Rangers Add Former MLB Catcher to Front Office, Sign McCarthy to Minor League Deal

The Texas Rangers poached from MLB's front office again, adding a familiar face to the organization.

The Texas Rangers announced Monday that the club has hired former Major League catcher Nick Hundley as special assistant to the general manager.

The 38-year-old Hundley has been working with Major League Baseball as senior director of baseball operations since early 2020. Prior to his move into the front office, Hundley had a 12-year MLB career, spending time with the San Diego Padres (2008-14), Baltimore Orioles (2014), Colorado Rockies (2015-16), San Francisco Giants (2017-18), and Oakland Athletics (2019). The Seattle-area native, and second-round pick out of the University of Arizona, batted .247 with 93 home runs in 974 big league games and appeared in at least 58 games for 11 consecutive years to begin his career. 

Hundley has two interesting ties to the Rangers. His final Major League game came with Oakland on June 8, 2019 against the Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington (now named Choctaw Stadium). More importantly, Hundley was teammates with current Rangers general manager Chris Young for the first three seasons of his career in San Diego. The pair also worked together in the MLB front office in 2020.

In addition to the hiring of Hundley, the Rangers also officially announced the signing of outfielder Joe McCarthy to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League spring training.

McCarthy, who turns 28 on Feb. 23, spent the 2021 season with Triple-A Sacramento in the Giants organization. He slashed .306/.384/.542/.926 with a career-high 15 home runs and 55 RBI, and his batting average, slugging and OPS figures were also career bests. The outfielder/first baseman has appeared in only four Major League games, all with San Francisco in 2020.

Originally selected by Tampa Bay in the fifth round of the 2015 MLB Draft out of the University of Virginia, McCarthy owns a career .269/.377/.428/.805 slash line with 45 home runs and 246 RBI over six minor league seasons in the Rays and Giants farm systems. The Scranton, Pa., native was teammates with Rangers pitcher Josh Sborz on Virginia's 2015 College World Series championship club. His brother, Jake, an outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, made his big league debut in 2021.

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