Rangers Intrigued by Rule 5 Prospect but Questions Remain Late in Camp

One of the most intriguing decisions the Texas Rangers face is around reliever Carter Baumler.

Ordinarily, the Rangers wouldn’t have to wring their hands over a pitcher that has never thrown about Double-A baseball, even when he’s had the kind of camp Baumler has. But such are the guidelines of the Rule 5 draft.

The Rangers didn’t draft Baumler in December, but the Pittsburgh Pirates did, selecting him from the Baltimore Orioles. The Pirates then traded him to Texas for right-handed pitcher Jaiker Garcia and cash considerations.

If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.

But the guidelines for the Rule 5 draft still apply. Baumler must make Texas’ opening day roster, or he must be offered back to his original team for $50,000.

He’s in position. But he’s not there yet.

Carter Baumler’s Final Hurdles

The right-hander has shown the Rangers plenty in camp. He’s appeared in five games and hasn’t allowed an earned run in 6.2 innings. He’s struck out six, walked two and batters are hitting just .160 against him.

Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said that the 24-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, has showed Texas plenty that doesn’t show up in the box scores. He’s retired Major League hitters and pitched in back-to-back situations. With the final week of spring training, Schumaker said the Rangers want to try and check a few more boxes before they must make decisions for opening day.

“We’re evaluating, can he go one-plus innings, can we put him in an inning where it’s dirty,” Schumaker said. “Hopefully we can get more answers in the next couple of days and really make a decision. But he’s doing everything he can to make the roster.”

Baumler is coming off a 2025 season in which he went 2-0 with two saves and a 2.04 ERA over 28 relief appearances with Baltimore’s Rookie-level FCL Orioles, High-A Aberdeen, and Double-A Chesapeake. He spent the first month of the 2025 season on the injured list. He did not allow a home run while recording a 10.4 SO/9 ratio and a 1.084 WHIP, which was the seventh-lowest WHIP figure among Orioles minor leaguers that threw at least 30 innings.

He was the Orioles’ fifth-round pick in 2020 out of Downing Catholic, but he didn’t pitch a professional inning until 2022 due to the COVID shutdown of minor league baseball in 2020 and 2021 due to recovery from Tommy John surgery, which happened to be performed by Rangers team surgeon Dr. Keith Meister.

For his minor league career, from 2022-25, Baumler is 7-1 with two saves, a 3.05 ERA (30 ER/88.2 IP), and 104 strikeouts against 40 walks over 49 career games/10 starts. He began his career as a starter, but the Orioles quickly converted him to a relief role.