Texas Rangers Option Intriguing Reliever To Triple-A Despite Pitching Questions

The Texas Rangers have continued their roster cut down for Opening Day by optioning one of their relievers to Triple-A.

Jul 19, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Daniel Robert (57) throws to the plate during the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Globe Life Field. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers, like all MLB teams, have spent the past few weeks analyzing their roster ahead of Opening Day and making decisions about who they want to keep around.

They are getting closer and closer to the 26-man roster mark, and continued to do so with an individual transaction.

This time they optioned reliever Daniel Robert to Triple-A Round Rock, which puts the team at 30 players on the Major League roster with 16 non-roster invites in camp and two players on the Injured List, as was reported by the team's public relations account.

Robert is a long-time member of the Rangers farm system, having been drafted in the 21st round of the 2017 MLB draft out of Auburn University.

Things got off to a rocky start, though.

He underwent Tommy John surgery and got his contract voided by the team. He later attended an open contract where he signed a minor league deal in 2018 and continued to rehab.

Then, from 2019 to 2023, he worked his way up through the minor leagues before making his MLB debut on July 10 this past season, playing three games in the span of 10 days and then a fourth in September.

He was solid, posting a 3.18 ERA, 1.412 WHIP, six strikeouts to two walks and one home run allowed in 5.2 innings of work. He also did well in his time at the Triple-A level in 2024 with a 3.12 ERA, 0.808 WHIP, 52 strikeouts to 13 walks and only three home runs allowed in 43.1 innings.

This was the best he has performed throughout his years in the minor leagues, as he struggled in 2022 and 2023 with keeping his ERA down below a five.

However, 2024 was a quality season for him, and with Texas having an exceptional amount of pieces moving around the bullpen, it is somewhat surprising he was not given a chance to start the year with the Major League team even with his struggles this spring by allowing three earned runs in 2.2 innings of work.

The current projected bullpen is likely to be Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Marc Church, Luke Jackson, Jacob Webb, Hoby Milner, Shawn Armstrong and Dane Dunning.

Out of these eight players, six of them were offseason acquisitions this winter which just shows how much the bullpen has turned over from 2024 to 2025.

Robert will now have to work his way up to the MLB roster once the season begins, but with how new much of this bullpen is, odds are he will be given an opportunity at some point during the campaign.