The Rangers introduced Tuesday that they’ve signed veteran right-hander Jose Urena to a minor league contract. He’ll be in large league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring. Urena is represented by Premier Expertise Sports activities & Leisure.
Every of the previous two seasons has performed out considerably equally for the now-32-year-old Urena. He’s cut up each years between two organizations — Brewers/Rockies in 2022; Rockies/White Sox in 2023 — and pitched poorly for the primary earlier than rebounding for the second. In 2022, Urena tossed 7 2/3 innings for the Brewers, limiting opponents to 3 runs however doing so with extra walks (5) than strikeouts (three). He latched on in Colorado after being lower unfastened and gave the Rox 89 1/3 innings of 5.14 ERA ball over the lifetime of 17 begins. That’s not probably the most interesting ERA mark, after all, however pitching at Coors Area is hardly an enviable job — and Urena was fairly profitable down the stretch (2.25 ERA, 25-to-9 Okay/BB in his closing 5 begins).
That run with the Rockies was sufficient for Colorado to carry him again on a one-year, $3.5MM contract, however that deal went south in a rush. Urena was torched for a 9.82 earned run common in his first 5 begins and lower unfastened after pitching simply 18 1/3 innings general. He caught on with the White Sox later, was referred to as to the massive leagues in September, and posted an general 4.10 ERA in his 5 begins with Chicago (26 1/3 innings, 20-to-8 Okay/BB ratio).
Urena had some strong seasons with the Marlins earlier in his large league profession, however consistency has lengthy eluded him. All advised, he’s pitched 839 1/3 innings as an enormous leaguer and turned in a 4.89 ERA with a nicely below-average 15.5% strikeout charge, a roughly common 8.6% stroll charge and a powerful 48.2% ground-ball charge.
The Rangers will seemingly attempt to add a number of arms of this nature — veterans who will be stashed within the higher minors as depth. With Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom each recovering from surgical procedure and Jordan Montgomery presently a free agent, they’re a projected rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Grey, Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning and Cody Bradford. Some further certainty can be prudent — be it re-signing Montgomery or buying a unique free agent or commerce choice — however bettering the depth is equally vital and Urena helps to fill that want.
