Rangers 40-Man Roster Wraps: Cole Ragans

The former first-round pick finally broke in with the Texas Rangers, but he wasn't able to pick up that first Major League win.

InsidetheRangers.com will review each of the players on the Texas Rangers 40-man roster at the conclusion of the 2022 season.

P Cole Ragans

Statistics for 2022: Ragans went 0-3 with a 4.95 ERA in nine games (all starts). He pitched 40 innings, gave up 43 hits and 24 runs (22 earned), six home runs and 16 walks. He struck out 27. Opponents hit .272 against him and he had a 1.48 WHIP.

Season Transactions: Ragans started the season with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders. On June 14, the Rangers promoted him to Triple-A Round Rock. On Aug. 4, the Rangers called him up to make his Major League debut. Ragans went on the 15-day injured list with a left calf strain on Aug. 26 (retroactive to Aug. 23) and returned on Sept. 7. He went back on the IL on Oct. 3 with the same injury and ended the season there.

Season Summary: Ragans went nearly three years without throwing a pitch after he was the Rangers’ first-round pick in 2016. That was due to two Tommy John surgeries and the 2020 minor-league season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But, he burned through every level of the Rangers’ system in 2021 and 2022. In his first month in Round Rock, he was the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week. With Frisco and Round Rock he went 8-5 record with a 3.04 ERA 18 games. Once the Rangers promoted him to Arlington, the intent was to give Ragans a full go. He pitched like a rookie, honestly. He had trouble in the areas that you would expect — getting veteran hitters out, getting out of significant jams and giving up a high batting average. But, he reached five innings in four starts, including his final three. In his last two starts he gave up four hits and one run in each start.

Contract Status: Ragans is still, by service time, a rookie and under team control for the foreseeable future.

What’s next: Now the hard part starts. Ragans earned his shot with the Rangers. Now he has to work to keep it. The Rangers are set to add some veteran starting pitching this offseason. That will be Ragans’ competition for a roster spot in 2023.

2022 Texas Rangers 40-Man Roster Wraps:

Ezequiel Duran | A.J. Alexy | Josh Smith | Tyson Miller | Corey Seager | Joe Barlow | Leody Taveras | Brad Miller | Drew Strotman | Josh Jung | Jon Gray | Taylor Hearn | Mitch Garver | Kevin Plawecki | Mark Mathias | John King | Charlie Culberson | Adolis García | Andy Ibáñez |

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