Who was a part of the Texas Rangers’ September Call-Ups?

September call-ups have occurred. Which players have the Texas Rangers opted to give an extended look after the minor league seasons concluded?

September 1st marks the day MLB teams can expand their rosters up to 40 players from the standard 25. It’s rare that all 40 spots are filled; however, a club will generally add a handful of players for the sake of providing support at the end of a long season, and granting big league experience. Who was part of the Texas Rangers’ September call-ups?

Ronald Guzman is the most familiar call-up. The 24-year-old first baseman was sent to the minor leagues at the end of July. At the time he was hitting .193 with a .396 slugging percentage and .285 on-base percentage. This was supposed to be the year he took over as the everyday first baseman. That was not the case.

Guzman did perform strongly in 30 games with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. He hit .308 with five home runs and a .904 OPS. He’ll get his fair share of starts in the closing month of the season with the Texas Rangers.

Reliever Jeffrey Springs is back as well. Like Guzman, the Rangers had high expectations for Springs in 2019. The lefty gave Texas 32 innings a season ago, contributing a 3.38 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. Springs has pitched 27.1 innings with the major league squad this season, but his ERA ballooned to 5.93 and his WHIP to a 1.83. Opposing hitters have also hit .290 against him, 34 points higher than in 2018.

He’ll return to the relief mix. Expect Jeffrey Springs to take some of the load off of fellow southpaw Brett Martin, who is second among full-time Ranger relievers in innings pitched.

Texas took a flyer on pitcher Luke Farrell. This is his fourth big league team in a span of three years. As a September call-up, Farrell gave the Rangers 2.1 innings in relief yesterday afternoon. He allowed two runs on two home runs and fanned one. The Rangers are curious about the 6’6”, 210 LB. right-hander; however, his primary purpose is to lessen the workload of the rest of the staff.

Ian Gibaut is a 25-year-old rookie. He’s appeared in four games with the Texas Rangers this year and pitched to a 1.35 ERA. He has yet to give up a home run in 6.2 innings. He is another guy the team will give plenty of looks this month to see if he can hang with major league talent.

He’s not a September call-up, but pitcher Edinson Volquez returned from the 60-day IL to face the Seattle Mariners yesterday. He had missed five months of the regular season with an elbow issue and wanted to return to the active roster before hanging up the cleats. In one inning of work, Volquez allowed no runs, forcing a double play and recording one strikeout. A strong finish to a solid 14-year career for Volquez would be a nice story… one that Texas Rangers nation is certainly rooting for.