The Rangers introduced this morning that they’ve recalled righty Winston Santos from Double-A Frisco. Fellow right-hander Jose Corniell was optioned to Triple-A Spherical Rock to open a spot on the lively roster. It’ll be Santos’ main league debut the primary time he takes the mound.
Santos entered the season ranked seventh amongst Rangers farmhands over at Baseball America. He’s at present fifth within the system at MLB.com and FanGraphs and sits fourth on Kiley McDaniel’s June replace of Texas’ system over at ESPN.
It’s been a troublesome season in Double-A for the 24-year-old Santos, who missed practically the entire 2025 season on account of a stress response in his again. He additionally missed time early this season after sustaining a fracture in his left (non-pitching) hand when he was hit by a comebacker in spring coaching.
Santos’ return from that pair of accidents has seen him take the ball 11 occasions (all begins) however final solely 42 1/3 innings. He’s recorded an unpleasant 7.44 ERA in that point. Santos has punched out a hefty 29.1% of his opponents, however he’s issued walks at a subpar 10.6% clip and been exorbitantly homer-prone; opponents have dinged him for 10 homers in these 42 1/3 innings — a mean of two.13 round-trippers per 9 innings pitched. A mammoth 25.6% homer-to-flyball price and a equally outlandish .411 common on balls in play have led to a 4.37 xFIP that’s greater than three runs south of his precise ERA.
Listed at simply 6’0″ and 160 kilos, Santos is of slighter body than a typical right-handed starter however nonetheless drew reward as a possible midrotation arm again in 2024. That season, the Domincan-born hurler tossed 110 1/3 innings with a 3.67 ERA, 30.1% strikeout price and seven.4% stroll price between Excessive-A and Double-A. As is commonly the case for “undersized” righties, he’s sometimes been an excessive fly-ball pitcher, though this 12 months he’s turned in a 46% ground-ball price that’s each larger than the MLB common (42%) and a career-high by a large margin.
The Rangers successfully used a bullpen recreation yesterday in opposition to the Marlins. Cal Quantrill began and tossed 34 pitches over two innings. Corniell adopted with 69 pitches over 3 1/3 frames, and Joe Ross dealt with the ultimate 2 2/3 innings, tossing 30 pitches within the course of. That presumably takes all three off the desk for at the moment’s day recreation in opposition to Miami. Corniell is the one certainly one of that trio who may be optioned, so he’s been shipped out in favor of a properly rested contemporary arm in Santos.
Texas sends Jacob deGrom to the mound for at the moment’s collection finale in opposition to the Fish. It’s hardly a assure that Santos will get into the sport for his debut, and it’s possible that the Rangers may ship Santos again to the minors earlier than he even steps onto a giant league mound in a recreation setting. Santos was the one choice on the 40-man roster who’s wholesome, rested and stretched out for any actual size, nonetheless.
Wanting extra broadly on the Texas pitching workers, there’s a possibility for Santos or one other younger arm to assert a spot within the main league rotation following Jack Leiter‘s ankle surgical procedure. Yesterday was Leiter’s spot within the rotation, so there’s no quick want for somebody to step in. DeGrom will take the ball at the moment and be adopted by MacKenzie Gore tomorrow, Nathan Eovaldi on Friday and Kumar Rocker on Saturday. Texas may proceed stretching Quantrill or Ross out in Sunday’s recreation, but when Santos sticks on the roster and hasn’t been utilized in lengthy aid, it’s at the very least doable he may get the nod in what would have been Leiter’s subsequent flip.
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery started a minor league rehab project just a few days in the past however is probably going a number of weeks away from being an choice. He may ultimately step into Leiter’s spot, however Texas additionally figures to discover the commerce marketplace for extra beginning pitching assist. They’re three video games below .500 however simply two and a half again within the AL West and just one down within the American League Wild Card chase.
