Rangers Designate Jarred Kelenic, Joe Ross For Assignment

The Rangers announced that outfielder Jarred Kelenic and right-hander Joe Ross have been designated for assignment. Those moves open active roster spots for righty Chris Paddack and infielder/outfielder Cameron Cauley. It was reported earlier that the Rangers would be signing Paddack and selecting Cauley. The 40-man roster count stays at 39.

Kelenic, 26, was selected to the roster ten days ago. He has appeared in seven games since then, making ten plate appearances. He struck out in five of those, walked twice and notched one hit, a single.

That’s not much of a sample to draw conclusions from, but the Rangers have decided to shake up their outfield mix regardless, perhaps due to factors beyond Kelenic’s control. Wyatt Langford hit the injured list yesterday, with Evan Carter reinstated from the IL as the corresponding move. Carter will be the regular center fielder but he’s a lefty hitter who needs a platoon partner. Alejandro Osuna and Brandon Nimmo, the other Texas outfielders, are also lefties.

Kelenic is also a lefty hitter with traditional splits, so he’s a poor fit to platoon with Carter and generally not a great fit as a fourth outfielder behind three lefties. Cauley is right-handed and makes much more sense in that role. Since Kelenic is out of options, he can’t be easily sent to the minors, so he has been bumped off the 40-man entirely.

He’ll now head into DFA limbo again, a place he has been before. A former sixth overall pick and one of the top prospects in the league, he has not been able to find major league success. He has 1,557 big league plate appearances under his belt with multiple clubs. He has a .211/.283/.372 line and 84 wRC+ in those.

He exhausted his final option year with Atlanta last season. He was outrighted off the roster at the end of that campaign and elected free agency. That led to a minor league deal with the White Sox. He got a brief run on that club’s roster but was eventually bumped off, which led to him signing with the Rangers.

Despite the lack of big league success, he’ll land somewhere else, though that may be another minor league deal after clearing waivers again. Players have the right to reject outright assignments if they have a previous outright or at least three years of service time and Kelenic qualifies on both counts. The pedigree is strong and he has continued to hit minor league pitching. He has a .254/.377/.522 line and 120 wRC+ in Triple-A this year.

Ross, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in May after he was released by the Diamondbacks. He was added to the big league roster a little over two weeks ago. He made five appearances for the Rangers, logging eight innings. He allowed four earned runs, leading to a decent 4.50 earned run average in that small sample. However, he only struck out five of the 35 batters he faced, 14.3% pace.

Though he was once a viable starting pitcher, Ross has been more of a depth swingman in recent years. He missed most of 2022 and 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. Since then, he has thrown 136 2/3 innings for four different teams with a 4.74 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

He will also head into DFA limbo and will likely be on waivers in the coming days. As a veteran with years and years of service time, he has the right to reject outright assignments in favor of free agency.