Joc Pederson and Texas Rangers finalize 2-year deal, DH’s 5th team since 2020 title with Dodgers

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Joc Pederson won a World Series in Texas with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020, then got another championship ring the following season after twice changing teams.

The Rangers missed the playoffs last season after winning their own title in 2023, when shortstop Corey Seager, Pederson’s teammate on that Dodgers championship team, was again the World Series MVP.

Pederson and the Rangers finalized a $37 million, two-year contract Monday after the designated hitter-outfielder successfully completed a physical.

“It’s a great fit. A lot of our goals align,” Pederson said. “The Rangers obviously won a World Series in ’23, and they’re not satisfied. They want to continue to win. And I want to be in a place that wants to win. … It’s fun to get with Seager again.”

The deal includes an opt-out for Pederson after the 2025 season, and a mutual option for an additional season in 2027. The two-time All-Star’s introduction came at Globe Life Field, where the Dodgers won the World Series over Tampa Bay during the neutral-site playoffs in that pandemic-impacted season.

Texas is the fifth team for the left-handed hitter since playing his first seven big league seasons with the Dodgers. After leaving Los Angeles in free agency following that 2020 title, Pederson signed with the Chicago Cubs and then was traded midway through the 2021 season to Atlanta, where he won another crown.

“Certainly excited about the type of player he is, what he’s going to add to our lineup and how he’s going to make our offense better,” said Chris Young, the Rangers’ president of baseball operations. “Equally excited about who he is as a person. This is a player who’s won multiple World Series championships and has had a positive impact on every environment he’s been in.”

Right-handed reliever Grant Anderson was designated for assignment to make room on the Rangers’ 40-man roster.

Pederson, who will turn 33 in April, spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the San Francisco Giants before signing with Arizona in free agency last January.

He hit .275 with 23 homers and 64 RBIs in 132 games during his only season with the Diamondbacks. He is a career .241 hitter with 209 homers and 549 RBIs in 1,272 games, with career bests of 36 homers and 74 RBIs with the Dodgers in 2019.

During the 2020 postseason, the Dodgers played the National League Division Series, NL Championship Series and World Series at the Texas Rangers’ home stadium. Pederson hit .394 (13 for 33) with three homers and eight RBIs in his 15 games.

Pederson grew up in the Bay Area, watching Texas manager Bruce Bochy guide San Francisco to World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The Giants didn’t make the postseason in 2011 and 2013, but then rebounded to win another title each time. That is what the Rangers will be trying to do, having missed the playoffs last season after being World Series champs in Bochy’s debut with them in 2023.

“All we’ve got to do is get to the playoffs,” Pederson said. “You let Bochy do what Bochy does in the playoffs, it usually goes well, and you add in a sprinkle of Seager in there, next thing you know, we’re all walking around with more rings.”

Since Texas won its last AL West title in 2016, Houston has won the division in all seven full seasons — Oakland took the crown during the 60-game regular season in 2020. The Astros went to the ALCS seven seasons in a row and made the World Series four times, winning two of them.

“For the Astros … they’ve put together a nice little run and it’s coming to an end, and it’s time for us to take over the West,” Pederson said. “There’s lots of things that are going in the right direction for the Rangers to be on top of this division.”

Pederson was only a DH and pinch hitter for Arizona, but could provide depth in the outfield for the Rangers. He hasn’t played in the field since September 2023.

The Dodgers selected Pederson in the 11th round of the 2010 amateur draft out of Palo Alto High in California.

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