Rangers Give World Series Hero Another Chance on Minor League Deal

The Texas Rangers have wanted to bring back this reliever from their 2023 World Series team for more than a month.

The Texas Rangers logo painted on the turf behind home plate at Globe Life Field. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers bolstered their bullpen on Tuesday and gave one of their World Series relievers another chance to make an impact.

The Rangers announced on Tuesday that they’ve signed Josh Sborz to a minor league contract. The team’s PR account on X (formerly Twitter) also announced the official signing of reliever Jakob Junis to a Major League deal. To make room for him, the Rangers designated pitcher Dom Hamel for assignment.

Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young expressed an interest in bringing Sborz back in 2026 after he missed all of 2025 recovering from shoulder surgery.

Josh Sborz’s Potential Rangers Comeback

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Sborz was one of four players who were non-tendered contracts in November, along with Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim and Jacob Webb. All four were arbitration-eligible, but Sborz was the only one who didn’t play last season.

He missed all of 2025 recovering from shoulder surgery. He began rehabbing the injury in July, but he struggled to regain his velocity and Texas shut him down in September. Given Texas’ desire for cheap bullpen options, bringing him back would be wise under the right circumstances. Young made it clear that was an option.

“We’re trying to be aggressive there,” Young said. “Josh is a free agent, and we understand that he’s going to explore his options, but we have extreme interest in bringing him back.”

The fact that Sborz was unable to find a Major League deal is probably indicative of the injury recovery and questions about whether he can regain his velocity. Signing him to a minor league deal gives the 32-year-old reliever time to build up with less pressure.

He was part of the Rangers’ 2023 World Series team, as he closed out Game 5. He broke in with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 and was acquired by Texas before the 2021 season in a trade for pitcher Jhan Zambrano, but only after the Dodgers designated Sborz for assignment.

He last pitched in 2024. He pitched in 17 games and went 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA, striking out 17 and walking four in 16.1 innings.  For his career he is 13-13 with a 4.96 ERA in 154 games, with one start. He has 193 strikeouts and 69 walks in 163.1 innings. Batters have hit .238 against him and he has a 1.33 WHIP.

Sborz is only the second member of last year’s bullpen that hit free agency and returned. The other is Chris Martin, who signed a deal with the Rangers in December. Three Texas relievers signed with the Chicago Cubs — Phil Maton, Hoby Milner and Webb. Shawn Armstrong signed with Cleveland.