Rangers Rookie to Start at Astros
The Texas Rangers are expected to activate rookie Cole Ragans on Wednesday and start him in the series finale against the Houston Astros at 7:10 p.m. at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Ragans has been on the 15-day injured list since Aug. 26 (retroactive to Aug. 23) with a left calf strain. Wednesday is the first day he is eligible to be activated.
Ragans’ return to the rotation is opportune. With Ragans on the IL, the Rangers were down three starting pitchers, along with Spencer Howard and Jon Gray. Martin Perez has been the Rangers’ top pitcher all season, while Glenn Otto has found some consistency in the last month. But the flier the Rangers took on former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel did not pay off. After two awful starts for Texas, the Rangers designated Keuchel for assignment last weekend.
Now, Ragans has a few starts left to try and show the Rangers that he’s worth a full audition for a starting spot in 2023.
He is 0-2 with a 4.42 ERA in four starts for Texas. Walks have been an issue for the former first-round pick, as he has more walks (10) than strikeouts (nine) in his four Rangers starts.
In his last start on Aug. 22 against Minnesota, he ended up with a no-decision. He threw four innings, giving up five hits, one run (earned) and two walks. He struck out two, threw 89 pitches and 55 strikes. He threw three scoreless innings to start that game.
Ragans has faced the Astros before. In fact, it was his second Major League start at Minute Maid Park on Aug. 11. That game saw the Rangers lose 7-3. Ragans threw 4 1/3 innings and gave up five earned runs. All of those runs came on home runs — a three-run shot by catcher Martin Maldonado and a two-run shot by third baseman Alex Bregman.
His Major League debut on Aug. 4 was auspicious, too. Against the Chicago White Sox, Ragans threw for five innings, giving up three hits and one run, which was not earned. He also walked four and struck out three. Ragans became the 10th pitcher (second left-hander) in Rangers history to throw at least five innings without allowing an earned run in a MLB debut.
He overcame two Tommy John surgeries and missing three full seasons in the minors to finally make his MLB debut this season. He earned it with solid work at Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock, as he combined to go 8-5 with a 3.04 ERA with 31 walks and 113 strikeouts in 18 games/starts. He averaged 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings.
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