Mike Matuella to pitch for Hickory Thursday

Texas Rangers minor league righthander pitcher Mike Matuella will be joining the low-A Hickory Crawdads and making his season debut on Thursday, per Evan Grant on Twitter.

Matuella, the Rangers’ 2015 third round draft pick out of Duke University, was thought to be a candidate to go number one overall in 2015 before Tommy John surgery sidelined him. Matuella made one appearance for Spokane in 2016 before being diagnosed with a strained UCL, which resulted in him missing the rest of 2016.issing the rest

Matuella has the highest upside of any pitcher in the Rangers’ system, with health being the main question surrounding him. I suspect the Rangers will take things slowly with Matuella, especially early on, as they work to get him acclimated to pitching regularly after what has essentially been a two year layoff.