Former Texas Rangers journeyman reliever signs with KBO team

Former Texas Rangers journeyman reliever Caleb Boushley signs with KBO’s KT Wiz

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)'s KT Wiz signed former Rangers journeyman righty reliever Caleb Boushley to a one-year, $900K contract with a potential $100K in incentives.

Boushley, 32, signed a minor league contract with the Rangers in the 2024-25 offseason. Texas selected his contract in early April and optioned him to Triple-A Round Rock five different times throughout the 2025 campaign before designating him for assignment in early September. The Tampa Bay Rays picked him up for the end of the season, but he didn't pitch for them at all.

In 43 1/3 innings over 25 appearances with Texas this past season, Boushley posted an awful 6.02 ERA (3.85 FIP) with a 21.2% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 40.7% ground-ball rate.

The San Diego Padres selected Boushley in the 33rd round of the 2017 MLB Draft. The Milwaukee Brewers claimed him off waivers from the Padres in the 2021-22 offseason. He made his MLB debut with Milwaukee in 2023, allowing one run on one hit (one homer) and two walks with five strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings for his first big league appearance. That was his only appearance for the Brewers. He elected minor league free agency in the 2023-24 offseason and signed a deal with the Minnesota Twins.

Boushley didn't play in the big leagues much for the Twins, either, allowing two runs with one strikeout in four innings over two appearances with Minnesota in 2024. He elected free agency once again in the 2024-25 offseason before signing with the Rangers.

In parts of eight minor league seasons, Boushley has a 4.31 ERA with 655 strikeouts and 209 walks over 763 2/3 innings.

Boushley relies on six pitches. He throws a low-90s sinker (27.8%), low-90s four-seamer (19.5%), high-80s cutter (19.1%), mid-80s changeup (13.2%), mid-80s slider (13.1%) and mid-70s curveball.

The KT Wiz likely noticed that, despite Boushley's poor results this past season, he still had a solid 3.85 FIP. The journeyman has the tools to succeed at the MLB level; he may just need time in the KBO to work on some things before returning to the United States.