser Alberto enters his third season with the Texas Rangers as the backup option at first, second, third and short. He wields an excellent glove and impressive range, but hits come at a premium for the 24 year-old.
Alberto’s early career
Honestly, there’s not a whole lot to look at here. Alberto came into the Texas Rangers organization as a mid-range prospect. His numbers last season with Round Rock show some decent hitting and occasional power. But at the big league level, he’s not quite found his groove on offense.
He has 162 career plate appearances, so there’s not a lot to go by. But in that time, he’s amassed a career batting average of .194 an OBP of .204 and has slugged merely .226. Alberto doesn’t even have a single big league homer to his name and has only driven in nine runs.
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Yet, he still has great value and could theoretically play every day. That theory revolves around his entering the game in the eighth inning or later in games with a close lead. Then, he could come in and flash some of that fantastic glove of his and keep the Rangers out front for good.
Based on his career numbers to this point, he plays exceptionally well defensively. Granted, we’re dealing with a pretty small sample size, but as a shortstop, he had a 1.000 fielding percentage and 93 runs above average in total fielding runs above average per 1,200 innings. His UZR for the season was 4.8, which averaged out to a ridiculous 83.2 per 150 games played.
So while he doesn’t drive in or score too many runs, he prevents a lot of them with his glove. That makes him the perfect guy to bring in late and maybe start a game or two.
Alberto’s 2017 season
It’s possible Alberto finds himself shuffled between Round Rock and Arlington another time or two this season. While his glove is a great asset for the Texas Rangers roster, it’s not a necessity. Starting shortstop Elvis Andrus has improved greatly defensively and second baseman Rougned Odor gets the job done adequately. Adrian Beltre will enter the Hall of Fame after his career ends, due in large part to his own defensive ability at third. In fact, Connelly Bock over at Nolan Writin’ gave a really good breakdown of the depth chart at shortstop here.
We should expect to see Alberto appear in about 35 games this season. He’ll start maybe 15 or so and end the season with great defensive numbers again. Offensively, don’t expect anything over about a .230 batting average and maybe a home run or two. He did flash a little power here and there in the minors, but nothing to show that he’d blast anything past about 390 feet in the bigs.
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Alberto will play enough to play a pivotal role on the team late in the season, but he won’t display earth-shattering offense. Expect some strikeouts and a very rare walk but nothing more. But, he’ll let his glove do the talking and given the talent in front of him in the lineup, that’s exactly what manager Jeff Banister will expect.