Forgotten Rangers prospect reminding onlookers why he's worth remembering

Jose Corniell was the Texas Rangers minor league pitcher of the year in 2023. And then one of the organization's top prospects mostly faded out of the memory of fans.

Fans can be excused for forgetting Corniell exists. After going a combined 16-6 in A-Ball and High A-Ball that season, he missed all of the 2024 campaign with elbow issues. However, the fireballing starting pitcher looks like he's finally healthy, and for now at least, looks like he's better than ever.

Workload plan and timeline: what’s next for Jose Corniell and a possible Texas Rangers call-up

Corniell started his road back to excellence just ahead of Independence Day this summer, but has come back like gangbusters. After four outings and 5.1 innings with the Texas Rangers ACL team, he was promoted to Double-A Frisco. It's worth noting that's where he would have pitched in 2024 had he never been injured, and the way he's pitched at this new higher level, one has to wonder if the still just 22-year-old would be knocking on the door of the majors this September.

Still seeing his workload carefully managed, the pitcher went just 2 innings in his first start at Double-A. Then 2.2 innings. Then 3 innings and finally 4 innings on Saturday. Still sitting at just 11.2 innings with Frisco, the most interesting part of his starts is that he hasn't allowed an earned run and just 3 hits. He's also struck out 12 and walked just one.

In 17.1 minor league innings so far this year, Corniell has allowed just 13 base runners, while posting a 1.04 earned run average with 17 strikeouts. He's been absolutely dominating as he returns from injury and tries to prove that he's officially back on the march to the Majors.

There's no telling just how much he might pitch this year, and it's certainly early enough in his road back that he could obviously suffer a setback. However, Texas Rangers fans need to keep the name Jose Corniell at the front of their mind. They might see him at Globe Life sometime next year.