The Texas Rangers have signed free agent right-hander Tyler Mahle to a major league contract. News of the signing was first reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN on Thursday afternoon. The Rangers now have 38 players on their major league roster. The deal is for two years, and it is worth $22 million in guaranteed money. Mahle can earn another $5 million in performance bonuses based on innings pitched in 2025. The downside is that he is expected to miss part of the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Tyler Mahle is the second pitcher the Rangers have signed in December. Earlier this month, they signed free agent Kirby Yates at the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee.
Stops in Minnesota and Cincinnati
Mahle spent a season and a half with the Minnesota Twins. They acquired him from the Cincinnati Reds at the 2022 trade deadline. Interestingly enough, it turned out to be one of the more lopsided deadline deals of the past few years. The Reds acquired Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and prospect Steve Hajjar. They subsequently swapped Hajjar to the Cleveland Guardians for Will Benson.
Abbreviated 2023 Season
He posted a record of 1–2 with a 3.16 ERA and 28 strikeouts over five starts for the Twins in ’23 before going on the injured list. Since the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, Tyler Mahle owns a record of 22–18, a 3.90 ERA, and 424 strikeouts over 71 games, 70 starts, with the Reds and Twins. Mahle ranks among major league pitchers with 350+ innings pitched that in span in strikeouts per nine innings (17th, 10.20), strikeout percentage (20th, 27.1%), and opp. BA (27th, .228).
His velocity has been down over the past two seasons, which isn’t surprising given the arm issues. In 2021, Mahle averaged 94 mph on his four-seam with a plus cutter/slider that sat around 87 mph. He also has a splitter to deploy against lefties and has posted neutral platoon numbers over his career. In 2024, Mahle will join a Rangers rotation that includes Max Scherzer, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, and Dane Dunning.
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