Rangers designate Wes Benjamin for assignment, activate Matt Bush

The Rangers activated right-hander Matt Bush from the 60-day IL, according to John Blake, the team’s executive VP of communications. Fellow righty Glenn Otto was optioned to make room on the active roster while lefty Wes Benjamin was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man.

It’s been quite a journey for Bush, who had his 2019 and 2020 seasons wiped out by Tommy John surgery. This year, he cracked the Rangers roster out of spring training but went on the IL April 9 with elbow inflammation and has been there ever since. Prior to that IL placement, he got into three games and logged three innings, with four strikeouts, four hits, a walk and three earned runs. He recently started a rehab assignment and made four appearances in the minors. The club has seemingly decided to reward Bush’s hard work and patience by adding him back to the big league roster on the last day of the season. The 35-year-old can be controlled for three more seasons via arbitration but seems likely to be non-tendered, considering that he’s now three years removed from a meaningful stretch of production at the big league level.

As for Benjamin, he made his major league debut last year, logging 22 1/3 innings over eight games, including one start. He had an ERA of 4.84 with average-ish strikeout and walk rates of 21.4% and 7.1%. This year, he’s been tossed back and forth between the majors and minors, having been optioned six times. At the big league level in 2021, he got into 22 2/3 innings with an ERA of 8.74, along with a strikeout rate of 17% and walk rate of 15.2%, both of which are worse than league average. The 28-year-old lefty will now presumably go on waivers in the coming days.