Joc

Pederson

Pederson had one homer previously, but the 108-mph shot tonight gave him his first barrel in 78 plate appearances this season. He’s hitting .306 in 49 at-bats since opening the season 0-for-14. Still, he’s going to have to show more power to have any chance of fantasy relevancy.

McCutchen gets a chance to face Athletics lefty Jeffrey Springs on Saturday afternoon with Joc Pederson heading to the bench. The 39-year-old has played sparingly this season, hitting .242 (8-for-33) with one homer and five RBI in 17 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

Burger draws his first off day of the season following 17 consecutive starts at the cold corner. The 30-year-old slugger has put together a resurgent campaign so far with four homers and 12 RBI during that span. Joc Pederson makes a rare appearance at first base in his absence.

While Pederson starts against most right-handers, he’ll get a breather in this one against his former squad while Andrew McCutchen starts in his place as the designated hitter and will bat fifth against Tyler Glasnow. Look for Pederson to return to action at some point over the weekend.

Pederson was responsible for the only run of the game for the Rangers, as he tied the game at 1-1 with a solo homer off an otherwise outstanding Chase Burns in the seventh. The 33-year-old also drew a walk, but it’s been another ugly start to the season for Pederson as seen in a slash of .059/.190/.235.

Pederson got to play a full game for just the second time this season, but it was no help, and he’s now 0-for-14 to start the year after going just 7-for-40 with one extra-base hit this spring. His exit velocity numbers are actually really good; nine of his 12 balls in play have been hit hard, including three of four tonight. It seems like the Rangers should be patient here, but it’s also easy to understand why they might not be after Pederson’s struggles last year and Andrew McCutchen’s quick start.

Carter sat against a left-hander on Wednesday, but the Reds will start all right-handed pitchers this weekend, which is good news for Carter, Josh Smith, and Joc Pederson. They can all be started in leagues where you can make mid-week lineupm changes.

With left-hander Trevor Rogers on the mound, the Rangers will sit a few of their left-handed hitters. Smith has made one start this season against a lefty, but has sat out the last two. Andrew McCutchen will start in right field and bat fifth, Ezequiel Duran will start at second base and hit eighth, and Sam Haggerty will start in left field and bat ninth.

Both hits came off Jesús Luzardo. McCutchen heated up quickly after signing with the Rangers earlier this month, and it’s worth wondering if he might turn this DH platoon with Joc Pederson into a full-time spot for himself. It seems like Pederson deserves a real look first, but he did not have good spring numbers on the heels of his disastrous 2025. He’s 0-for-2 with a walk through three games, but both of his balls in play have been hard hit, with one leaving his bat at 110 mph. McCutchen is 4-for-9 with four RBI while drawing the start both times the Phillies threw lefties.

Pederson had been without an extra-base hit this spring, even though he entered the day with a 58% hard-hit rate. His .175/.298/.250 line seems extra discouraging for a 33-year-old already coming off a dreadful season, but we’d be more concerned if he weren’t averaging 95 mph off the bat. That said, while we’d expect Pederson to bounce back enough to help the Rangers this year, it’s unlikely that he’ll be much of a fantasy factor as a platoon guy who doesn’t hit for average or steal bases.