Cole Ragans

Rangers Select Dallas Keuchel’s Contract

By Anthony Franco | August 27, 2022 at 3:00pm CDT

TODAY: The Rangers have officially announced the selection of Keuchel’s contract from Triple-A

AUGUST 26: The Rangers announced that Dallas Keuchel is slated to start tomorrow evening’s game against the Tigers. Texas placed southpaw Cole Ragans on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 23, due to a left calf strain. The Rangers already have a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no additional transaction will be necessary to formally select Keuchel’s contract.

It’s a return to the big leagues for the 2015 AL Cy Young award winner, who will be on his third team of the 2022 season. Keuchel opened the year with the White Sox but was released in May after posting a 7.88 ERA over eight starts. The veteran southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks and made it back to the majors. He was tagged for 22 runs (20 earned) in 18 2/3 frames, however, and Arizona also let him go.

Texas rolled the dice on Keuchel last month, signing him to a minor league pact. He’s spent the past few weeks at Triple-A Round Rock, going 23 1/3 innings over four outings (just under six frames per start) with an excellent 2.31 ERA. Keuchel has walked an elevated 12.1% of batters faced there, but he’s induced ground-balls at a huge 64.9% clip. That’s more in line with the grounder numbers he racked up at his peak with the division-rival Astros than the even 50% rate (a strong but not elite mark) he’s posted with Chicago and Arizona this year.

Keuchel adds a veteran option with a lengthy track record of career success to the Texas rotation for the stretch run. The Rangers will only pay him the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum for any time he spends in the majors, with the White Sox otherwise on the hook for his $18MM salary this year (plus a $1.5MM buyout on a 2023 option in his original contract with Chicago). The 34-year-old will return to the free agent market this offseason, and a strong showing over the season’s final month could aid his efforts to find a big league deal over the winter.

Ragans was called up for his major league debut earlier this month. The former first-rounder has made four starts, allowing ten runs (nine earned) in 18 1/3 frames. Texas hasn’t provided any indication whether he’s expected to return before the end of the season. The 24-year-old is looking to carve out a back-end role in next year’s rotation.

Rangers Designate Steven Duggar, Steele Walker For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | August 4, 2022 at 5:46pm CDT

The Rangers have designated outfielders Steven Duggar and Steele Walker for assignment, per a club announcement. The moves clears space on the 40-man roster for Cole Ragans and Bubba Thompson, whose promotions have each been previously reported. To open space on the active roster, Texas placed outfielder Kole Calhoun on the 10-day injured list and reliever Dennis Santana on the 15-day IL.

Duggar spent a bit more than a month on the Texas roster. Acquired from the Giants in late June in a one-for-one swap with Willie Calhoun, the lefty-hitting outfielder appeared in only eight MLB games with the Rangers. He collected three hits (all singles), with 12 strikeouts and two walks in 19 plate appearances. Duggar spent 11 contests with Triple-A Round Rock, hitting .184/.360/.316.

The 28-year-old hasn’t played much this season, as he lost a good chunk of the year to a severe oblique strain. He’s combined for just 20 big league games between San Francisco and Texas, an unfortunate follow-up to a 2021 season that saw him log a career-high body of work. Duggar appeared in 107 games and picked up 297 trips to the plate last year, hitting .257/.330/.437 with eight home runs and seven stolen bases. Paired with strong center field defense, that made him a valuable contributor to the 107-win Giants club, but he struck out at a near-30% clip along the way.

Swing-and-miss has been an issue for Duggar throughout his career, as he’s fanned in 30.2% of his 824 trips to the dish at the big league level. He’s a career .240/.296/.373 hitter. That’s obviously underwhelming production, but Duggar’s only making a hair above the league minimum salary and is a strong defender at all three spots on the grass. That could draw him some attention from rival clubs, who’ll have an opportunity to add him for minimal cost in the next few days. With the trade deadline passed, Texas has no choice but to place Duggar on waivers. If another team were to claim him, they could stash him in Triple-A for the remainder of this season — his final minor league option year.

Walker was acquired from the White Sox while he was a prospect over the 2019-20 offseason, heading over in the trade that sent Nomar Mazara to Chicago’s South Side. The former second-round pick has spent the bulk of his time in the organization in the upper minors, although he did earn a cup of coffee at the big league level in June. Walker was selected onto the MLB roster and appeared in five games, collecting one hit (a home run off Cal Quantrill) through 16 plate appearances.

The 26-year-old has otherwise spent the year in Round Rock, hitting .277/.353/.435 in 215 trips to the plate. He’s connected on seven homers and is only striking out at a 16.3% rate there while splitting his time between the corner outfield spots. Like Duggar, Walker will hit the waiver wire in the next few days. He’s only in his first option year, so a claiming team could keep him in the upper minors for the foreseeable future if willing to give him a 40-man roster spot.

Kole Calhoun, signed to a $5.2MM over the offseason, has struggled during his time in Arlington. The veteran corner outfielder has hit 11 longballs but is hitting only .211 with a .269 on-base percentage. He’s now dealing with right heel irritation and will miss at least a week and a half. Calhoun’s contract contains a $5.5MM club option for next season, but the Rangers figure to give additional reps to younger players like the newly-promoted Thompson down the stretch before declining Calhoun’s option.

Santana has a left ankle sprain, so he’ll miss a couple weeks at minimum. The hard-throwing righty owns a 5.09 ERA through 40 2/3 innings on the season, but he’s inducing ground-balls at a strong 51.6% clip.

Rangers To Select Cole Ragans

By Darragh McDonald | August 3, 2022 at 5:45pm CDT

The Rangers are going to be starting left-hander Cole Ragans on Thursday, reports Jeff Wilson of rangerstoday.com. The southpaw will be making his major league debut. He is not currently on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be required.

It’s been quite the journey for Ragans, who was selected by the Rangers with the 30th overall pick in the 2016 draft. He had a nice season in the minors in 2017 but then required Tommy John surgery in March of 2018, wiping out that entire campaign. After rehabbing for over a year, he received the terrible news that he would require a second Tommy John surgery in May of 2019. Though he might have been theoretically able to return to a mound in late 2020, the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues that year, meaning the former first-rounder didn’t throw a pitch in an affiliated game for three whole seasons.

Finally able to return to action in 2021, he split his time between High-A and Double-A, putting up a 4.35 ERA in 80 2/3 innings. This year, he’s made ten Double-A starts and eight in Triple-A, with a combined 3.04 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate.

Baseball America considered him one of the top Ranger farmhands in the earlier parts of his minor league career, though he slipped off the list during his extended absence. He return at the start of this year at #24 and jumped up to #11 at the midseason update.

If he’s able to find success at the major league level, there should be an opportunity for him to stay. While the Rangers have gotten strong results from Jon Gray and Martin Perez this year, the rest of the rotation has been flimsy. The other pitchers to make seven or more starts this year are Dane Dunning (4.30 ERA), Glenn Otto (5.50), Taylor Hearn (5.35) and Spencer Howard (6.82). Though there has apparently been some talk of a Perez extension, he’s currently slated to reach free agency at the end of the year. Furthermore, Gray is on the injured list and won’t return for about 4-6 weeks.

Rangers Notes: Ragans, Odor, Mazara, Miller

By Steve Adams | May 14, 2019 at 9:31pm CDT

The Rangers received yet even more terrible news on the prospect front Tuesday, as 2016 first-rounder Cole Ragans will undergo the second Tommy John surgery of his young career, per a team announcement. Ragans underwent Tommy John surgery last March but re-tore the ligament in his right elbow and will now miss a second season of development. The Rangers have already lost 2018 second-round pick Owen White and 2018 fourth-rounder Mason Englert to Tommy John surgery this season, thus wiping out the 2019 campaigns for three intriguing young prospects within the team’s minor league ranks. Ragans ranked as the team’s No. 10 overall prospect, per MLB.com, while White checked in at No. 12 and Englert sat at No. 23.

Some more news and notes out of Arlington…

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News examines the struggles of both Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara thus far in 2019. It’s been a catastrophic season for Odor, who entered play today with an almost unfathomable .137/.212/.253 batting line through 105 plate appearances. Mazara, meanwhile, is in a substantial funk that has dropped his overall line to .227/.287/.417 through yesterday’s game. Odor’s struggles have gotten to the point where an optional assignment almost has to be considered as a means of getting him back on track. He’s signed through the 2022 season but has yet to consistently produce at the big league level. He had a similar run of poor results in 2018 before snapping out of his slump and catching fire for much of the summer, and some work in the minors could help to clear his head and point him in that direction. Mazara likely has a longer leash given his more consistent track record and the need to evaluate him heading into his next arbitration raise. Even if the organization decides it best to shop Mazara this winter, demoting him would tank his trade value, so it seems best to allow him to continue trying to sort things out at the MLB level. It’s worth noting, of course, that as of this writing both Mazara and Odor have a pair of hits in tonight’s game.
Shelby Miller’s hold on a spot in the rotation would appear to be tenuous, at best. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote yesterday that the organization’s plan was to keep Miller in the rotation but cap him at 70 pitches per start, but he wasn’t even able to last that long in tonight’s outing against the Royals. Kansas City jumped all over Miller on Tuesday, clobbering him for eight runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout in just 1 2/3 innings. Grant tweeted shortly thereafter that Miller seemed likely to be moved to the bullpen in favor of the younger Ariel Jurado, who has a 3.57 ERA through 22 2/3 innings in Triple-A and has fired off 9 2/3 scoreless innings out of the big league bullpen. Texas signed the 28-year-old Miller to a one-year deal this offseason in hopes that he could rebuild some stock and perhaps turn himself into a trade chip, but he’s allowed 31 earned runs in 29 1/3 innings with more walks allowed (23) than strikeouts recorded (20).

Pitching Notes: E. Santana, Hellickson, Mariners, Red Sox, Rangers

By Connor Byrne | March 18, 2018 at 11:07am CDT

Twins right-hander Ervin Santana underwent surgery on his right middle finger nearly six weeks ago, on Feb. 6. He’s still unable to grip a baseball in the wake of the procedure, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. Santana won’t be able to start a throwing program for as long as that’s the case, which could put his 10- to 12-week recovery timeline in jeopardy. Asked whether he’s still on track to return on schedule, Santana said: “I don’t know. They didn’t say a specific time, but for me I just want to come back when everything is 100 percent. I don’t want to rush anything.” The Twins are in much better shape than they were when Santana landed on the shelf, having since added Jake Odorizzi via trade with the Rays and Lance Lynn in free agency.

Righty Jeremy Hellickson languished on the open market from November until Friday, when he signed a minor league contract with the Nationals. Interest was otherwise hard to come by for Hellickson, even though he has enjoyed a decent career to this point and is fairly young (soon to be 31). “They were actually the first team that called,” Hellickson said of Washington (via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). “When Scott (Boras) told me the Nationals, I thought: ‘That’s a perfect situation.’“ Hellickson, who had been working out with other Boras clients before signing, noted that his first trip to free agency “wasn’t fun.” Now, he’s “excited” about his new team and hoping to win the fifth spot in its rotation.
Mariners righty Erasmo Ramirez has been down with a lat strain for nearly a month, and he might not be ready to return by April 11, when the team will first need a No. 5 starter, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. If Ramirez isn’t back by then – manager Scott Servais noted that an April 11 return “would be very aggressive” – the Mariners are likely to go with left-hander Ariel Miranda or righty Robert Whalen, Divish writes.
Red Sox reliever Bobby Poyner is “a legitimate candidate” to earn a roster spot, Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. The 25-year-old left-hander entered camp as a non-roster invitee, but he has since thrown 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball during spring action, which has put him “in the mix” for a big league role, according to manager Alex Cora. Poyner, whom the Red Sox selected in the 14th round of the 2015 draft, hasn’t even garnered any Triple-A experience to this point. He divided last season between High-A and Double-A, combining for a 1.49 ERA with 12.5 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 over 60 1/3 innings.
While it’s up in the air whether Poyner will be part of Boston’s season-opening bullpen, that’s not the case in regards t Craig Kimbrel. The closer has been away from the team since Feb. 28 because his 4-month-old daughter, Lydia, had heart surgery. Fortunately, she’s recovering well, relays the Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham, who adds that Cora expects Kimbrel to be ready for Opening Day. Kimbrel’s on his way to camp, where he’ll throw live batting practice Monday.
As expected, Rangers lefty pitching prospect Cole Ragans will undergo Tommy John surgery, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News was among those to report. And in further bad news for the Rangers’ prospect pool, righty Kyle Cody is dealing with elbow inflammation. Surgery may eventually be in the offing for him, Grant tweets. The 23-year-old Cody ranks as Texas’ No. 8 prospect at MLB.com.

AL Notes: Ohtani, Sipp, Red Sox, Rangers, Jays

By Connor Byrne | March 17, 2018 at 6:01pm CDT

While there have been questions over whether the Angels will demote Shohei Ohtani to the minors to begin the season, it seems they do plan to have him open 2018 in the majors, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. In terms of results, it hasn’t been a good spring for the 23-year-old Japanese phenom, who has yielded 15 earned runs against 25 outs as a pitcher and collected just two hits in 20 at-bats as a hitter. However, on the pitching side, Ohtani has struck out 19 batters and issued only three walks, which has encouraged the Angels, according to Fletcher. They’re also confident he’ll turn it around at the plate. “The track record gives us the confidence to move forward with him as a two-way player,” general manager Billy Eppler said.

West Notes: Greinke, Lopez, Padres, Lyles, Ragans

By Jeff Todd | March 17, 2018 at 1:00am CDT

It has been something of a trying spring for Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke. As Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes, the venerable starter is unlikely to be ready to take the ball on Opening Day — though that isn’t necessarily the primary concern for the organization. The more important consideration, surely, is to ensure that Greinke does not end up with a bigger problem after experiencing what the team is characterizing as minor groin tightness. Greinke was already laboring with sluggish fastball velocity, but it seems the team is generally still optimistic that he’ll be at full strength for the bulk of the coming season.

Here’s more from out west:

The D-Backs are seeing renewed promise in young righty Yoan Lopez, Piecoro further writes. It’s an interesting look at the winding path that Lopez has taken since he signed a $8.25MM deal as an international free agent — a contract that cost the team double that amount and also put it in the penalty box for the ensuing two signing periods. The Cuban hurler pitched last year at the High-A level, allowing just three earned runs on 16 hits in 31 2/3 frames while recording a shiny 59:10 K/BB ratio. Beyond the results, Lopez has impressed with his stuff and a new attitude; it’ll certainly be interesting to see if he’s able to push for a chance at the majors at some point in the near future.
The Padres are no longer considering Jordan Lyles for their rotation, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets. The veteran righty could still earn a pen slot; given that the Padres promised him $1MM for the season in a deal that includes a 2019 option, it would seem they expected to carry him on the roster in some capacity. But the 27-year-old has been roughed up this spring and in his recent MLB seasons. By Cassavell’s reckoning, also via Twitter, that leaves the battle for the club’s final two starting jobs to veterans Tyson Ross and Chris Young along with younger hurlers Luis Perdomo and Robbie Erlin.
Rangers prospect Cole Ragans is slated for an elbow MRI, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was among those to tweet. That’s certainly not the news the organization was hoping for at this stage of camp for a player who was taken 30th overall in the 2016 draft. The southpaw is still nowhere near the majors, having spent last season at the low A level, but he’s seen as a high-ceiling prospect and the Rangers are surely hoping to see him turn in a full season of development. Ragans racked up 87 strikeouts (but also 35 walks) in his 57 1/3 innings last year, ending the season with a 3.61 ERA. For now, it’s just a situation to monitor.

Rangers Sign Top Picks Ragans, Speas, Enright

By Steve Adams | June 14, 2016 at 4:14pm CDT

4:12pm: Second-rounder Alex Speas and third-rounder Kole Enright are also under contract, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. Speas gets an at-slot bonus of $1,024,900, while Enright lands just over his pick’s allocation at $675K.

11:59am: The Rangers announced today that they’ve agreed to terms with first-round pick (No. 30 overall) Cole Ragans and will formally announce him at a 3pm CT press conference. The Rangers added that they will announce the signing of several other top draft picks at the presser, though they did not disclose names. Devan Fink first tweeted that Ragans signed at slot value ($2.003,400), and MLB.com’s Jim Callis hears the same (Twitter link), noting that the prep lefty out of Florida has three solid pitches in his arsenal already.

Ragans rated 49th on MLB.com’s list of Top 200 draft prospects, while ESPN’s Keith Law and Baseball America each rated him 55th overall. Callis and Jonathan Mayo note in their scouting report for MLB.com that each of Ragans’ fastball, curveball and changeup can be a tick above average and give the 6’3″, 190-pounder credit for pitchability and a projectable frame. Eric Longenhagen’s scouting report at ESPN.com notes that his changeup has become an increasingly projectable offering that many scouts believe will ultimately be his best weapon, but his curve is thrown too slow to project to more than average. BA, on the other hand, feels the curve is his best offspeed pitch and projects the changeup at average down the line.

At $5,358,500, Texas has one of the smallest bonus pools in the league, having forfeited its first-round pick to sign Ian Desmond. A comp pick of their own for the loss of Yovani Gallardo, though, gave the Rangers this No. 30 selection that was used to add Ragans. The Rangers have about $3.35MM to sign their remaining selections.

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