Caleb Boushley was called up by the Rangers despite throwing yesterday afternoon.
Dane Dunning was DFA’ed after just one game. He is again in position to take free agency if unclaimed and outrighted, but he lacks the experience to walk away with his salary.
Round Rock catcher Tucker Barnhart (.246/.354/.391) replaces the injured Kyle Higashioka.
Texas designated righty Daniel Robert for assignment and quickly traded him to Philadelphia for 20-year-old RHP Enrique Segura. Robert’s path to the Rangers was long and arduous, and I hope he sees more “up” than “down” in the Philly reliever shuttle. He’d pitched well for Round Rock this season (11.2 IP, 4 R, 4 BB, 17 SO). At least for the moment, Segura is assigned to the complex squad. Low-A Hickory would seem the eventual destination. Now 20, he’d signed back in 2022 and was quickly if briefly an addition to the lower reaches of the top-30 prospect lists, but he’s had a bear of a time establishing acceptable control. At low-A Clearwater, he’s posted a 3.18 ERA with 19 strikeouts and 11 BB/HBP in 17 innings. Per Statcast, his 2025 repertoire has consisted of a sinker (avg. speed 93), slider (82), curve (81), and a handful of changes (87). The slider and curve data are similar enough that I’m wondering if they’re the same pitch or at least just variations on a theme. We’ll see.
The Rangers also traded AAA righty Matt Festa to Cleveland for cash. Festa had yet to allow a run in 14.2 IP and had struck out 20 but also walked or hit eight.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 5, at Sugar Land (HOU) 1
Round Rock: 9 hits, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 8 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 15-14, 4.5 GB
SP Caleb Boushley: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 39 P / 24 S, 1.69 ERA
RP Peyton Gray: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Robby Ahlstrom: 2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1.80 ERA
CF Evan Carter: 2-5, SB (6), .235/.358/.412
DH Blaine Crim: 1-4, HR (7), .313/.365/.565
SS Ezeuqiel Duran: 3-4, 2 SB (4), .290/.353/.548
1B Justin Foscue: 1-2, 2 BB, .304/.395/.461
LF Kellen Strahm: 1-3, 3 SB (10), .253/.356/.440
Evan Carter collected his first hit against a lefty in 2025, just a soft oppo liner, but it came in the ninth pitch of an at-bat that included an 0-2 start and five fouls, four off sweepers. Previously, he’d swung and missed at nine of 14 sliders or sweepers (64%), so it’s something. Including the spring, Carter had been zero-for-23 with three walks and 13 strikeouts against lefties. As I’ve mentioned, one problem is beyond his control, as only 26% of opposing pitches and 17% of starts against the Express have come from lefties.
Carter will soon reach the point at which the Rangers gain another year of control, but I wouldn’t consider that a factor at all in his ongoing minor league assignment. Texas was right to send him down and right to keep him in AAA. He’s playing more frequently and making progress. He’s pretty much fine against righties. His prowess out of the box and on the basepaths has been impressive. Conversely, you know the issues with lefties, and in the early going I witnessed swinging strikes of a type you don’t often see at this level plus an impression of physical discomfort. Texas sure could use a steady CF, but he’s not steady yet, and I’ve always felt his situation shouldn’t be latched to the short-term needs of the parent club. (And if the parent club calls him up tomorrow, oh well, they know better than me.)
AA: Frisco 0, Wichita (MIN) 7
Frisco: 4 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 9 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 14-9, 2 G up
SP Kohl Drake: 4 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 3 BB, 9 SO, 78 P / 50 S, 3.31 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 2-4, .301/.374/.462
Kohl Drake has a 41% K rate, even better than last year’s 35% mostly at lower levels, but he hasn’t brought the lower-level control to AA yet.
Hi-A: Hub City 1, @Rome (ATL) 0
Hub City: 4 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 2 hits, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Record: 13-10, tied for first
SP Aidan Curry: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 67 P / 44 S, 6.00 ERA
RP Joey Danielson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.71 ERA
2B Casey Cook: 2-4, SB (6), .171/.264/.211
I haven’t had a chance to review Aidan Curry’s best outing since 2023, but I’ll try. Dylan MacLean, Larson Kindreich and Willan Bormie completed the road shutout. Casey Cook’s two-out single in the 9th plated Anthony Gutierrez, who’d been hit.
Lo-A: Hickory 2, at Columbia (KAN) 5
Hickory: 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 11-12, 4 GB
SP J’Briell Easley: 5 IP, 8 H (1 HR), 4 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 71 P / 45 S, 2.81 ERA
RP Brock Porter: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 3 SO, 3.46 ERA
RP Dalton Pence: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 4.26 ERA
Uh oh, a bad day if you’ve been writing “I don’t care what Brock Porter throws as long as they’re strikes.” For the second time in eight outings, Porter missed on more than half his pitches.
Today’s Starters
AAA: TBD
AA: Stephan
Hi-A: Curtis
Lo-A: Scarborough
Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
The eighth-best relief season for the Rangers during 2007-2024 came from lefty Joe Palumbo in 2016.
Palumbo averaged about 12 batters per appearances and moved to the rotation down the stretch, but he had more games finished (12) and more saves (8) than starts (7), so I’m calling him a reliever for this exercise.
In early 2016, nobody was writing about Palumbo but me, and even then purely as documentation. Drafted in 2013’s 30th round, Palumbo posted respectable numbers during the prior two years at the complex and Spokane, but I’d never heard anything noteworthy about his repertoire. I assume I saw him at least once during visits to Surprise in 2014-2016 but can’t find any writeup. He made one end-of-2015 appearance at low-A Hickory and in 2016 would be assigned to the bullpen, where he would pitch in long relief of starters like Dillon Tate, Jonathan Hernandez, and Pete Fairbanks.
One early miscue inflated his ERA for a while, but on the whole he was masterful, fanning just over one-third of opposing batters (less common at the time). He had five scoreless outings of at least three innings and seven more in the 2.0-2.2 range. At some point, I asked a scout where this performance was last year, and the reply was “he was throwing 86 last year.” During 2016, Palumbo graduated to a steady 91-94 with some landing even higher. That plus a strong curve and functional change prompted a late-July return to the rotation, where he would be just as effective if not quite so strikeout-prone. Essentially an organizational guy entering the season (not even in Jamey Newberg’s top 72), he finished as one of Texas’s top-ten prospects.
After that, 2019 would be his only ordinary season, when he advanced from AA Frisco to the Majors. 2017-2018 were shortened by elbow surgery. 2020-2025 have been a combination of injuries, lesser stuff, and difficulty with control. He’s thrown a total of 36 innings (and walked 45) for the Rangers, Giants, and two indy teams in the last five-plus seasons.