White, Bradford up, Ragans, Rodriguez down

The Texas Rangers are promoting righthanded pitcher Owen White to the major leagues, per Ken Rosenthal on Twitter.

The 23 year old White is the consensus top pitching prospect for the Rangers, and has spent the 2023 season at AA Frisco, where he has put up a 3.54 ERA in 53.1 IP over 11 starts, with 45 Ks against 22 walks. White was named the Texas League Pitcher of the Week last week in the aftermath of a seven inning, one hit, no run outing.

It was announced yesterday that Jon Gray, who would have been the scheduled starter, is being pushed back because of a blister issue. Cody Bradford was reportedly in Arlington yesterday, but he also started on Friday, and so he would be somewhat limited in a spot start. Gray reportedly isn’t expected to need an i.l. stint, so whoever comes in to fill in would presumably be up for just today’s game before being sent back down.

White is already on the 40 man roster, so no move would be necessary in that regard. If White and Bradford are both called up, with an eye towards piggy-backing them, Cole Ragans and Yerry Rodriguez would seem to be the players likely to be sent down. Yerry has basically been keeping a roster spot warm since he was promoted on Saturday, while Ragans threw 27 pitches yesterday and would not be available to pitch in the next day or two. Ragans has also been used infrequently of late, and is sporting a 5.92 ERA in 24.1 IP this year.

UPDATE — The Rangers have announced Bradford is starting Tuesday’s game. It would appear that the Rangers will have Bradford on a limited pitch count, given he is pitching on three days rest, and then have White come in behind him.

UPDATE II — The Rangers make the announcement official. Cody Bradford and Owen White have been recalled, and Cole Ragans and Yerry Rodriguez have been optioned to AAA Round Rock.