The Rangers announced this morning that they’ve recalled righty Winston Santos from Double-A Frisco. Fellow right-hander Jose Corniell was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to open a spot on the active roster. It’ll be Santos’ major league debut the first time he takes the mound.
Santos entered the season ranked seventh among Rangers farmhands over at Baseball America. He’s currently fifth in the system at MLB.com and FanGraphs and sits fourth on Kiley McDaniel’s June update of Texas’ system over at ESPN.
It’s been a tough season in Double-A for the 24-year-old Santos, who missed nearly all of the 2025 season due to a stress reaction in his back. He also missed time early this season after sustaining a fracture in his left (non-pitching) hand when he was hit by a comebacker in spring training.
Santos’ return from that pair of injuries has seen him take the ball 11 times (all starts) but last only 42 1/3 innings. He’s recorded an ugly 7.44 ERA in that time. Santos has punched out a hefty 29.1% of his opponents, but he’s issued walks at a subpar 10.6% clip and been exorbitantly homer-prone; opponents have dinged him for 10 homers in those 42 1/3 innings — an average of 2.13 round-trippers per nine innings pitched. A mammoth 25.6% homer-to-flyball rate and a similarly outlandish .411 average on balls in play have led to a 4.37 xFIP that’s more than three runs south of his actual ERA.
Listed at just 6’0″ and 160 pounds, Santos is of slighter frame than a typical right-handed starter but nonetheless drew praise as a potential midrotation arm back in 2024. That season, the Domincan-born hurler tossed 110 1/3 innings with a 3.67 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate between High-A and Double-A. As is often the case for “undersized” righties, he’s typically been an extreme fly-ball pitcher, although this year he’s turned in a 46% ground-ball rate that’s both higher than the MLB average (42%) and a career-high by a wide margin.
The Rangers effectively used a bullpen game yesterday against the Marlins. Cal Quantrill started and tossed 34 pitches over two innings. Corniell followed with 69 pitches over 3 1/3 frames, and Joe Ross handled the final 2 2/3 innings, tossing 30 pitches in the process. That presumably takes all three off the table for today’s day game against Miami. Corniell is the only one of that trio who can be optioned, so he’s been shipped out in favor of a well rested fresh arm in Santos.
Texas sends Jacob deGrom to the mound for today’s series finale against the Fish. It’s hardly a guarantee that Santos will get into the game for his debut, and it’s feasible that the Rangers could send Santos back to the minors before he even steps onto a big league mound in a game setting. Santos was the only option on the 40-man roster who is healthy, rested and stretched out for any real length, however.
Looking more broadly at the Texas pitching staff, there’s an opportunity for Santos or another young arm to claim a spot in the major league rotation following Jack Leiter‘s ankle surgery. Yesterday was Leiter’s spot in the rotation, so there’s no immediate need for someone to step in. DeGrom will take the ball today and be followed by MacKenzie Gore tomorrow, Nathan Eovaldi on Friday and Kumar Rocker on Saturday. Texas could continue stretching Quantrill or Ross out in Sunday’s game, but if Santos sticks on the roster and hasn’t been used in long relief, it’s at least possible he could get the nod in what would have been Leiter’s next turn.
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery began a minor league rehab assignment a few days ago but is likely several weeks away from being an option. He could eventually step into Leiter’s spot, but Texas also figures to explore the trade market for additional starting pitching help. They’re three games under .500 but just two and a half back in the AL West and only one down in the American League Wild Card chase.
