Rangers Sign David Buchanan To Minor League Deal

The Rangers have signed right-hander David Buchanan to a minor league contract, MLB Trade Rumors has learned.  The deal contains an invitation for the 35-year-old Buchanan to attend the Rangers’ big league Spring Training camp.

Buchanan hit the open market after electing minor league free agency at season’s end, following an outright off the Reds’ 40-man roster in September.  Buchanan signed a minors deal with the Phillies last February and spent the entire 2024 campaign in the minors until Cincinnati acquired him in a trade in late August.  The injury-ravaged Reds were looking for fresh arms to cover innings, and this need led to Buchanan tossing 3 1/3 innings in Cincinnati’s 5-4 loss to the Brewers on August 31.

Though he was designated for assignment the next day, getting into that single game was still a noteworthy milestone Buchanan, as it marked his first MLB appearance since October 4, 2015.  A seventh-round pick for the Phillies in the 2010 draft, Buchanan posted a 5.01 ERA over 35 starts and 192 1/3 innings for Philadelphia over the 2014-15 seasons before spending 2016 back at the Phils’ Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley.

The righty then embarked on a long stint overseas, beginning with three seasons with the Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball from 2017-19.  While Buchanan’s time in Japan had its ups and downs, he found much more consistency while pitching with the KBO League’s Samsung Lions over the 2020-23 seasons.  Buchanan posted a 3.02 ERA in 113 starts and 699 2/3 innings with the Lions, earning KBO All-Star nods in both 2022 and 2023.  Buchanan took his reputation as a groundball pitcher to extreme heights in South Korea, posting grounder rates of over 70% during his time with the Lions.

Buchanan’s grounder rates normalized greatly when back in Triple-A ball last season, and he posted a 4.86 ERA, 17.1% strikeout rate, and 6.88% walk rate across 124 total innings with the Phillies’ and Reds’ top affiliates.  He worked as both a starter and as a long reliever, so he provides Texas with an interesting swingman option heading into Spring Training.  Between Buchanan’s lack of strikeouts and the Rangers’ focus on their bullpen this offseason, Buchanan is likely ticketed for long relief work if he cracks the active roster, but that’s still a solid role on a team looking to amass as much pitching depth as possible given the injury concerns within the rotation.