Rangers Reinstate Brock Burke, Outright Derek Hill

The Rangers announced they’ve reinstated lefty reliever Brock Burke from the 60-day injured list. Texas optioned Grant Anderson to Triple-A Round Rock in a corresponding move. The Rangers already had an opening on the 40-man roster after designating outfielder Derek Hill for assignment last week. Texas announced tonight that Hill went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to Round Rock, though he has the right to elect free agency in lieu of the Triple-A assignment.

Burke suffered a fractured metacarpal in his non-throwing hand back in April. The southpaw punched a dugout wall in frustration after a poor outing. He underwent surgery and missed a couple months. Burke had an excellent 2022 campaign in which he threw 82 1/3 innings of 1.97 ERA ball. Last year’s 4.37 mark was more pedestrian, and he gave up five runs in his first three frames this season. Burke rejoins Jacob Latz as lefty options for Bruce Bochy, though he’ll likely need to pitch his way back into the later innings.

Hill, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and got added to their big league roster about three weeks ago. He got a small sample of work while on the roster, getting just ten plate appearances in five games, hitting .222/.300/.222 in those. Last week, the Rangers needed an extra infielder with Corey Seager day-to-day due to hamstring soreness. They recalled Davis Wendzel and nudged Hill out. Since Hill is out of options, they had to remove him from the 40-man entirely.

Any team acquiring him would have also had to plug him directly onto the active roster and it seems none of them were willing to do so. Since he has a previous career outright, he has the right to reject any outright assignment in favor of free agency. Should he explore that avenue, he should be able to find a minor league deal somewhere.

Hill hasn’t hit much in his big league career but he can provide value in others ways. Statcast considers his sprint speed to be in the 98th percentile this year and Hill has five Outs Above Average in his 746 1/3 outfield innings. It’s also possible there’s some upside at the plate since he’s had some good performances in the minors and was slashing .333/.387/.659 for Round Rock before getting called up this year.