SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Catcher Jose Trevino will be out two to three weeks after scans revealed he has a hairline fracture in his right index finger. Still a rookie, Trevino impressed the Rangers last season in 40 games, excelling defensively and holding his own at the plate toward the end of the year with a .286/.295/.417 slash line in his last 25 games.

“He’s disappointed, obviously, but it’ll heal,” manager Chris Woodward said Saturday morning. “It’s really frustrating as a player when you feel like you’ve taken a huge step forward. Offensively, he’s in a really good place. Catching-wise, he’s one of the best we have. He’s working on some newer techniques as far as stealing strikes and it’s like, he felt like that’s as good as he’s been on a baseball field in helping our team in every way. … He was hungry to help us win.”

Trevino hit a foul tip off his knuckle Monday and was removed from the game. Assistant general manager Shiraz Rehman said Saturday that scans showed the fracture is “stable,” and the goal is to have Trevino back for the last week of Cactus League games.

“It’s hard to say we know for sure he’ll be ready to go, but we’re optimistic,” Rehman said.

The setback means Trevino won’t be able to immediately build on the momentum he accumulated late in 2019. He caught 44 percent of would-be basestealers last season -- 17 points better than the league average -- and committed just one error and one passed ball.

“I don’t want him to feel like he has to catch up,” Woodward said. “Just take it slow, don’t freak out about it and try to make up for lost time. You see it every year, guys end up losing almost a whole year because you’re trying to play catch-up the whole year. Whatever it is, it is. Deal with [it], we’ll get you back out there, we’ll build you back up and you’ll still help us. I just don’t want him to be frustrated by it.”

Hernández brings heat

Jonathan Hernández started the Rangers’ 7-6 walk-off win over the White Sox on Saturday and came in hot, hitting 100 mph on the radar gun at Surprise Stadium during the first at-bat. He retired the side quickly. Hernández faltered in the second inning, though, allowing a leadoff single and a two-run homer to the next hitter, Eloy Jimenez. Hernández gave up one more single and walked a batter, but escaped the inning with a ground-ball double play.

Hernández allowed two earned runs on three hits, walking one and striking out two.

The 23-year-old rookie pitched in nine games for the Rangers last season, posting a 4.32 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings. He played winter ball in the Dominican Republic and spent the offseason trying to improve his overall command. Although he was predominantly a starter in Double-A last year, he would gladly accept a job in the Rangers’ bullpen.

“Whatever they ask me, I will do it,” he said. “I worked a lot in the offseason in winter ball and everything now is paying off. I feel a lot better than last year.”

He said it
“I admire him probably equally as much as any player that I’ve ever been around because of the work, the dedication, the competitiveness -- he’s like, in my opinion, the perfect player. For him to have failure which may have not been his own fault, that hurts. He’s a champion regardless of whether he has a ring or not. Now that some of that stuff has come to light, maybe he should be.” -- Woodward, on Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, against whom the Astros didn’t swing and miss at a single offspeed pitch in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series in Houston, where the Astros were using an illegal, high-tech sign-stealing system.

Rangers beat
• Kyle Gibson will pitch Monday against the Indians and Jordan Lyles will pitch against the Giants on Tuesday, leaving Mike Minor as the only member of the starting rotation yet to pitch in a Cactus League game. Minor has been suffering from tightness in his left hamstring, but threw a live bullpen/simulated game Saturday morning in Surprise. He tossed 40 pitches over two innings.

• Nick Solak and Blake Swihart made what were most likely the Rangers’ defensive and offensive plays of the game Saturday in the final inning. Solak made an athletic running catch on a ball over his head in center field in the top of the frame, saving a sure run to preserve a tie, and then Swihart hit a walk-off homer on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth.

• Catcher Nick Ciuffo continued his fantastic start to the season with an RBI double in the second inning. It was his fifth hit in his first nine Spring Training at-bats, including two doubles and a homer. Ciuffo also homered and doubled last Sunday in a ‘B’ game.

Up next
Two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, acquired from Cleveland in an offseason trade, will make his Rangers debut at 2:05 p.m. CT against the Dodgers in Glendale on Sunday. Kluber was limited to 35 2/3 innings in 2019 due to injuries. He won 20 games the year before.