How activating Davis impacts 3 players

ARLINGTON — The Rangers activated designated hitter Khris Davis from the injured list primarily to boost the offense against lefthanders, but the move impacts three other players in significant ways:

Willie Calhoun, leading the team in OPS, will play every day, even if that means he often has to move to the outfield to do so. Calhoun started in left field on Saturday, just the third time in 18 games since he was activated that he’s started in the outfield.

Eli White becomes the second half of the Rangers’ opening day center field platoon to be sent to the minors. White, who had just one hit in his last 30 at-bats and a .364 OPS for the season, was sent to Triple-A Round Rock. He will join Leody Taveras there. The center field situation has been upended by the rise of Adolis Garcia, who now doesn’t even have a true designated backup.

David Dahl likely will see his playing time shrink to more of a time-share with Davis. Dahl could play left field against righthanders while Davis will DH against lefties. Dahl is just 6 for 39 (.154) against lefthanded pitching this season. Dahl, who was the DH on Saturday, also becomes the backup center fielder. He started 17 games in center for Colorado last year.

“The way Willie has been swinging the bat, he’s going to play every day,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said of Calhoun, who took an .895 OPS into Saturday’s game against Seattle. “Dahl has been swinging the bat a little bit better, but he also knows that Khris Davis is here, and it’s going to cut into somebody’s playing time. It has to. It’s just natural. They just need to have quality atbats. If we do that, we’re going to be good offensively.

Davis, 33, was not in the lineup on Saturday but gave the Rangers a righthanded power bat off the bench. He is expected to start the next two games against lefties Justus Sheffield of Seattle and Alex Wood of San Francisco. Davis has a .846 OPS against lefthanders the last five seasons. While his career splits are fairly even, there has been a drastic drop off in his production against righthanders the last two years with an OPS of just .579.

But it’s uncertain how long the Rangers will give Davis to contribute. He’s in the last year of his contract, and the Rangers already are on the hook for $16.7 million. If there isn’t production, the Rangers could move on. Davis played in three alternate site games and Round Rock’s opener after recovering from a spring training quadriceps injury. He was hitless in four at-bats in the Round Rock opener Thursday. He struck out twice but did drive a ball to the wall in right center.

White, 26, and Taveras likely will be in the regular lineup at Round Rock and will split time between center field and one of the corner spots. White had 60 plate appearances in the Rangers’ first 34 games. But his playing time had become less frequent. He had not started consecutive games since he played four straight from April 7-11.

“He was working on some things. and he didn’t really get to play much,” Woodward said. “In the last week, he’s probably made the most significant adjustments that actually will help him, but it didn’t show up in games yet.”

Christian Petersen / Getty Images Khris Davis’ return from a quadriceps injury suffered in spring training will have an effect on the Rangers’ outfield and lineup, especially for Willie Calhoun, Eli White and David Dahl.