The Texas Rangers have agreed to terms with designated hitter Joc Pederson on a two-year pact worth $37 million, the team announced Monday. The agreement contains an opt-out right after the first season.
The left-handed Pederson, 32, is coming off one of the best seasons of his 11 years. MLB career. In 132 games as the primary DH for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pederson slashed .275/.393/.515, which was good for a career-best OPS+ of 151. He accumulated 23 home runs in 449 plate appearances and put some of the best indicators of quality of contact in all of baseball. Pederson’s ability to hit the ball hard and through the air bodes well for the near-term future.
With the Rangers, Pederson plans to support the first half of a DH platoon. This leaves Jake Burger at first base, replacing Nathaniel Lowe, who was exchanged on Sunday to the Washington Nationals.
Earlier in the offseason, CBS Sports ranked Pederson as the No. 16 available free agent in the current class. Here is part of our article:
We wrote last winter that underlying metrics suggested Pederson had a significantly better 2023 than his topline results indicated. Consider last season a statistical course correction. Pederson turned in the best performance of his career, walking and slugging his way to a career-high 151 OPS+. His game has been the same for a while now: he’s a professional hitter with some platoon issues and negative defensive value. If that’s right for you, he’ll give you what you sign up for: plus offensive production against righties. Want more? Then you shop in the wrong aisle.
For his career, Pederson has an OPS+ of 119 over parts of 11 seasons in the big leagues. Pederson, a two-time All-Star, enters the 2025 season with 209 career home runs.
