The Rangers are placing right-hander Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list, according to a report from Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. Right-hander Codi Heuer is being selected to the big league roster to replace Eovaldi on the pitching staff, while catcher Tucker Barnhart was designated for assignment to make room for Heuer on the 40-man roster. It’s not yet clear who will replace Barnhart on the active roster.
Eovaldi has been utterly dominant in his age-35 campaign, with a 1.56 ERA through 12 starts this year. His last start on May 27 was abbreviated due to fatigue in his right triceps, and his departure from that game was initially labeled as precautionary. Losing him for any amount of time is a brutal blow to an already struggling Rangers club, but the good news is that manager Chris Young told reporters (including McFarland) that this IL stint is still largely out of precaution; Eovaldi isn’t dealing with any structural damage, but the team is just hoping to get the veteran additional time to heal up. His IL stint can be backdated to May 28, meaning that Eovaldi could return as soon as June 12 against the Twins. Eovaldi’s spot in the rotation is expected to be taken by Kumar Rocker, who Young suggested will come off the injured list on Wednesday.
In the short-term, Eovaldi’s spot on the roster will go to Heuer. The right-hander turns 29 next month, but hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021. He excelled with the White Sox out of the bullpen during his rookie season in 2020 and then was included alongside Nick Madrigal in the trade that sent Craig Kimbrel from the Cubs to the White Sox at the 2021 trade deadline. At the time of the deal, Heuer looked like a future high-leverage arm and posted a solid 3.14 ERA in 28 2/3 innings of work down the stretch for the Cubs.
Unfortunately, Heuer underwent Tommy John surgery in Spring Training of 2022. He missed that entire season, and then missed all of the 2023 season as well when he suffered an elbow fracture while rehabbing from that surgery. The devastating sequence of injuries led the Cubs to non-tender Heuer following the 2023 season. He signed a minor league contract with the Rangers prior to the 2024 season and has remained in the organization ever since. He finally made it back to a professional mound earlier this year and has pitched quite well at Triple-A, with a 3.27 ERA in 22 innings of work to go with a 26.3% strikeout rate. Heuer will now have an opportunity to re-establish himself as a potential late-inning arm in the majors for a Rangers club that could use additional help in the bullpen with top setup man Chris Martin on the shelf.
As for Barnhart, the journeyman catcher is in his 12th season as a big leaguer. After winning two Gold Glove awards in his seven seasons as the primary catcher for the Reds from 2015 to 2021, Barnhart signed with Detroit for the 2022 season and appeared in 94 games but has bounced around the league as a part-time player ever since. After stints with the Cubs and Diamondbacks in 2023 and ’24, Barnhart was serving as a third catcher for the Rangers this year while Kyle Higashioka was getting more regular reps at DH. He made it into just eight games with the club in total, however, and now the Rangers will have one week to either trade Barnhart or attempt to pass him through waivers. If Barnhart clears waivers, he’ll have more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Tucker, they hardly knew ya.
Congrats to Barnhart reaching his 10 years of major league service.
Tucker’s from my town, Brownsburg IN, I’ve known him since he was 12 yrs old. He briefly dated my daughter in high school, she broke up with him in their junior year because he was (in her words) “a nerd:”. To this day, even though she”s married to a great guy and has given me an incredible grandson, I still take a HUUUGE delight in reminding her that Tuck’s made over $30 mil as a professional baseball player. That said, he’s a good dude, with a good familiy, and I wish him the best,
Looks like Tucker Barnhart sent to Tucker Barnyardt amirite?
That’s a reach. Smells like BarnFarts.
Tucker is good enough to keep getting a job but not good enough to keep them I guess. But Heuer is back! That’s the big news. Hope his arm stays in one piece.
I remember when the trade for Kimbrel had Madrigal and Heuer, was really hoping Heuer would become at least a decent pitcher but the injuries just did not make that happen. Glad he’s back!
I honestly was expecting more from Texas this year. They have really fallen off a cliff after the one WS win
Texas is 20-3 when they score 4 or more runs. They can’t hit!!!
LOL You bought the Jake deGrom curse my friend.
And what is the DeGrom curse? Sign him have him get hurt and win the World Series without him? Then go belly up when he returns?
Super excited for Heuer to be back up.
I remember the pre-season expectations had the Rangers with the most potent line-up in MLB/ 1-9 no let up. lol
Man was just looking at how dominant Eovaldi has been, very impressive.
Seems like pitchers go on the IL out of precaution more this year than they used to. I think the culture of injury has changed, and you don’t try to play through it and hurt yourself more. Or maybe they just are “saying” it’s precautionary more now?
If the Eovaldi injury proves to be serious, will the Rangers reboot and start trading assets with value?
I’m a bit confused after reading the article! Is Chris Young the manager or the PBO of the Rangers?
I will always root for Nate Eovaldi. Here’s hoping this precautionary IL stint gives him the R&R he needs to dominate down the stretch. Here’s also hoping the Rangers are so out of contention they trade him to Boston for some third tier minor league lotto tickets.