First-Round Pick to Make Rangers, MLB Debut

The injury to Jon Gray has opened up a spot in the rotation for a pitcher that has taken a long journey just to get to Arlington.

The time has come for Cole Ragans to finally make his Texas Rangers debut.

Ragans, a former first-round pick who is the Rangers’ No. 29 prospect according to MLB.com, is the probable starting pitcher for Thursday’s series opener with the Chicago White Sox.

He reported to Arlington on Wednesday and is on the Rangers Taxi Squad. The Rangers will need to make a corresponding roster move to make room for Ragans on Thursday. But the Rangers’ pregame notes listed Ragans as the projected starter.

The Rangers also set the probable starting pitchers for the rest of the series, but Ragans’ debut will take center stage, thanks in part to his journey just to get to the Majors.

He was the Rangers’ first-round pick (No. 30 overall) in 2016 out of North Florida Christian in Tallahassee, Fla. He pitched four games in the Arizona Fall League in 2016, and then joined the Rangers’ Short Class A league team in Spokane in 2017, where he went 3-2 in 13 games with a 3.61 ERA, 87 strikeouts and 35 walks.

But Ragans didn’t pitch again until 2021. He had two Tommy John surgeries and the 2020 minor-league season was canceled due to COVID-19.

In 2021, Ragans pitched for two Rangers affiliates — High Class A Hickory and Double-A Frisco. With Hickory, Ragans threw 10 games, going 1-2 with a 3.25 ERA, 54 strikeouts and 14 walks. With the RoughRiders, he threw nine games, going 3-1 with a 5.70 ERA, 33 strikeouts and 20 walks. Combined, he went 4-3 with a 4.35 ERA, 87 strikeouts and 34 walks.

This season Ragans started at Frisco and was promoted to Triple-A Round Rock on June 16. For the season Ragans is 7-5 with a 3.15 ERA with 107 strikeouts and 28 walks. With Frisco, Ragans went 5-3 with a 2.81 ERA, 65 strikeouts and 19 walks before his call-up and first start with the Express.

His last start resulted on July 23 resulted in a 2-0 win over Las Vegas. Ragans improved to 2-2 with the Express and trimmed his ERA to 3.62 with six scoreless inning, giving up two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts in 93 pitches.

Also in July, Ragans was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week.

The rest of the Rangers’ rotation for the four-games series will include Glenn Otto on Friday, Dane Dunning on Saturday and Spencer Howard on Sunday. After an off-day on Monday, the Rangers would play in Houston for three days, with Martín Pérez likely taking the ball in Tuesday’s opener.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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