Rangers Face Tougher Decision after Cal Quantrill’s WBC Performance

The Texas Rangers still consider the fifth starter role to be an open competition, which means Cal Quantrill still has a shot at the spot.

Canada starting pitcher Cal Quantrill. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Players who have been participating in the World Baseball Classic have been making their way back to spring training, including Cal Quantrill.

Quantrill, who pitched for Team Canada, is back in camp with the Texas Rangers though he hasn’t appeared in a spring training game yet since his country was eliminated by the United States in the quarterfinals on Friday.

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His return lines up with one of the final breaks in the spring training schedule for the Rangers. Tuesday is the team’s final off day before it heads back to Arlington, Texas, for exhibition games with the Kansas City Royals on Monday and Tuesday.

Quantrill may be with the Rangers. He may not. Much will hinge on the next few days, but his performance with Team Canada made decisions harder for manager Skip Schumaker.

Skip Schumaker on Cal Quantrill

Miami Marlins pitcher Cal Quantrill. | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

During his daily media availability on Monday, Schumaker talked about the difficulty in evaluating Quantrill while he was at the WBC and what Texas hopes to get from the starter the next few days of spring training.

“It’s hard to evaluate the guys — I had to call them bubble guys — but the non-roster guys that are fighting for a position,” Schumaker said. “I watched the Cuba game. I mean [he was at] 93 to 96 mph, I think he hit once or twice at 95 mph. He looked good.”

His start against Cuba in pool play helped Canada reach the WBC quarterfinals for the first time in the event’s history.

In five innings against Cuba, he allowed two hits, one unearned run and one walk. He struck out five. He threw 67 pitches, 43 of which were for strikes. Canada won, 7-2. He left the game to a round of applause and high fives from his teammates in the dugout.

It was the only game he pitched in the WBC, but the pitch count is notable. He threw 67 pitches, even though it was his first game action since Feb. 26, which was a span of 13 days. Quantrill likely kept to a rigorous build-up schedule even though he wasn’t pitching in games.

The goal as he arrives back in camp is to continue that build up, which will start on the backfields at Surprise after Texas’ off day on Tuesday.

“[We’re going] to try to get to that 80-pitch mark, right around that,” Schumaker said. “Then you watch and you keep evaluating. We haven’t made any final decisions.”

He also indicated that while the Rangers are committed to building Quantrill up as a starter, there was potential for him to make the team as a long reliever.

Quantrill made two spring training appearances with the Rangers before he left camp. He went 1-1 with a 15.75 ERA in four innings, as he allowed 12 hits and seven earned runs. He struck out one and walked two. It’s safe to say he’s sharpened up. Whether that translates into a Major League job coming out of spring training remains unclear.