Rangers Sign Trevor Williams

The Rangers announced Tuesday that they’ve signed veteran righty Trevor Williams to a major league contract. They already had an opening on the 40-man roster, and rosters expand to 28 players today, so no corresponding move was necessary. Texas also recalled infielder/outfielder Cam Cauley from Triple-A Round Rock.

Williams was released by the Nationals this week. He’d been playing out the second season of a two-year, $14MM contract. Washington remains on the hook for the bulk of that salary. Texas will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. Notably, Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reports that Williams will be postseason-eligible if the Rangers qualify; that suggests that despite being announced this morning, the contract was finalized and submitted to the league last night.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that Williams, who’s worked as both a starter and reliever in the past, will join the Texas bullpen. That’s the role he’d held with the Nats since returning from the 60-day injured list in late July. Williams missed more than a year of action after undergoing internal brace surgery to address a UCL tear last summer.

While he was primarily a starter during his time in D.C., Williams looked sharp in a relief role following his return. He posted a 2.65 ERA, 31% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate in 17 innings. Productive as those numbers were, he’s slated to become a free agent at season’s end. The Nationals presumably released him as a means of affording a respected veteran the chance to latch on with a contender. Williams only returned from the IL four days prior to the trade deadline, so he didn’t have much time to build a market for himself prior to that juncture.

Those are, of course, big numbers, but Williams is averaging 89.9 mph on his four-seamer and has an 11.3% swinging-strike rate that’s just a fraction of a percentage point north of league average. He’s not likely to continue fanning 30% of his opponents — a reality that’s backed by his broader major league track record. The right-hander has a career 4.43 ERA, 19.1% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 41.1% ground-ball rate in 1026 major league innings.

Williams did have a big 2024 showing in Washington, when he logged a 2.03 ERA across 13 starts and 66 2/3 innings. He logged what was then a career-best 22.7% strikeout rate against a 6.7% walk rate, but those rate stats don’t support such a dominant level of performance. Williams benefited from a .267 average on balls in play, an 80.2% strand rate and minuscule 4.2% homer-to-flyball ratio. None of those are anywhere close to his respective career levels (.304, 72.5%, 12.5%), however, and his overall time in D.C. roughly mirrors his career numbers: 4.81 ERA, 18.9% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate.

The Rangers have patched their pitching staff together throughout the season, so the Williams addition ought to fit right in. They’re currently without starters Nathan Eovaldi (elbow inflammation) and Jack Leiter (ankle surgery). Jacob deGrom, MacKenzie Gore, Kumar Rocker, Cody Bradford and Cal Quantrill are starting games right now. Williams will join veteran lefty Jordan Montgomery as a long man in the bullpen, helping to support a relief corps composed almost entirely of additions who’ve joined the club since the beginning of the 2025-26 offseason. Jacob Latz and rookie southpaw Robby Ahlstrom are the only active Rangers relievers who were in the organization last season.