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Spencer Patton

Rangers Release Spencer Patton

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The Rangers released righty Spencer Patton from their Triple-A affiliate, MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry tweets. He’s a free agent who can now sign with any other club.

Patton, 34, made a return to the Majors in 2021 on the heels of a sharp four-year run in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he pitched to a 3.68 ERA over the life of 205 2/3 innings with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. He was a solid member of the Texas relief core last year, tossing 42 1/3 innings of 3.83 ERA ball with a strong 27.9% strikeout rate, an 8.7% walk rate and 41.3% grounder rate. Patton picked up his first two big league saves with the Rangers in 2021 and tacked on another 11 holds.

The 2022 season hasn’t gone as well, though Patton was mostly solid in seven big league frames back in April but missed several weeks with an oblique strain and was removed from the 40-man roster upon being activated from the injured list. The Rangers passed him through waivers back in May.

Patton yielded three runs on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts in the Majors earlier this year and, up until a week ago, was enjoying a fine season with Triple-A Round Rock. The right-hander worked to a 3.42 ERA with a 36-to-10 K/BB ratio through his first 26 1/3 innings in Triple-A but has unraveled in epic fashion over his past three appearances. Patton was shelled for six runs (four earned) in just an inning of work on Aug. 6 and has yielded another seven runs over his next two appearances. Overall, Patton has been rocked for 13 runs (11 earned) in his past three innings of Triple-A work.

That disastrous stretch has sent his Triple-A ERA soaring to 6.44 — nearly double the point at which it sat just 11 days ago. That said, there’s no indication of an injury, and Patton has performed at an otherwise solid level for the bulk of his time since returning from Japan. A team in need of some bullpen depth down the stretch could very well give him a look in the coming days in hopes of getting him back to his 2021 form.

Rangers Outright Spencer Patton To Triple-A

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The Rangers announced that right-hander Spencer Patton has been outrighted off the 40-man roster and assigned to Triple-A Round Rock.  Patton was designated for assignment earlier this week.

Now in his fifth MLB campaign, Patton has a 3.86 ERA and 52.6% grounder rate over seven innings this season, all in April.  He then missed just under three weeks on the injured list due to an oblique strain, and was assigned to Triple-A after his activation.

This is Patton’s second stint in Texas, as the 34-year-old broke into the big leagues with the Rangers in 2014-15.  An offseason trade to the Cubs saw Patton contribute 21 1/3 innings of 5.48 ball to the 2016 World Series champs, and that was also Patton’s last Major League experience prior to a four-year stretch in Nippon Professional Baseball.  Patton performed well with the Yokohama BayStars, as his 3.68 ERA over 205 2/3 relief innings in Japan caught the attention of big league scouts, and eventually led to the Rangers signing Patton to a split contract in February 2021.

The return to the majors was largely successful, as Patton had a 3.83 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate over 42 1/3 frames with Texas last season.  However, Patton has seemingly become an odd man out of the bullpen picture for now, though by passing through the waiver wire unclaimed, he’ll remain in the Rangers organization and wait for another call at some point this summer.

Giants Acquire Willie Calhoun From Rangers For Steven Duggar

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The Giants and Rangers have agreed to a swap of position players. The Rangers will send Willie Calhoun to the Giants in exchange for outfielder Steven Duggar, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Giants will also receive cash considerations from Texas, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).

San Francisco had a decision to make on Duggar, who needed to be added back to the 40-man roster after completing his rehab assignment. Calhoun himself just recently passed through waivers unclaimed.

The plan is for Duggar to join the active roster. The Rangers will designate Spencer Patton for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Duggar, per the team. They will need to make one more move to make room on the active roster for Duggar. Patton, 34, had made seven appearances for the Rangers, posting a 3.86 ERA/5.70 FIP across seven innings.

In Duggar, the Rangers are acquiring a player with more defensive utility than Calhoun, who never really found a defensive home. Duggar can play all three outfield spots. He had been on the injured list since April 21 with a strained oblique, however. He has appeared in each of the past five seasons for the Giants, accruing an overall line of .242/.297/.377 over 805 plate appearances with a too-high 29.4 percent strikeout rate and too-low 7.0 percent walk rate.

With Luis Gonzalez going on the injured list today, the Giants could easily have brought Duggar back to the Major League roster, so it’s interesting that they decided to move on. As a left-handed hitter, Duggar’s skill set doesn’t compliment the Giants’ current cohort of outfielders that includes Gonzalez, Joc Pederson, Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater, and LaMonte Wade Jr., who himself is almost ready to return from the injured list. Only Slater among that group bats right-handed.

Of course, Calhoun bats lefty as well, so he’s less of a fit acquisition and more of a rehabilitation project for the staff in Triple-A. Broadly speaking, the Giants work wonders finding roles for players who have been previously unable to find a defined role on a big-league club. Players like Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf, and Thairo Estrada are players that have found a home in San Francisco’s system. Calhoun has had his opportunities in the bigs, and while he’s no longer a prospect, the Giants are as promising a landing spot as a young vet like Calhoun can hope to find in this league. For now, the Giants can send him directly to Triple-A without adding him to their 40-man roster.

Rangers Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Rangers announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game. Right-handers Spencer Howard and Dennis Santana were reinstated from the injured list, with the latter coming off the Covid-IL. Fellow righty Spencer Patton will head onto the injured list with an oblique strain while yet another righty, Nick Snyder, was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.

Howard and Santana each went on the IL on April 14 and return after the 10-day minimum. Howard had a blister/cracked fingernail issue while Santana was on the Covid-IL after reportedly showing symptoms. He wasn’t counted against the club’s 40-man roster while he was out. Now that he’s returned, the club’s 40-man roster is again full. It was at 39 before today and a corresponding move won’t be necessary to bring Santana back.

As for Patton, it’s an unfortunate break after a decent start to his season. In seven innings out of the Rangers’ bullpen, he has a 3.86 ERA. His 17.2% strikeout rate is below average, but his 52.6% groundball rate is strong. The club didn’t provide a timeline on his absence, but oblique injuries are notoriously tricky and can often keep players sidelined for weeks or months.

Rangers To Place Jon Gray On IL With Blister

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Jon Gray developed a blister in last night’s season opening game against the Blue Jays. Though he initially said he expected to make his next start, the club will be placing him on the IL. Spencer Patton will be recalled to take his place on the roster. (Twitter links from Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News)

Gray was signed in the offseason to a four-year, $56MM deal to front a rotation that was otherwise composed of younger and less-experienced arms. Although this set back is unfortunate news for Rangers fans, there doesn’t seem to be much need for panic. As noted by Grant, the club has a few off-days coming up (on April 13th and 18th), meaning they won’t need a fifth starter until April 23rd, two weeks from now. After the shortened Spring Training following the lockout, certain rules have been changed for the start of the season. While the minimum length of stay on the injured list for pitchers and two-way players is increasing to 15 days this season, that won’t go into effect until May 2. From April 7 through May 1, pitchers and two-way players can be placed on the 10-day injured list. This move seems to merely be a precautionary one, using the gaps in the schedule and the temporary rule change as a way to make sure Gray can quickly heal up before the six-month grind that lies ahead.

Dane Dunning is on the hill today and will take up one rotation spot. Martin Perez, who was also signed in the offseason to add some veteran presence, should have another. Taylor Hearn and Spencer Howard should have the final two slots.

As for Patton, the 34-year-old returned to MLB last year after a four-year stint in Japan. In 42 1/3 innings for the Rangers last year, he put up an ERA of 3.83 with a 27.9% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

Rangers Notes: Patton, Hernandez, Engler

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Spencer Patton’s successful return to the Majors in 2021 flew somewhat under the radar, but the 34-year-old righty emerged as a key reliever for the Rangers, pitching to a 3.83 ERA with a 27.9% strikeout rate, an 8.7% walk rate and a 41.3% ground-ball rate in 42 1/3 innings of work. That came on the heels of a strong four-year run with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan and marked Patton’s first big league action since a 2016 run with the Cubs. Prior to this past season, Patton carried a 6.26 ERA in 54 2/3 big league frames.

He’s not yet arbitration eligible, but the contract Patton signed upon returning from Japan calls for him to earn a $1.5MM salary in the Majors this year, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. It’s a split contract, so he’d earn at a different rate in the minors in the event Texas options him out. (Patton does have one minor league option remaining.) The Rangers may yet add to the bullpen after the lockout lifts, but Patton has likely solidified on the Rangers’ Opening Day roster, barring injury or something unforeseen in whatever iteration of Spring Training is pieced together. Patton, Joe Barlow, Brett Martin and Josh Sborz all look like they have the inside track on Opening Day bullpen jobs, and the Rangers will hope to get hard-throwing righties Jose Leclerc and Jonathan Hernandez back from Tommy John surgery before too long, as well.

Some more notes on the Rangers…

  • Speaking of Hernandez, the right-hander tweeted last week that he’s begun throwing off a mound for the first time since undergoing that Tommy John procedure. Hernandez sustained what was described as a “low-grade” tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow early in 2021 Spring Training and was shut down for a four-week period of rest. Doctors seemingly didn’t see enough improvement following that shutdown, as he underwent surgery on April 12 of last year. The 25-year-old Hernandez had a big showing with Texas during the shortened 2020 season, pitching to a 2.90 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 45.7% grounder rate in 31 innings. Hernandez averaged 96.7 mph on his heater that summer and posted a strong 13.9% swinging-strike rate as well. He’s had trouble with command in the past, particularly in 2019 when he walked one of every six hitters he faced in his big league debut (16 2/3 innings). He pairs that power fastball with a plus slider, however, and if he can sustain the improved command he showed in 2020, he’d quickly emerge as a high-end bullpen piece for manager Chris Woodward.
  • One name who might’ve emerged in the bullpen mix, Scott Engler, won’t be pitching at all in 2022, tweets Jeff Wilson. The 25-year-old righty underwent Tommy John surgery on Monday this week, ruling him out of the team’s immediate plans. A 16th-round pick in 2016, Engler split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching to a combined 3.71 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate, a 10.6% walk rate and a 48.5% ground-ball rate. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote last May that Engler has a plus splitter with so much drop that it can at times be mistaken for a curveball. The surgery figures to sideline Engler into the early stages of the 2023 season, but based on his upper-level experience and relative success, he could find himself in the bullpen mix next year.

Rangers Place Ian Kennedy On Injured List, Select Spencer Patton

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The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve placed right-hander Ian Kennedy on the 10-day injured list due to a “mild” hamstring strain and selected the contract of right-hander Spencer Patton from Triple-A Round Rock in his place. Texas already had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so an additional corresponding move is not necessary. Patton will be in the club’s bullpen for today’s game.

Kennedy, 36, has proven to be one of the best minor league signings in all of baseball this season. He inked a non-guaranteed pact with an invite to Spring Training and parlayed a strong showing there into a $2.15MM base salary. He’s not only justified that modest investment, he’s thrived as one of the game’s more effective late-inning relievers. Kennedy has pitched 21 1/3 innings and racked up 12 saves to go along with a 2.53 ERA, a hefty 29.8 percent strikeout rate and a tidy 8.3 percent walk rate.

That standout performance, coupled with a generally poor performance from the team as a whole, makes Kennedy one of the most obvious trade candidates on this summer’s market. Texas has dropped nine of its past ten games, falling to 16 games south of the .500 mark and 13 games back of the division-leading Athletics. As such, it’s good news for the Rangers that Kennedy is dealing with only a “mild” strain. While a timeline for his return wasn’t provided, the mild nature of the injury should allow him to return long before the July 30 trade deadline.

As for Patton, today’s promotion will mark the culmination of a nearly five-year journey back to the big leagues. A 24th-round pick of the Royals back in 2011, Patton made his MLB debut as a Ranger in 2014 and spent parts of the next three seasons as an up-and-down member of the bullpen for both the Rangers and Cubs.

From there, Patton went on to spend four seasons pitching with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The righty was one of NPB’s best relievers in 2017-18 before struggling, in part due to injury, in 2019-20. Even with the downturn in his final two years in Japan, however, Patton’s overall NPB track record was strong: 205 2/3 innings of 3.68 ERA ball with a 27.4 percent strikeout rate against a 9.5 percent walk rate.

Patton returned to the Rangers on a minor league deal of his own this winter, and he’s fired off 12 scoreless innings to begin his season in Round Rock. He’s walked six hitters, which clearly isn’t ideal, but has also yielded only six hits and whiffed a dozen of the 45 batters he’s faced. He’ll now get the chance to prove that the gains he appeared to make in NPB are sustainable here at the game’s top level in North America. Patton turned 33 back in February, so if he is indeed able to replicate his NPB success here in MLB, he could have several years remaining as a productive, late-inning reliever — be it with the Rangers or with another club.

Rangers Sign Spencer Patton To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have signed right-hander Spencer Patton to a minor league contract, the team announced. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.

This will be the second Rangers stint for Patton, who pitched with the organization from 2014-15. Patton was most recently in the majors in 2016 as a member of the Cubs. In all, he has pitched to a 6.26 ERA/3.89 SIERA with a 23.7 percent strikeout rate and an 11.4 percent walk rate in 54 2/3 innings at the sport’s highest level.

After struggling in the bigs, Patton went to Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he spent the previous four seasons with the Yokohama BayStars. The 32-year-old put up a 3.68 ERA across 205 2/3 innings in Japan, and though he managed a much less impressive 4.92 mark in 2020, he did lead his league with 57 appearances. Patton then garnered interest from various MLB and NPB teams before choosing to return to the Rangers.

Quick Hits: Indians, Payroll, Patton, Nationals, Catchers

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The Indians did not budget enough money in 2021 to both re-sign Cesar Hernandez and add free agent Eddie Rosario. With those two completing the lineup, the Indians’ roster is more-or-less set with a payroll around $50MM, per Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. Take this for what it is, but the Indians exceeded payroll just to get there. Owner Paul Dolan made an extra concession to allow the addition of Rosario. To their credit, he represents a somewhat major addition given their inability to field above-average offensive outfielders. Over the last two seasons, Rosario slashed .271/.305/.494 with 45 home runs over 821 plate appearances, good for a modest 105 wRC+. That Nolan was willing to stretch the payroll speaks volumes about how the Indians value Rosario’s fit in the lineup.

  • Spencer Patton is throwing an improved change-up with the hopes of bringing three viable pitches out of the bullpen, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The 32-year-old right-hander led Nippon Professional Baseball with 57 appearances last season, which is no small feat to MLB teams aware of the perils in ramping up pitcher workloads in 2021. Patton’s numbers from Japan won’t blow you away, however, with a 4.92 ERA, respectable 28.1 percent strikeout rate, and slightly-concerning 11.7 percent walk rate. Patton will throw for teams again on February 2nd, with the Braves, Rays, Angels, Royals, Rangers, and Giants being among the teams to have shown some interest thus far.
  • Pitching has long been the focus for the Nationals organization, but at the same time, they’ve lagged behind in the catching department, writes MASNSports.com’s Mark Zuckerman. Pedro Severino is the most prolific homegrown catcher with 105 games played for the organization – though he didn’t break out until joining the Orioles. Raudy Read or Tres Barrera are next in line to have an opportunity, but the recent signing of Alex Avila suggests GM Mike Rizzo isn’t ready to give either one too long of a look out of the blocks. Both Barrera and Read have served PED suspensions in the past, however, and Welington Castillo will also be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Spencer Patton “Drawing Interest”

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Spencer Patton is drawing interest in free agency from MLB and NPB clubs, per MLB Insider Jon Morosi (via Twitter). The Rangers are at least one team that is said to be tracking the market for Patton.

Patton last appeared in the Majors making 16 appearances with the Cubs in 2016. Over 21 1/3 innings for the eventual World Series champs, Patton posted a 5.48 ERA/5.02 FIP with 9.3 K/9 to 5.9 BB/9. He spent the two years prior with the Rangers, for whom he made 36 appearances with a 6.75 ERA/4.54 FIP.

Players returning from overseas have become somewhat of a wild card in recent years, with a number of pitchers re-establishing themselves in the states after stints abroad. Pierce Johnson fit a similar mold last season. Fresh off a stellar season in Japan, Johnson signed a two-year deal worth $5MM guaranteed with the Padres. He delivered in 2020 with a 2.70 ERA/3.14 FIP across 20 innings.

Patton’s immediate numbers aren’t quite as impressive as Johnson’s were, but he nonetheless has been a productive contributor for the past four seasons in Japan. The 32-year-old posted a 4.92 ERA across 57 appearances totaling 53 innings as a reliever for the Yokohama Bay Stars. The right-hander spent four seasons with the Bay Stars with a 3.68 ERA across 205 2/3 innings with 10.6 K/9 to 3.7 BB/9.

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