SEATTLE -- Less than a month ago, John Hicks and Eli White were teammates at Triple-A Round Rock, working their way to secure a spot with the Rangers’ big league club.
In the Rangers’ 7-3 win over the Mariners on Saturday night at T-Mobile Park, Hicks and White hit pull-side homers in the top of the third inning to give Texas an early lead that it would never relinquish.
“It's awesome,” Hicks said. “We had a really good group down there [in Round Rock], and everybody was pulling in the same direction. Guys were and are performing well down there. It's awesome for guys to come up and see that success they have in Triple-A carry over to the big leagues.”
Hicks added to the lead an inning later, knocking a projected 355-foot homer just over the left-field wall. It was just his second career two-homer game, the first coming on Sept. 5, 2017, when he was with the Tigers.
At 31 years old, Hicks is one of the older guys on a young Rangers roster. He exceeded prospect status with Detroit in 2017, which was his first year with more than 100 plate appearances at the big league level.
Hicks says he’s just living in the moment at this point, regardless of the impact this stint with the big league club will have on his ability to stick long term.
“It's a lot of emotions, obviously and I’m grateful to be here and help the team,” Hicks said. “That's obviously the most important thing. I feel good at the plate right now, I feel really comfortable. It's great, but it's hard to put into words everything that's been happening in the last few days, but obviously, it's pretty awesome.”
The July 1 win over the A’s was Hicks’ debut with the Rangers and his first Major League appearance since Sept. 29, 2019. He’s the first player since the franchise relocated in 1972 with three homers in his first three games with the team.
White’s homer was his lone hit, but he reached twice on walks and stole a base.
White, who turned 27 last week, made the Opening Day roster for the Rangers, but alternated between Triple-A and the big league roster for most of the first two months of the season. From April 1-May 13, he started 16 games with the Rangers with a slash line of .127/.200/.164.
Since his most recent callup on June 8, he’s hit .272 with all four of his career home runs coming in that span.
“We've had [White] for a few years, and we're now starting to see the talent come out that we've all seen and known,” said Rangers manager Chris Woodward. “We all love this kid, but to see the talent show up on the field has been pretty cool.”
It was a hot offensive night for the Rangers as a whole, with three Texas players notching multihit nights: Hicks, Charlie Culberson and Adolis García.
Starting pitcher Jordan Lyles allowed two runs in six innings.
Woodward said it’s nice to get production from up and down the lineup, especially from guys who weren’t with the big league club to start the season.
“We kind of take the model of anybody that has a Rangers uniform on, whether you're in Double-A, Triple-A, whatever, we expect you to contribute,” Woodward said. “We're going to call you up or we're going to bring you in to welcome you with open arms. To come up here and have an impact like that was pretty special.”