A trio of Texas Rangers players all elected not to exercise mutual options on Friday, Oct. 30.

The biggest name in the group was Joc Pederson, but he was followed by Jakob Junis and Kyle Higashioka.

Higashioka, 36, is the oldest of the bunch. He had a $7 million payday coming his way, had he exercised his option, but The Dallas Morning News' Shawn McFarland noted that he did not.

Officially, he's the third player in that trio, and will elect free agency after appearing in 56 games for the Rangers this past season.

Similar to Pederson, Higashioka came to the team in 2025, where he played in 94 games. He saw a massive reduction in playing time from last season to this one, and while these options are rarely exercised to begin with, that was only more fuel to the fire for Higashioka.

The Rangers signed Higashioka back on Dec. 2, 2024. This is someone who made his big-league debut back in 2017, and after a lengthy stint with the New York Yankees from 2017-2023, he'll now be eyeing his fourth team in the last five years.

Higashioka was a 0.7 WAR player this season, and that was the lowest he's had in a year since his final season with the Yankees.

He slashed .218/.306/.370 with a .676 OPS. To no surprise, basically all of those numbers are down from a year ago, though he raised his on-base percentage from .291 to .306.

Higashioka drew one fewer walk in 138 fewer at-bats, so that has a lot to do with where his OBP was in 2026 compared to his first year with the Rangers.

The California native hit just .203 against right-handed pitchers this season. He found himself batting ninth more often than not, so that gave a clear picture as to what the Rangers thought of his offensive abilities.

Interestingly, Higashioka had a much higher slugging percentage at home (.408) than on the road (.337). Now that he'll have a new home in the 2027 season, that'll be something to keep an eye on.

Obviously, Higashioka's flexor strain was a big reason why his numbers were down across the board, but it's not like the team was holding out hope that he'll return to 100% in '27 and exercise his option.

As part of this trio of moves, Higashioka has contributed to what will now be around an extra $30 million for the Rangers to work with.