The Rangers are adding three players to their 40-man roster in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Right-handers Yerry Rodriguez and A.J. Alexy and catcher David Garcia are being selected, per the team’s executive vice president of communications John Blake (Twitter link). Texas’ 40-man roster now sits at 38 players.
It’s not particularly surprising any of the trio wound up being protected. Rodriguez rates as the Rangers’ second-best farmhand (96th overall) in the estimation of FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen, who writes that the 23-year-old has three above-average to plus pitches and advanced command. Rodriguez has topped out at Low-A ball in 2019, where he tossed 73.2 innings of 2.08 ERA ball with a stellar combination of 10.38 K/9 and 2.57 BB/9.
Alexy was acquired from the Dodgers as part of the 2017 Yu Darvish trade. The 22-year-old has racked up massive strikeout numbers in the low minors, although he’s also been plagued by lofty walk rates. Garcia, meanwhile, was a well-regarded amateur signee out of Venezuela. The 20-year-old backstop put up a .277/.351/.435 line in short-season ball in 2019.
