Texas Rangers Being Extra Cautious With Star Pitching Prospect’s Concerning Injury

The Texas Rangers have had injuries pile up on both their major and minor league pitching staffs, with another prospect heading to the IL.

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The unfortunate series of pitching injuries continues for the Texas Rangers as they suffered another blow to their minor league pitching prospects.

On the heels of right-handed pitchers Marc Church, Winston Santos, and Paul Bonzagni being placed on the IL, the development of righty Emiliano Teodo is on pause.

According to MLB Rangers beat reporter Kennedi Landry, righty Emiliano Teodo is joining them on the IL as Texas employs a prudent and patient approach to injuries early in the 2025 season.

Rangers pitching prospect Emiliano Teodo is going on the Minor League injured list with right shoulder fatigue

The Rangers plan to hold him back for about 7-10 days. They're acting cautiously this early in the season.

— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) April 23, 2025

The injuries on the minor league pitching staff are rivaled by those on the major league roster, as top prospect Alejandro Rosario is recovering from Tommy John surgery, Jack Leiter recently began rehabbing for his injury, and Jon Gray and Cody Bradford have yet to make their season debuts after getting hurt in spring training.

In the case of Teodo, the trajectory doesn’t seem to be too significant with the 7-to-10-day timeline on the IL. The sooner he’s back to continue his development, the better, as he’s pitched out of the bullpen in his six games at Triple-A Round Rock.

Teodo has had a mediocre showing with Round Rock, as he’s posted an 8.68 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched, giving up 11 hits, with 13 strikeouts to 8 walks.

He had a much stronger performance through spring training, where he didn’t allow an earned run in five Cactus League games and recorded two saves.

That was more in line with his 2024 season in Double-A, where he posted a 1.98 ERA in 86.1 innings pitched with 53 hits and a 30% strikeout rate, leading Texas to protect Teodo on its 40-man roster in November.

Teodo was consistent with a 100-mph sinker and was working to refine his changeup to complement his slider and fastball.

His spring training outing was impressive enough to make the Rangers consider cultivating him as a starting pitcher through more development or deploying him to the bullpen in the major leagues. 

Shawn McFarland with the Dallas Morning News reports that the club sees a more refined trajectory for Teodo following his stint on the IL, believing he can be “more quickly an option for this club” as a reliever versus a starter.

Manager Ross Fenstermaker spoke Tuesday about their plan for when he returns.

“We want to continue to keep the volume and workload at a place where we can revisit the starter discussion,” Fenstermaker said. “But, knock on wood, the needs of the club this year are going to be more in the multi-inning variety out of the bullpen and maybe a spot start here and there.”

Teodo could serve as much-needed relief once healthy as the seventh-best prospect on the roster, according to MLB Pipeline’s ratings.