Spring Breakout Recap
Against Kansas City, Starter Dalton Pence struck out the side in order following an opening walk. In the second, he walked two more on nine pitches but also fanned a couple. He would face two more in the 3rd, retiring one and watching the other reach on an error. Pence’s fastball dwindled from 93 in the 1st to 90 by the 3rd, noteworthy because he spent his college years in the bullpen. However, last season’s switch from relief was quite encouraging, and the gap between the Breakout game and Opening Night for his minor league team is 20 days. Pence relied heavily on that rising fastball, adding only a handful of sliders, changes and curves.
Two-wayer Seong-Jun Kim dealt a scoreless 4th with one double, aided by a liner to 3B Jack Wheeler resulting in a double play. Kim’s four-seamer averaged 93 with 16 inches of induced vertical break, and he added an 83ish slider. He also went 0-for-2 as a DH. Still just 18, Kim has scant pro experience consisting of one pitching appearance and a few at-bats in the Dominican Summer League.
Josh Trentadue had a rough day: six batters in the 5th, a Wilian Bormie interlude, five more batters in the 6th, just three retired overall, three walks, four hits, six runs. The four-seamer averaged 93.4 but lacked location, registering only a 30% in-zone rate and 40% strike rate. Trentadue has back-of-rotation potential, but his control declined sharply upon promotion to Frisco last summer.
Gavin Collyer already owned Texas’s fastest pitch in a “real” Spring Training game at 99.8 MPH, but in the Breakout he reached an even 100 for a swinging strike. Collyer impressed this spring but in early games had a strike rate below 60%. Lately, he’s been much better, and if he can maintain that, he’ll be among the top contenders for replacing injured or ineffective relievers in Arlington.
Texas’s hardest throwers by maximum velocity in Spring Training:
Gavin Collyer – 100.0 (Breakout)
Ismael Agreda – 99.9 (Breakout)
Jack Leiter – 99.6 (MLB)
Wilian Bormie – 98.8 (Breakout)
Michel Otanez – 98.8 (MLB)
Kumar Rocker – 98.5 (MLB)
Jacob deGrom – 98.4 (MLB)
Aidan Curry – 98.4 (Breakout)
The 24-year-old Bormie escaped Trentadue’s inning with a called K using a 97-99 fastball and a couple of mid-80s sliders. Ismael Agreda, 22, threw five pitches that would round up to 100 on a tv screen and five more at 99. He added several mid-80s sliders and a few tailing curves hovering around 79. He missed only one bat, though, and most contact was hard. Both have the stuff but lack the control.
The bats were light on excitement, mustering three hits and five walks. Texas hit six balls in excess of 103 miles per hour (1B Maxton Martin leading at 109, 1B Pablo Guerrero, RF Dylan Dreiling, 2B Antonis Macias twice, and 3B Gleider Figuereo), but only Dreiling managed to reach safely. SS Curley Martha doubled down the line to right, and CF Marcos Torres flared a single.
Statcast info and boxscore from the game.
Other News
Kumar Rocker rallied to win the final rotation spot. Good for him. My spreadsheet preview said in part: “[he] needs to be normal for once.” He’s always been weird. Sometimes weird in a dazzling way like the 2024 return from elbow surgery, but weird nonetheless. Wild swings in velocity. Idiosyncratic mechanics. Pitch types gained, discarded, rediscovered. If he could be steadily, blandly effective, within shouting distance of league average, that would be a boon to the team’s chances.
Jacob Latz lost his way down the stretch. Hopefully he finds it because he’s no less important within a cobbled-together bullpen, plus he may be needed to start later. The last time Texas used fewer than ten starters in a season was 2011.
Carter Baumler more-or-less won a battle with Josh Sborz for a single bullpen spot. He missed fewer bats but delivered more strikes overall and fared better on contact. He also threw two tics harder with the fastball and three with the secondaries. Critically, the Rangers faced the cardinal decision on Baumler now, while Sborz’s fate can be delayed until after a handful of AAA appearances. Luis Curvelo might outpitch them both, but since he has options he’ll yield to others for now.
Cal Quantrill looked swell Tuesday in his first real game in nearly a month, albeit against late-inning subs. Who knows.
Did Joc Pederson ever need Tuesday’s homer, his first extra-base hit of the spring. A few days ago, I’d argued for a potential uptick in his production (then .172/.314/.172) based on respectable Statcast data. Since that time, instead of an improvement in the slash stats, the data headed downward, primarily in the form of additional swinging strikes. Among 40-man members entering the spring, Pederson ended up tied with the lowest overall contact rate (66%) and lowest alone on out-of-zone pitches (42%), although his chase rate was acceptable as were the various measures of exit velocity.
To The 60-Day IL
RHP Paul Bonzagni (holdover from last year’s TJ)
RHP Declan Cronin (free agent recovering from surgery, has a 2-year deal)
RHP Brooks Fowler
RHP Alberto Mota (hurt last year as well)
RHP William Privette
RHP Julius Sanchez (2025 18th-rounder, injured when picked)
RHP Izack Tiger (holdover from last year’s TJ)
C Jesus Lopez
IF Sebastian Walcott (brace surgery on elbow)
OF Casey Cook (2024 3rd-rounder)
To The Full-Season IL
RHP Nabil Crismatt (injured early in ST)
LHP Kolton Curtis (pitched in 2025 Arizona Fall League)
LHP Larson Kindreich (had appeared once in February)
RHP Daniel Missaki
In the past, these transactions weren’t noteworthy beyond the actual injuries and prognoses. Now, with organization-wide roster limits, injuries can create havoc with filling out minor league rosters. As with the Major League 60-day IL, those on a long-term minor league injured lists don’t count against the cap.
Released
RHP Ryan Brasier – The vet had an out and took it. He’d improved after two early wipeouts but still wasn’t missing many bats. Even so, he probably would have ranked high on the depth chart had he accepted assignment to Round Rock.
On Their Final Options
RHP Marc Church
RHP Jose Corniell
RHP Michel Otanez
IF Justin Foscue
Elsewhere
1B Abimelec Ortiz had a rough spring for the Nats, hitting .136/.296/.182 without a single recorded ball in play traveling more than 258 feet in the air. 1B apparently will be manned mostly by Luis Garcia (career 0.8 WAR per 150 games, .266/.299/.410). Ortiz was the most advanced prospect in the MacKenzie Gore trade. I’ll cover the assignments for the others traded in the coming days.
1B Blaine Crim, never IL-ed professionally in seven previous seasons, had the terrible misfortune of an oblique injury in late February, eliminating any chance of an Opening Day spot. He’s been cleared for activity but is yet to reappear in a game. Colorado claimed him off waivers last summer.
RHP Daniel Robert – The former Ranger collapsed during his first bullpen session of the spring. Medics were able to transport him to a hospital, and he’s been released. He’d been held back because of a cardiovascular issue and had suffered a similar incident last fall that necessitated both CPR and a defibrillator. He was then fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.
1B Rowdy Tellez recently signed a minor deal with Atlanta. Pitchers Jon Gray (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome) and Luke Jackson haven’t signed anywhere to my knowledge. OF Marcus Smith signed with the indy Kansas City Monarchs. He’d become a free agent after last season.
I’ve seen no word of Joey Gallo signing anywhere. He’d announced an attempt to return to the Majors as a pitcher following his release from the White Sox last spring.
Skip to content
tantamount to cordial