Rowdy Tellez
Per local reports, Texas is expected to add 1B Rowdy Tellez to the roster in place of just-IL’ed Jake Burger. Because of frequent rain and the break, Tellez played only four games for Round Rock, not that a longer stretch would matter. He is who he is; his homers add value, and every other activity subtracts. With the Express, Tellez homered twice but also missed on a terrifying 52% of his swings, but again, that’s just a handful plate appearances.
Texas also has already recalled Justin Foscue, who’ll presumably cover the thinner side of the platoon, and optioned OF Michael Helman. The Rangers won’t need to clear a 40 spot for Tellez.
Dane Dunning
Texas traded RHP Dane Dunning to Atlanta for RHP Jose Ruiz and cash. Ruiz had been designated for assignment and outrighted four weeks ago, not long after being nabbed off waivers from Philadelphia. Like Dunning, Ruiz was drawing an arbitration salary, slightly under half of Dunning’s $2.66 million. The net monetary difference in a straight deal is about $550,000 down the stretch, and that plus the cash will give Texas a little extra wiggle room to avoid the Competitive Balance Tax while negotiating additional transactions.
Ruiz has pitched well at times but not during 2025. This is a money deal, and any on-field value he provides is a happy coincidence.
As for Atlanta’s motivation, the Braves are 11 games under .500, have a decimated staff are just need innings from somewhere. I suppose they’ve also bought an opportunity to get Dunning back to his earlier form and could then offer arbitration for 2026. Doubtful, but not inconceivable. To make room for Dunning, Atlanta designated RHP Jesse Chavez for a assignment for the third time this season.
Dunning’s time in Texas ended poorly, but for a few years he was a dependable inning-eater, never more so than 2023 when he led the team in innings while posting a 3.70 ERA.
Achieved: Average Offense
You might hate me for this, but that’s okay because I already hate myself.
Occasionally, I’ve calculated how the Rangers might have been expected to perform given an average offense. Recently, the offense has improved, but the team’s record has still hovered just under .500 because of a tendency of blowout wins and close losses. On the pre-break ten-game road trip, the Rangers won five games by 30 runs and lost five by nine runs. The Rangers now trail their expected record by run differential ( +47) by six wins. That’s huge. Imagine the Rangers at 54-43! (But, as I’ve said before, the 2025 Rangers certainly do not feel like an above-average club afflicted with bad luck. The current record feels descriptive and deserved. )
Since June 20, when they hit the road after being swept at home by KC, the Rangers have scored 5.6 runs per game, fourth-most in all of baseball. The underlying production isn’t nearly that strong, as they’re only 15th in OPS, but they are scoring.
Even with that improvement, the Rangers rank 12th in the league with 4.05 runs per game vs. a league average of 4.33. However, Texas’s home park has been extremely pitcher-friendly in 2025; I calculate a one-year park factor of 0.91. There’s no hard rule for how much to regress or weigh other seasons, but I have a current park factor of about 0.95. Multiplying that by 4.33 results in a park-adjusted league average of 4.11 runs per game, which in turn results in 399 total runs, only six more than what they’ve actually scored.
So, congratulations to the Rangers on their (almost) league-average offense! Hey. Please don’t look at me like that. It’s just math.
Actually, no, even I wouldn’t argue that the offense is nearly average. The underlying metrics are lagging, the number of low-scoring games immense, the frustration palpable. Still, what the Rangers have lately isn’t a problem of scoring but distribution. 6-5 losses, 13-1 wins. Yes, we can say “they’re inconsistent,” but that’s not a type of inconsistency that lends itself to a cure. They just have to try to score as much as possible all the time and hope it evens out.
Prospects
I have a top-30 prospect checkup mostly written, but I’ll save it for Tuesday morning.
What’s Left For Rangers Minor League History, 2007-2024
Top 7 full-season teams
Top 10 position player seasons
Top 10 starting pitcher seasons
Top 5 relief pitcher seasons
Top 3 of 5 team hitting seasons (the other two will be incorporated into top-team writeups)
Top 3 of 5 team pitching seasons (same)
Bottom 4 full-season teams
Top 2 rookie and short-season teams
Worst rookie and short-season team
Best and worst rookie and full-season teams (among all teams in a Texas-affiliated league)
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