Texas Rangers: Jason Hammel Retires Despite Being on Big League Roster

In probably the strangest news of the day, reliever Jason Hammel has informed the Texas Rangers he’ll retire despite winning a spot in the bullpen.

If there’s a headline Texas Rangers fans didn’t expect to see today it was the one of Jason Hammel informing the club that he intends to retire prior to the start of the season. Veteran pitchers retiring between Spring Training and the start of the season isn’t all that out of the ordinary when a vet fails to make the big league roster. But Hammel had already been notified that he would be in Arlington come Opening Day as part of the Rangers bullpen.

The 36-year old has previously made it known that he would only stay in the game if he was on the Major League roster and that the Minors wasn’t an option. But even with his wishes fulfilled, Hammel apparently didn’t have the desire to remain in the game.

Hammel, 36 years old, spent the 2018 season as a part of the Kansas City Royals organization making 39 appearances, 18 starts for the club. He was expected to be the long-man for Texas as that was somewhat his specialty over the past couple of seasons.

For Texas, Hammel had made 4 Spring Training appearances throwing a combined 13 innings. He’d struck out 12 while allowing 6 earned runs on 10 total hits. He maintained a fairly impressive 1.077 WHIP and a respectable 4.15 ERA.

So with Hammel no longer a part of the organization and a spot available in the bullpen, the door has been opened for Jeanmar Gomez to get a shot in Globe Life Park’s final season. Gomez, 31, signed with Texas after spending 2018 as a part of the White Sox bullpen and has impressed in 10.1 innings during Spring Training posting a 1.74 ERA allowing just 2 earned runs.