Three Texas Rangers Bullpen Non-Roster Invitees to Watch This Spring

Among the non-roster invitees, the Texas Rangers have three arms to watch that could play a role in fortifying the bullpen.
Aug 16, 2020; Denver, Colorado, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Jesse Chavez (30) pitches in the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Aug 16, 2020; Denver, Colorado, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Jesse Chavez (30) pitches in the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
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Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy says that for any team to be successful, there must be a surprise or two.

Back in 2023, when the Rangers won the World Series, those surprises included the late emergence of rookie outfielder Evan Carter and the postseason performance of Josh Sborz, who ended the regular season in a slump and dealing with an injury.

In that vein, there is no area of the team where the Rangers could use a few surprises more than the bullpen, which is being completely rebuilt this season. While the players on the 40-man roster have track records, there are three pitchers on the non-roster invitee list worth watching.

Codi Heuer

The Rangers actually signed Heuer to a minor-league deal last April and stashed him on their Triple-A Round Rock injured list all season.

With the Chicago Cubs’ Triple-A Iowa Cubs in 2023, he suffered an arm fracture in mid-pitch that required surgery and ended his season. At the time, he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, which erased his 2022 season.

But, in 2021, with the Cubs and the White Sox, he was a workhorse, pitching in 65 games and going 7-4 with a 4.28 ERA. He broke in with the White Sox in 2020 and was 3-0 with a 1.52 ERA in 21 games.

Clearly, the Rangers saw something pre-injury they wanted to explore, or else they wouldn’t have been this patient with the 28-year-old Montana native.

Adrian Houser

In 2021 he went 10-6 with a 3.22 ERA as a starter in Milwaukee. Since then, things have gone south, with him bottoming out last season with a 1-5 record with the New York Mets in 23 games (seven starts). He bounced around to two different teams on minor league deals after that but never got a call-up.

Texas signed him in December. The Rangers hope he can better resemble the pitcher that had a career-high 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings in 2020. Sliding him beside a pitcher like Dane Dunning for long relief duties would be ideal.

Jesse Chavez

The ageless one is back. Now 41, his age has nearly caught up to the round he was selected in the 2022 MLB draft — the 42nd — by the Rangers.

His career is a map of the baseball world, as he made his MLB debut in 2008 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and made his way back to the Rangers on two separate occasions. He even has a World Series ring from his time with the Atlanta Braves.

The good news is there still appears to be gas in the right-hander’s arm. He pitched in 46 games for Atlanta last season, going 2-2 with a 3.13 ERA. In fact, with Atlanta the past three seasons his ERA has hovered right around 2.00. The Rangers are hoping to get similar results.

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers for On SI and also writes about the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com.