Texas Rangers: Ryan Rua Set to Make Rehab Starts

Texas Rangers utility man, Ryan Rua, is set to start his rehab assignment with Double-A Frisco tonight as he works back from a back injury.

Ryan Rua is set to begin a rehab with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders on Monday. Working his way to returning to the Texas Rangers from a back injury that saw him hit the disabled list at the end of July. The announcement came via tweet from John Blake, Executive VP of Communications for the club.

As mentioned in the tweet, Rua is expected to play 5 innings in the outfield tonight. With the rosters set to expand Saturday at the beginning of September, it’s easy to assume that Rua’s rehab stint will last through Friday. In that stretch, the RoughRiders will play 5 games as they finish off a home series against Midland and then open up a home series against Corpus Christi on Tuesday.

Before he went down with back spasms, Rua had seen a limited role with the big league club. Appearing in 56 games Rua split time between all three outfield spots, as well as first base and DH. He even made a token pitching appearance at one point. The 28-year old was hitting just .194 in 2018 with a .223 on-base percentage and an OPS of just .594. Clearly Rua was having a down year and even made 18 starts with Triple-A Round Rock in hopes of finding his form.

Never a highly touted player, entering the season, the Texas Rangers were hoping Rua could find himself again and put up the numbers he saw in 2016 when he hit .258 in 99 appearances. It’s unexpected at this point the Ryan Rua fits as a key long term part of the Rangers rebuild. However, under team control through 2022, Texas definitely would be open to using Rua as a outfield utility man if he can improve at the plate.