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Jonathan Ornelas

Braves Place Austin Riley On Injured List

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The Braves have placed third baseman Austin Riley on the 10-day injured list due to an abdominal strain, per a team announcement. Atlanta also optioned outfielder Jarred Kelenic to Triple-A Gwinnett. In place of Riley and Kelenic, infielders Nacho Alvarez Jr. and Jonathan Ornelas were recalled from Gwinnett.

Riley, 28, missed about two weeks with an abdominal strain last month as well. He was only reinstated from the injured list on July 25. It’ll go down as a fleeting return — and one in which Riley didn’t really look right. He belted two homers between his IL stints, granted, but those were two of just four hits in a total of 39 plate appearances. Riley hit .108/.154/.297 and punched out 15 times (38.5%) before returning to the injured list.

It’s been a down year overall for Riley. His .260/.309/.428 batting line (104 wRC+) is solid enough but is also his least-productive run since a midseason debut in 2019 and the shortened 2020 season. Riley’s walk and strikeout rates are both the worst of his career in a full 162-game season (6% and 28.6%, respectively), and this year’s .168 ISO (slugging minus batting average) is his worst in any season at the major league level.

The team didn’t provide a timetable for Riley’s potential return. It’s common in situations like this, where a player heads back to the IL for the same injury after a brief return, for the second stint to be longer and a bit more cautious. Each injury is a situation unto itself, however. Manager Brian Snitker will presumably have more information the next time he meets with the media.

Kelenic, 26, only appeared in one game during this stint with the Braves and didn’t log a plate appearance. He was used as a pinch-runner. Atlanta optioned the struggling former top prospect to Gwinnett in mid-April after he opened the season with a bleak .167/.231/.300 batting line in his first 65 plate appearances. Things haven’t gone much better in Triple-A, where he’s taken 308 plate appearances and delivered just a .218/.289/.321 slash with a 27.3% strikeout rate. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for a second time this winter and, at this point, stands as a clear non-tender candidate.

Alvarez has spent most of the season nursing a wrist injury. He’s struggled in 32 big league plate appearances but been an on-base machine in a small sample of 84 trips to the plate in Gwinnett (.242/.405/.333). He’s still looking to break through with a full-time role in Atlanta after ranking among the system’s more promising minor leaguers for several years now.

Ornelas will be making his Braves debut the first time he takes the field. Atlanta picked him up in a cash swap with the Rangers back in May after Texas had designated the 25-year-old for assignment. He’s a righty-swinging infielder with experience at second, third and shortstop. Ornelas has batted only .184/.245/.224 in a tiny sample of 54 MLB plate appearances across three seasons with the Rangers. He’s a good runner with a solid glove who’s light on power. In 319 turns at the plate between the Triple-A clubs for Texas and Atlanta this season, he’s turned in a tepid .202/.320/.300 batting line.

Rangers Trade Jonathan Ornelas To Braves

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The Rangers announced the trade of infielder Jonathan Ornelas to the Braves for cash considerations. Texas had designated him for assignment earlier this week when they claimed Michael Helman off waivers from Pittsburgh. Atlanta already had an opening on the 40-man roster after yesterday’s DFA of Orlando Arcia. They optioned Ornelas to Triple-A Gwinnett, so no further move is necessary.

Ornelas changes organizations for the first time. Texas drafted him out of high school in the third round in 2018. He has never been a great minor league hitter, but he’s a versatile defender with enough athleticism and arm strength to play on the left side of the infield. Texas added him to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft after the 2022 season. That followed a career-best .299/.360/.425 showing as a 22-year-old in Double-A.

The right-handed hitter hasn’t matched that production since moving up to Triple-A. He’s a career .247/.348/.333 hitter in more than 1000 plate appearances over three seasons at the top minor league level. That includes a .204/.339/.235 start through 30 games this year. He has appeared in 30 MLB contests over a handful of stints going back to 2023. Ornelas has hit .184 without a home run while striking out 20 times in 54 big league plate appearances.

Atlanta has limited roster flexibility on the position player side. The only hitters on the active roster who have minor league options are Michael Harris II and rookie catcher Drake Baldwin, neither of whom is in danger of getting sent down. Luke Williams projects as the backup infielder now that they’ve moved on from Arcia.

Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relayed yesterday that Eli White will take pregame infield reps to offer more flexibility off the bench. Ornelas, who is in his final option year, can spend the remainder of the season in Gwinnett as an alternative to the out-of-options Williams and White if the Braves decide to make any changes.

Rangers Claim Michael Helman, Designate Jonathan Ornelas

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The Rangers announced that they have claimed infielder Michael Helman off waivers from the Pirates and optioned him to Triple-A Round Rock. The Bucs designated him for assignment last week. To open a roster spot for Helman, the Rangers designated infielder Jonathan Ornelas for assignment.

It’s the second waiver claim in a week for Helman. The Pirates claimed him from the Cardinals on May 14th but designated him for assignment two days later when they called up Nick Solak. Perhaps the Bucs were hoping to pass Helman through waivers and keep him as non-roster depth, but the Rangers have swooped in to prevent that from happening.

Helman, who turns 29 on Friday, has a very limited big league track record. It consists of ten plate appearances with the Twins last year. He got three hits but also struck out three times. The Twins traded him to the Cardinals for cash in February.

The Rangers are presumably more interested in his minor league work, which naturally provides a larger data sample. Over 2023 and 2024, Helman stepped to the plate 480 times in the minors. He hit 21 home runs and hit a combined .282/.356/.507 for a 121 wRC+. In addition to that offense, Helman has played every position outside of the battery in his minor league career, meaning he provides lots of defensive versatility.

His 2025 hasn’t gone well so far. He produced a .185/.260/.292 line over 73 Triple-A plate appearances. Perhaps that’s why the Cards and Pirates each took a chance at trying to run him through waivers, but without success. The Rangers will send him to Round Rock and see if his bat can bounce back. He has a full slate of options, so they can theoretically afford to be patient with him if he continues hanging onto his 40-man spot.

Ornelas, who turns 25 next Monday, is in a different position. Though he’s far younger than Helman, he is in his final option year. The Rangers added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2022 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

He had put up some decent numbers in the lower levels of the minors but hasn’t done much at the upper levels or in the majors. He has 54 big league plate appearances so far with a 37% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and .184/.245/.224 batting line in those. Since the start of 2023, he has 1,006 Triple-A plate appearances with a .247/.348/.333 line and 78 wRC+.

Given that performance and the fact that he’ll be out of options next year, it was going to be hard for him to cling to a roster spot going forward, so the Rangers have swapped him out now for Helman. Ornelas will be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Rangers could spend five days trying to trade him. He has stolen a few bases in the minors and bounced around the diamond. He has played the three infield positions to the left of first base and all three outfield spots.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Rangers Activate Corey Seager, Outright Dane Dunning

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The Rangers announced this afternoon that they’ve activated star shortstop Corey Seager from the injured list. Jonathan Ornelas was optioned to Triple-A in order to make room for Seager’s return to the roster. In addition, the Rangers announced the righty Dane Dunning has cleared waivers and been given an outright assignment to Triple-A.

Seager, 31, was shelved with a hamstring strain on April 23 and returns after a minimum stay on the IL. For the time being, however, he’s in the lineup at DH with Josh Smith continuing to cover shortstop for Seager. That seems to suggest that Seager is healthy enough to hit at this point but not fully recovered from his hamstring strain, so the Rangers are planning to be careful with him when it comes to fielding. Struggling DH Joc Pederson remains in the lineup today at first base, with newly-promoted first baseman Blaine Crim headed to the bench to make room for Seager. It’s unclear how long the Rangers intend to use Seager in a DH-only capacity, but for however long that lasts it seems Pederson and Crim will need to battle for playing time.

Regardless of how the first base situation plays out or when Seager returns to his short, his return is welcome news for a beleaguered Rangers lineup. Texas has sported one of the league’s weakest offenses this year thanks in large part to the struggles of Pederson, Marcus Semien, and Jake Burger. Seager’s recent absence didn’t help matters, and with him back in the lineup and Burger at Triple-A for a reset it’s possible the changes could help the club’s lineup get going. Seager’s trademark power hasn’t shown itself much so far this year, but the Rangers’ star hitter has still managed a 131 wRC+ while hitting .286/.345/.468 overall in 21 games this year.

Going to Triple-A to make room for Seager is Ornelas. The 24-year-old has been an up-and-down depth piece for the Rangers over the past three seasons and has appeared in just 30 MLB games total. A career .184/.245/.224 hitter in the microscopic sample, he went hitless in six plate appearances with a walk and three strikeouts during his brief time up with the big league club this year. He’ll head back to the team’s Round Rock affiliate and wait for his next opportunity, though his lackluster .146/.269/.146 slash line at Triple-A to open the year will need to improve in a big way for Ornelas to get a more serious look in the majors than his current role as an emergency depth piece.

As for Dunning, it’s the second time the right-hander has cleared waivers this year. He came up for a single three-inning appearance in the majors earlier this week but was cut from the roster immediately thereafter, leaving him to head back to the minors with a 6.00 ERA on the year. Dunning could theoretically choose to reject an outright assignment and test free agency, though in doing so he would forfeit the remainder of his $2.66MM salary this year. That makes the most likely outcome that Dunning will once again accept his outright assignment and pitch for Round Rock until he gets another opportunity in the majors.

Rangers Option Jake Burger

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May 2: The moves have now been officially announced by the Rangers. As reported, Crim has been selected and Ornelas recalled, with Ahmed designated for assignment and Burger optioned.

May 1: The Rangers are demoting Jake Burger to Triple-A, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. First baseman Blaine Crim will be promoted to the majors in his place, according to Rosenthal. Burger has one minor league option remaining, so the Rangers will not need to pass him through waivers in order to send him to Triple-A. Crim is not yet on the 40-man roster and will need to have his contract selected. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that the swap from Burger to Crim will be paired with the club designating shortstop Nick Ahmed for assignment to open up a 40-man roster spot for Crim. That will create a new vacancy on the roster’s bench, which Grant suggests could go to utility infielder Jonathan Ornelas.

According to Rosenthal, Burger’s demotion to the minor leagues could be a fairly short one. He reports that the Rangers’ plan is to allow Burger an opportunity to “reset” in the minor leagues before bringing him back up to the majors in the near future. At the very least, the 29-year-old will report to Round Rock for the next ten days before he can be considered for a return to the majors. That’s the minimum stay for a player optioned to the minor leagues before they can be promoted back to MLB.

Even a short stay in the minors demonstrates how difficult Burger’s start to his Rangers career has been. Acquired from the Marlins back in December in exchange for infield prospects Maximo Acosta and Echedry Vargas as well as pitching prospect Brayan Mendoza, Burger was brought in to replace Nathaniel Lowe at first base on the heels of a year-and-a-half stint with the Marlins where he slashed .265/.315/.472 with a 112 wRC+ across 190 games. Last year’s production was less impressive, however, as he posted a 106 wRC+ overall. While he slugged 29 homers in 137 games, he struck out in 25.9% of his plate appearances and got on base at a lackluster .301 clip. Still, it was an above-average profile overall and the power intrigued the Rangers enough to invest in the slugger, who will remain under team control for three more seasons after this one.

Burger is only 29 games into his career with the Rangers, but the early returns on that investment have not exactly impressed. In 105 plate appearances this year, Burger has hit just .186/.229/.330 with a well below-average wRC+ of just 55. He’s struck out at a worrisome 30.5% clip, walked in just 2.9% of his plate appearances, and has so far failed to generate the trademark power that has become his carrying tool over the years. That all came together to leave Burger with the fifth-worst season among qualified first basemen this year by wRC+ and the sixth-worst by fWAR. Perhaps a more successful team would be more willing to display patience with a newly-acquired player, but the Rangers are currently 16-16 and have fallen to fourth place in the AL West behind the Mariners, Astros, and Athletics.

Those woes can largely be attributed to a lackluster offense. There have been some major bright spots; Wyatt Langford is looking like a potential superstar, Jonah Heim, Josh Jung, and Josh Smith have all been impressive, and Corey Seager looks like his typical star-level self when healthy. Unfortunately, Seager is currently on the injured list and other key pieces of the offense expected to help carry the load in his absence like Marcus Semien, Joc Pederson, and Burger have been disappointing in the early going. Given the veteran statuses of Semien and Pederson, Burger was the only one of that struggling trio who could be optioned to the minors and therefore by far the easiest to remove from the lineup for a temporary reset.

That makes Burger’s demotion in some ways about circumstances as much as it’s about performance. After all, while Burger’s plate discipline numbers early in the season have been worrying as he’s made worse swing decisions while whiffing inside the strike zone more often as compared to last year, underlying metrics actually paint quite a rosy picture about his expected power production. The slugger’s 13.4% barrel rate is higher than last year, and the same can be said for a 49.3% hard-hit rate that actually matches his breakout 2023 season with the Marlins and White Sox. Combine Burger’s expected slugging percentage of .411 (more than 80 points higher than his actual production) and his artificially low .234 BABIP, and it’s easy to see how Burger could turn things around in relatively short order.

He’ll need to fight his way back up to the majors in order to do that, however. In the meantime, the Rangers will turn to well-regarded prospect Blaine Crim to handle first base. Crim is nearly 28 years old, making him older for a prospect, and he was drafted by the Rangers all the way back in 2019 during the 19th round of that year’s draft. Despite that age and lack of pedigree, Crim is now in his third consecutive season with impressive results at the Triple-A level, where he has a career .286/.373/.486 slash line across 308 games. Crim’s been even more impressive so far this year, with a .313/.365/.565 slash line across 126 plate appearances. If he can come up to the majors and prove he can hit at the highest level, it would hardly be a surprise to see Crim remain in the mix even after Burger returns to action. After all, Pederson typically sits against left-handed pitching, and a right-handed bat like Crim could offer the Rangers a solid platoon partner for their struggling slugger going forward.

As for Ahmed, the 35-year-old is now in his 12th season in the majors and has appeared in just four games for the Rangers this year. He’s yet to record a hit in eight trips to the plate this year but does have a walk and a run scored to go with three strikeouts. Assuming he does get designated for assignment to make room for Crim, the Rangers will have one week to either attempt to pass Ahmed through waivers or work out a trade sending him elsewhere. Should Ahmed clear waivers, he would then have the opportunity to either accept an outright assignment to the minor leagues or elect free agency instead.

Rangers Place Wyatt Langford On Injured List

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The Rangers announced Wednesday that outfielder Wyatt Langford has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right oblique strain. Additionally, infielder Jonathan Ornelas has been optioned to Round Rock. Utilityman Ezequiel Duran and outfielder Dustin Harris have been recalled in a pair of corresponding transactions. Duran was only optioned to Triple-A yesterday, but he can return in fewer than the minimum 10 days since he’s technically replacing the injured Langford on the roster.

The 23-year-old Langford is out to a fast start, clubbing four homers through his first dozen games while slashing .244/.333/.561 overall. The 2023 No. 4 overall pick’s bid to follow up on a strong rookie showing last year will be placed on hold for the next week-plus at the very least, however, with a chance that he’ll require a lengthier stay.

Every injury is different, but even many Grade 1 oblique strains (the most mild on a scale of one to three) can sideline a player for upwards of a month. Texas will hope Langford’s current oblique strain plays out similarly to the one he sustained on the other side of his body early in camp this year, when a mild left oblique strain required him to be out of games for only about two weeks.

With Langford shelved for the time being, his reps in left field will fall to a combination of Harris, Duran, Kevin Pillar and Josh Smith. Leody Taveras and Adolis Garcia remain on hand to man center field and right field, respectively.

Harris, 25, could get his first stretch of any real action in the majors following this promotion. He was briefly called up last year but only appeared in two games, going 2-for-6 with a homer. He has a decent track record at the plate in the upper minors but is widely considered a sub-par defender with no true home on the diamond.

The Rangers have given Harris a look at all three outfield spots this season, and he’s also spent ample time at every infield position other than shortstop. He’s a lefty hitter who could work his way into Bruce Bochy’s lineup at a variety of positions, but he’s generally blocked from any sort of long-term regular role in Texas. Jake Burger, Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Josh Jung have the infield locked down, while Langford, Taveras, Garcia and Evan Carter give him plenty of roadblocks in the outfield. Harris is out to a tough start in Triple-A this year but is a career .268/.361/.401 hitter in 894 plate appearances there (in addition to a .252/.358/.445 line in 660 Double-A plate appearances).

Rangers Place Josh Jung On Injured List

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The Rangers announced this afternoon that they’ve placed third baseman Josh Jung on the 10-day injured list due to neck spasms. The move is retroactive to March 29, meaning that Jung will first be eligible for activation on April 7. Infielder Jonathan Ornelas was recalled from the minors in a corresponding move.

It’s surely a frustrating turn of a events for Jung, as the 27-year-old was looking to get off to a strong start this year after having his 2024 season derailed by a fractured wrist on April 1 of last year. This year, he won’t even make it to April without being placed on the shelf. As worrisome a sign as that may be, all indications from team officials have suggested Jung’s current ailment is not a particularly serious one. As noted by Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News, manager Bruce Bochy indicated to reporters that he expects that Jung will require only a minimum stay on the injured list.

Jung’s latest trip to the injured list doesn’t seem to be especially indicative of the severity of his neck problem, as the club was viewing him as day-to-day as recently as yesterday (as noted by MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry). The decision to place Jung on the shelf, it seems stems not from Jung’s own injury but rather an issue utility man Josh Smith is suffering from. Smith was playing third base during yesterday’s game but, as noted by McFarland, left the game with a left quad contusion after colliding with the wall in foul territory. Smith is currently considered day-to-day, but is out of the lineup today due to the issue.

With both Jung and Smith down for the time being, the Rangers felt they needed additional conver on the infield, prompting them to place Jung on the shelf so they could bring Ornelas up to the majors. The 24-year-old has just 26 games under his belt in the majors over the past two years and offers little offensive upside, but is a strong defender all around the infield with the speed to steal 15 bases in a season. Ornelas can fill a utility role for the club while Ezequiel Duran and (when healthy enough to return to the lineup) Smith cover for Jung at first base.

Losing Jung, the club’s selection with the eighth-overall pick in the 2019 draft, stings for the lineup. The 27-year-old enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2023 where he was named an All-Star and finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. Since the start of that season, Jung has slashed a strong .267/.311/.454 across 170 games in the majors and was off to a hot start this year with three hits in his first seven at-bats. Fortunately, Smith should be a perfectly adequate replacement once he’s back in the lineup, as he had a breakout season of his own last year, hitting .258/.337/.394 in 592 trips to the plate while serving in a super-utility role. Smith’s versatility and solid bat even earned him the AL Silver Slugger award for utility players last year, and he figures to once again fill a similar role in 2025.

Rangers Make 11 Roster Moves

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5:33PM: Gray will miss roughly a month of action, Bochy told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (X link) and other reporters.

3:43PM: The Rangers announced a massive slate of roster moves this afternoon. Third baseman Josh Jung and left-hander Cody Bradford were each reinstated from the 60-day injured list while the club also recalled infielder Ezequiel Durán and righty Gerson Garabito.  To open roster spots for that quartet, right-hander Jon Gray was placed on the 15-day IL with a right groin strain, and Texas optioned three others to Triple-A — catcher Andrew Knizner, and infielders Justin Foscue and Jonathan Ornelas.  To open 40-man spots for Jung and Bradford, outfielder Evan Carter was transferred to the 60-day injured list and infielder Davis Wendzel was designated for assignment. Additionally, righty Austin Pruitt (who was on the 60-day IL) has been released.

Jung and Bradford are each set for their first MLB action since April, as Jung is returning from a complicated wrist surgery and Bradford was dealing with both a back strain and then a stress fracture in his rib.  Jung broke his wrist after being hit by a pitch in his fourth game of the season, while Bradford had an impressive 1.40 ERA in his first three starts (19 1/3 IP) before he was sidelined.

Emerging as the Rangers’ regular third baseman during his impressive rookie season, Jung helped the Rangers win last year’s World Series and was expected to continue developing in his sophomore year.  The good news for Texas is that Josh Smith’s strong work as the fill-in third baseman has helped the team make do in Jung’s absence, and with Jung now back, Smith can be bounced around the diamond to left field or DH so the Rangers can keep his bat in the lineup.

Despite Bradford’s great early numbers as a starter, the Rangers have already announced that he’ll return in a bullpen role.  Bradford was pressed into rotation duty at the start of the year due to the lengthy list of Texas pitchers on the IL, but with many of those arms now back, the Rangers find themselves with a pitching surplus on paper if everyone is healthy.  To this end, the club felt comfortable enough to subtract from this depth by trading Michael Lorenzen to the Royals.

However, the injury bug bit again yesterday when Gray injured his groin while warming up for his scheduled start against the Blue Jays.  Gray departed without throwing a pitch, and the right-hander will be out for at least the next 15 days.  Bradford has only worked as a multi-inning reliever during his rehab assignment and isn’t fully stretched out to start, but the Rangers have an off-day on Thursday and Tyler Mahle is on the verge of his own return from the IL, so Mahle seems the likeliest candidate to take Gray’s spot in the rotation in a week’s time.

This is Gray’s second groin-related IL stint this season, as he missed a couple of weeks in May and June with his previous injury.  When healthy, the righty has a 3.73 ERA and an impressive 5.8% walk rate over 94 innings, though he has allowed a lot of hard contact and his 19.7% strikeout rate is the lowest of his career over a full season.

Carter hasn’t played May 26 due to a lumbar sprain in his back, so he could technically return at any time since he has already missed over 60 days.  However, manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com and other media that Carter is set to visit a back specialist to explore some recurring soreness, and the Rangers have shut the outfielder down from the baseball activities Carter was taking part in prior to this recent development.

More will be known once Carter sees the specialist, but it’s obviously a concern that that the 21-year-old doesn’t appear to be any closer to a return.  Carter’s huge numbers after his Major League debut late last season and through the postseason provided the Rangers with a huge spark on their route to the championship, but with his bad back hampering him this year, Carter has hit only .188/.272/.361 in his first 162 PA of the 2024 campaign.

Pruitt signed a minors deal with Texas during the offseason, and that contract was selected to the active roster in April.  Pruitt appeared in only four games before a right meniscus injury sent him to the 15-day IL and then the 60-day IL.  He has spent the last month rehabbing in the minors and was at the end of the 30-day window for minor league rehab assignments, so the Rangers opted to release the righty rather than bring him back to the 26-man roster.  A veteran of seven MLB seasons, Pruitt will hit the open market again, though it might not be a surprise to see him re-sign with Texas pretty quickly on a fresh minor league deal.

Wendzel was selected 41st overall by the Rangers in the 2019 draft, and he made his big league debut this season the form of 27 games and 49 plate appearances.  He saw some work at third base during Jung’s IL stint, but Wendzel mostly came off the bench, and he hit just .128/.163/.234 in his first look at MLB pitching.

The 27-year-old has hit well at Triple-A over the last two seasons, including a 30-homer campaign for Round Rock in 2023.  Wendzel has mostly played third base and shortstop during his minor league career with a few other looks at the other two infield spots and in left field, so between this defensive versatility and his Triple-A numbers, he might be a candidate to be claimed by a team in need of infield depth.

Rangers Place Dane Dunning On Injured List

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1:45pm: The Rangers have now made it official, announcing Dunning’s injury as a right rotator cuff strain. White was recalled and Leiter was added as the 27th man, as expected. They also activated outfielder Robbie Grossman, who they acquired from the White Sox earlier today, while optioning infielder Jonathan Ornelas.

1:30pm: The Rangers are going to place right-hander Dane Dunning on the 15-day injured list due to a shoulder issue, manager Bruce Bochy tells Kennedi Landry of MLB.com, who relayed the info on X.

It’s unclear how long the Rangers expect Dunning to be out of action, but it’s an unfortunate development for the team regardless as their rotation depth has been continually thinned out this year. The club knew that Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle wouldn’t be available in the first half, as both of them underwent Tommy John surgery last year. Then Max Scherzer required back surgery in the offseason, which was going to force him to miss some time as well.

Last week, Nathan Eovaldi landed on the IL due to a groin strain Cody Bradford due to a rib stress fracture. Now Dunning will follow him due to this shoulder issue. Between those two, Scherzer, deGrom and Mahle, they have a full rotation on the injured list at the moment.

That leaves Jon Gray, Michael Lorenzen and Andrew Heaney as the healthy core of the starting staff at the moment. José Ureña had been working out of the bullpen but started yesterday and threw five innings against the A’s.

The club has a double-header today, with Lorenzen taking the ball for the first contest. Jack Leiter is planned for the “27th man” and the starter for the second game, though Owen White is coming up as well, per Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today. White will seemingly be the corresponding move for Dunning’s IL placement.

With Dunning now on the shelf, the Rangers will have to decide on how they want to structure the back end of their rotation, with Ureña, White and Leiter presumably in contention for the two spots behind Gray, Lorenzen and Heaney.

Ureña has a 3.86 earned run average this year but, as mentioned, most of that has come out of the bullpen. He had a 6.45 ERA in ten starts last year and hasn’t posted an ERA below 5.00 since 2018. Leiter first major league start didn’t go especially well, with seven earned runs allowed in 3 2/3 innings. He has struck out 37% of Triple-A batters faced this year but also allowed six home runs in just 25 1/3 innings. White allowed five earned runs in four big league innings last year and currently has a 5.70 ERA in Triple-A this year.

Scherzer once seemed to be on track to return in early May but that plan has hit a snag. It was reported a week ago that he experienced some thumb soreness while on a rehab assignment and was going to be shut down for a bit. General manager Chris Young said today that Scherzer won’t throw again until the soreness is completely gone, per Wilson on X.

His rehab outing was on April 24, so he’s now two weeks removed from that. The longer his current shutdown lasts will presumably require more of a ramp-up once he is able to get back on track. As of now, that leaves him a question mark until there’s progress with the thumb soreness.

All that points to the Rangers cobbling a rotation together for a bit, until Eovaldi or Dunning are able to rejoin the mix. Despite the rotation challenges, the Rangers are 21-16 and half a game ahead of the Mariners for the division lead in the American League West.

Rangers To Promote Jonathan Ornelas

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The Rangers will call up infielder Jonathan Ornelas from Triple-A prior to Monday’s game with the Athletics, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (Twitter link).  Ornelas will take the roster spot of Josh Jung, as the third baseman is headed for the 10-day injured list after suffering a fractured thumb in today’s 6-0 win over the Marlins.  It will mark the Major League debut for the 23-year-old Ornelas whenever he makes his first in-game appearance.

Ornelas is already on the Rangers’ 40-man roster, as Texas added him last winter in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.  A third-round pick for the Rangers in the 2018 draft, Ornelas has displayed some good on-base numbers over the last two seasons in the minors, though his overall hitting profile has yet to truly develop, given his .250/.360/.348 slash line over 398 plate appearances at Triple-A this season.

This hitting potential ranks as the biggest question for MLB Pipeline (who rank Ornelas as the 14th-best prospect in the Rangers’ farm system) and Baseball America (28th).  As BA’s scouting report puts it, Ornelas is “an extremely aggressive hitter who has below-average swing decisions and pitch recognition.”  His hard-contact abilities are muted by his inconsistency at keeping those hard-hit balls off the ground, though he has enjoyed some high BABIPs during his minor league career.  As for fielding, Baseball America gave Ornelas a modest 45 on the 20-80 scouting scale, while Pipeline was notably higher with a 60-grade for his glovework, describing Ornelas as a good utility infield candidate whose ultimate MLB future will be determined by how well he can fare at the plate.

Ornelas has mostly played shortstop in the minors, also garnering a good amount of time at second base, third base, and center field.  This ability to play shortstop might be why Texas opted to promote Ornelas, as beyond Jung’s injury, Corey Seager is not yet entirely recovered from a recent thumb sprain that resulted in an IL trip.  Seager didn’t play today and manager Bruce Bochy told the Associated Press and other reporters that Seager may also sit out Monday’s game for additional rest.

Ezequiel Duran is the first-choice substitute at shortstop if Seager isn’t in the lineup, but Duran and Josh H. Smith now also figure to split duties at third base in Jung’s absence.  With utilityman Brad Miller also on the IL recovering from a hamstring strain, Ornelas will provide the Rangers with another multi-positional depth option as they figure out how to both fill Jung’s spot and manage Seager’s health.

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