Matt Harrison named Harold McKinney Good Guy

Arlington, Texas - Pitcher Matt Harrison has been selected as the recipient of the 2014 Harold McKinney Good Guy Award in voting by the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. The Rangers 2012 Pitcher of the Year, Harrison has been limited to six total starts the last two seasons due to three back surgeries.

Harrison will be honored at the 2015 Dr Pepper Texas Rangers Awards Dinner on Friday, January 23 at the Dallas Omni Hotel. Tickets for the dinner, which will honor a number of baseball personalities and feature appearances by Texas Rangers past and present, can be purchased at www.texasrangers.com/awards. Other 2014 team award winners to be honored will include Adrian Beltre, Player of the Year; Yu Darvish, Pitcher of the Year; Rougned Odor, Rookie of the Year; and Robinson Chirinos, Richard Durrett Hardest Working Man. Proceeds from the Awards Dinner benefit the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.

COWBOYS SANTA TOY DRIVE
The Texas Rangers collected 6,965 toys and 50 bicycles for deserving families during its 2014 Cowboy Santas Toy Drive, which ended in an event at Globe Life Park last night. This marked the fourth consecutive year in which the Rangers have been involved in the holiday initiative. Pitcher Tanner Scheppers and his wife Jessica served as the Honorary Spokespersons for the program, which provides toys to children from low-income Tarrant County families during the holiday season.

ATKINS SIGNED TO MINOR LEAGUE CONTRACT
The Rangers have agreed to terms with RHP Mitch Atkins on a minor league deal for 2015. Atkins will be in minor league camp this spring after going a combined 7-4 with a 3.76 ERA (59 ER/141.1 IP) over 28 games/22 starts with Triple-A Gwinnett and Double-A Mississippi in the Atlanta Braves organization last season. The 29-year-old is 2-5 with a 5.11 ERA (25 ER/44.0 IP) over 10 starts for Licey in the Dominican Winter League this offseason.

TEXAS RANGERS WINTER LEAGUE UPDATE

Australian Winter League
RHP Cody Buckel and C Kellin Degaln (Melbourne Aces) were each named to the World squad for the Australia vs. World All-Star Game today in Melbourne…Buckel has gone 2-1 with a 3.09 ERA (11 ER/32.0 IP) and 30 strikeouts against 14 walks in 6 games/5 starts…Deglan is tied for the league lead with 8 home runs and ranks 2nd with 19 RBI..

Dominican Winter League
INF Hanser Alberto (Cibao) is batting .396 (19-48) over his last 14 games and owns a .403 average (25-62) over 22 games this winter…RHP Jose Leclerc (Cibao) has totaled 9.2 scoreless innings with just 2 hits allowed over 7 relief appearances this winter…Leclerc has whiffed 19 of 33 batters faced and issued just one walk…RHP Roman Mendez (Este) has made a pair of relief appearances this week and has compiled a 1.17 ERA (1 ER/8.2 IP) with 8 strikeouts over 11 outings this winter.

Venezuelan Winter League
2B Rougned Odor has hit safely in 21 of 24 games with Magallanes at .330 (33-100) with 9 doubles, a triple, a home run, 13 RBI, 13 walks, and 22 runs scored…SS Luis Sarinas (La Guaira) is batted .306 (11-36) over his last 7 games to finish his winter ball season with a .263 average (36-137) in 32 games.

Puerto Rican Winter League
OF Delino DeShields (Santurce) was 2-for-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in Santurce's 10-9 loss at Mayaguez on Friday…DeShields batted .290 (9-31) with a triple, 2 home runs, 6 RBI, 3 walks, 3 stolen bases, and 3 runs scored over his last 8 games in Puerto Rico…overall this winter, DeShields batted .236 (21-89) with a double, 2 triples, 2 home runs, 10 RBI, 11 walks, 9 stolen bases, and 9 runs scored in 25 games for the Cangrejeros…DeShields' return to Santurce is uncertain at this point…1B Trever Adams (Caguas) has hit safely in 20 of 23 games at .345 (29-84) with 5 doubles, 3 home runs, and 10 RBI.