Drew Hutchison outrighted, five to join active roster tomorrow

Texas Rangers transactions: Drew Hutchison has cleared waivers and been outrighted to AAA Round Rock today, the Texas Rangers announced. With Hutchison now off the roster, the Rangers currently have 38 players on their 40 man roster.

That will change tomorrow, however, as the Rangers are purchasing the contracts of pitchers C.D. Pelham and Adrian Sampson. Those two, along with Willie Calhoun and Austin Bibens-Dirkx, will be called up tomorrow, while Hanser Alberto will be activated from the disabled list.

Pelham, 23, was a 33rd round pick of the Rangers in the 2015 draft, and was going to be Rule 5 eligible this offseason, so it was anticipated he would be added to the 40 man roster at some point before then. A big lefthander, Pelham appeared for the World Team in the Futures Game this year (that’s his picture, above), and was dominant for Down East, putting up a 1.95 ERA in 27.2 IP, before being promoted mid-summer to Frisco, where he had a 6.16 ERA in 19 IP. Pelham throws hard and is seen as being a potential late-inning reliever down the road.

Sampson, 26, is a righthanded pitcher who has one major league appearance in his career — a 2016 start for the Mariners. He put up a 3.77 ERA for Round Rock this year, splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen, though with just 85 Ks in 126 IP. I’m guessing he will be used as a long man, or potentially start games behind an opener, this month.

Calhoun, Bibens-Dirkx and Alberto are all familiar names. Calhoun will get some time at left field and DH, though he probably won’t play every day, while Bibens-Dirkx gives the Rangers an extra arm in the pen who can go multiple innings or start as needed, and Alberto provides an extra infielder for September.

As for Hutchison, he was worth taking a look at after his solid performance in AAA in the Dodgers organization this summer, but an 8.86 ERA in 5 starts was apparently enough for the Rangers to decide to cut bait with him.