Texas Rangers Sign Former A's Reliever
The Texas Rangers have signed right-handed reliever Austin Pruitt to a minor-league deal, per Evan Grant. Pruitt will be a non-roster invitee.
The 34-year-old spent the past two seasons with the Oakland A's, tossing a combined 103 2/3 innings with a 3.65 ERA, including a 2.98 ERA in 2023 with a 1.159 WHIP. Pruitt has always had solid command, walking just 2.3 per nine over his six-year career that also includes stops with the Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros and Miami Marlins.
Pruitt had also signed a minor league deal with the A's last off-season and ended up spending most of the year operating out of the big-league bullpen. He's a good arm to have.
Back in 2022, he was also called upon to make a spot start in September against the red-hot Chicago White Sox. With little notice he'd be asked to go a few innings, he ended up tossing five perfect frames with two strikeouts. He has been used in a variety of roles for the A's, and has done a fairly good job in all of them.
While he didn't accumulate enough innings last season to be considered a qualified pitcher, there was a lot of red on his Baseball Savant page, including his BB%, Barrel% and Hard Hit%.
Pruitt was born in Plano, TX and attended the University of Houston before being selected by the Rays back in 2013.
While there isn't necessarily a clear path to the Rangers' roster for Pruitt in the bullpen, he does offer enough experience and upside that he should get a look at some point when the team needs a fresh arm, or in the case of an injury. He's not the type of pitcher that will blow hitters away with his stuff, but he limits hard contact and makes batters swing. This is a solid low-risk signing for Texas.