Outfielder Jarred Kelenic and right-handers Joe Ross and Chris Paddack all cleared waivers following their recent DFAs with the Rangers, per a club announcement. All three opted to reject an outright assignment to Triple-A Round Rock in favor of free agency.
Kelenic, of course, was once one of the very top prospects in the industry. He was the sixth overall pick by the Mets in 2018 and was in the mix at points to go even higher. After debuting in the minors and being traded to the Mariners as part of the Edwin Díaz deal, he was lauded as one of the ten best prospects in all of MLB. He and Julio Rodríguez were touted as a potential foundational outfield pairing for the Mariners.
While Rodriguez has indeed gone on to stardom, Kelenic never found his footing. Outside of a decent 2023 season in Seattle, he’s never produced much offense in the majors. The Mariners effectively sold him to the Braves in the 2023-24 offseason, using Kelenic’s former prospect status as a mechanism to shed most of the unwanted money still remaining on their deals to Marco Gonzales and Evan White. It wound up working out fairly well for the M’s, as Kelenic failed to catch on in Atlanta as well.
Kelenic, 27 later this month, has played for both the White Sox and Rangers this season. He didn’t hit well in a small sample with either club. He tallied only 10 plate appearances as a Ranger and notched a single in eight official at-bats. All told, he’s batting .213/.304/.295 this season and is a lifetime .211/.283/.372 hitter in 1557 plate appearances across parts of six major league seasons.
Ross, 33, pitched eight innings across five relief outings with the Rangers. He allowed four runs on nine hits and a pair of walks with five strikeouts. Ross has now pitched in parts of nine major league seasons. He reached eight years of major league service time earlier this season. He was an intriguing young starter for the Nationals early in his career, but much like older brother Tyson Ross, injuries have had a substantially negative impact on his career.
Ross posted a 3.52 ERA through his first 35 big league appearances (32 starts) back in 2015-16. He totaled 181 2/3 frames in that time and looked the part of a quality big league arm, blending average or better strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates. He’s since had a pair of Tommy John surgeries and a procedure to remove bone spurs from his elbow. Understandably, his results have waned. Ross bounced back in a nice season with the ’24 Brewers, tossing 74 innings with a 3.77 ERA and rate stats that were only slightly worse than league average. He was hit hard in a partial season with the ’25 Phillies though, yielding a 5.12 ERA with a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate. This year he’s allowed a dozen runs in 11 2/3 innings between the D-backs and Rangers.
Overall, the 6’4″ right-hander has pitched 580 innings in the majors. His 4.38 ERA in that time is plenty serviceable but is skewed by his early results, before injuries began to pile up. Since that promising start in 2015-16, Ross has only pitched 398 1/3 MLB frames with a 4.77 ERA. Clubs looking for some veteran depth in the rotation or a possible swing option in the bullpen could take a look, but both Ross and Kelenic seem ticketed for minor league deals, wherever they land next.
Paddack, 30, was effectively only on the Texas roster for a spot start. Technically, Tyler Alexander started the game, but only went one inning as an opener. Paddack then came in and covered four frames, allowing two earned runs. He was then designated for assignment after just one day on the roster.
Now that he is again a free agent, he could appeal to teams due to his experience and affordability. He signed a $4MM deal with the Marlins coming into this year. Miami released him fairly early in the campaign. They are still on the hook for the remainder of that salary. Other clubs can sign Paddack and only pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Marlins pay.
The Reds signed up for that arrangement for a while but they, too, moved on from Paddack after a few weeks. That allowed the Rangers to scoop him up and give their rotation a breather in the wake of an injured list placement for Jack Leiter.
Paddack had an amazing rookie season back in 2019, posting a 3.33 earned run average in 140 2/3 innings. He hasn’t been nearly as effective since then, however. Dating back to the start of 2020, he has thrown 498 innings with a 5.26 ERA. His 5.3% walk rate is a strong number but he has only punched out 19.3% of batters faced. That strikeout rate has been even lower lately, as he was at just 16.7% last year and is sitting on a 15% clip so far in 2026. Despite the tepid numbers, various teams around the league have been hit hard by injuries and might need a live arm.
