The Rangers have signed left-hander Marco Gonzales to a minor league deal, reports Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. The southpaw was released by the Padres last week. He will presumably report to Triple-A Round Rock in the coming days.
Gonzales, 34, is not exactly in good form at the moment. He underwent flexor surgery late in 2024 and then didn’t pitch in 2025. He signed a minor league deal with the Friars in January. He made 13 appearances for Triple-A El Paso, logging 47 1/3 innings with a 7.99 earned run average.
That number exaggerates how poorly he was pitching. The Chihuahuas play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Gonzales wasn’t helped by a .416 batting average on balls in play nor his 52.4% strand rate. His 7.6% walk rate was strong and his 41.6% ground ball rate close to average, though his 15.2% strikeout rate was quite low. The Padres decided to move on.
For the Rangers, there’s no real harm in bringing aboard a veteran on a minor league deal. Gonzales has a good track record, with a 4.16 ERA in 926 2/3 innings from 2014 to 2024. His numbers this year haven’t been as good but with some bad luck. It’s also possible he’s still finding his footing after missing an entire season.
The Texas rotation recently took a notable hit as Jack Leiter landed on the injured list yesterday with right ankle posterior impingement. That leaves the club with Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore and Kumar Rocker in four spots. Rocker is pitching a bulk role tonight behind opener Tyler Alexander. The other three won’t be ready for tomorrow’s game, so the Rangers need to do a bullpen game or find a spot starter.
Guys with starting experience like Cal Quantrill and Joe Ross are on the roster but they have mostly been pitching stints of two innings or less recently. José Corniell was recalled yesterday when Leiter hit the IL. He is stretched out but has a 6.07 ERA in Triple-A this year and his last game was on June 12th, well over a week ago. Prospect David Davalillo is on the 40-man roster but has a 7.59 ERA in Triple-A this year. Non-roster guys like Josh Stephan and Trey Supak have ERAs north of 5.00 in Triple-A as well.
In short, the rotation has a hole and the depth is looking flimsy. Despite his poor numbers this year, Gonzales is at least an experienced veteran who could perhaps be added to the roster at some point for a spot start or some bulk work.
Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images