The Texas Rangers will give veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy a day off Sunday when the team hosts the Oakland Athletics and hard-throwing starter Sean Manaea.
Look for this to be an almost weekly occurrence for Lucroy, who the Rangers will want to keep fresh throughout the campaign. Thus far this season, his first full years in Texas, Lucroy is hitting just .133 in 15 at-bats. It sure looks like he could use the rest, even less than a week into the regular season.
With Lucroy out of action here, Robinson Chirinos will get the start.
Shin-Soo Choo is also getting a veteran's day off here after struggling to the tune of a .222 average with one RBI over his first five games of the season. Ryan Rua will take over at first place with Mike Napoli handling the DH duties.