Cal Quantrill and Nick Pratto Join the Rangers On MiLB Deals

At approximately 7:52 p.m., Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported that the Rangers agreed to a minor league deal with veteran right-handed pitcher Cal Quantrill with an invite to spring training. Later that night, Chris Cotillo, who is a beat writer for the Boston Red Sox, reported that the Rangers were also expected to add former Royals 2017 first-round pick Nick Pratto.

Quantrill spent the end of last season in the Rangers organization in AAA. He tossed 11 innings and posted a 1.64 ERA and a 2.06 FIP. The last 3 seasons haven't been too kind to him. However, with Cleveland in 2021 and 2022 he was solid. In those two years he posted a 3.16 ERA in 336 innings. If the Rangers can get him close to how he was with Cleveland during that time he could fill in if one of the Rangers starters go down with an injury. Looks like the Rangers made some pitch usage changes last year in AAA. When he got here it looks like he relied on the splitter rather than the sinker. The splitter went from 21% before the Rangers, to 28% when pitched in AAA. In those 11 innings it generated a 71% chase rate and 40% whiff rate. I believe that we will see Quantrill use the splitter as his primary pitch continue. It's also possible the Rangers continue to make changes to his pitch usage.

Pratto, meanwhile, hasn't found success in the big leagues yet. In his two years of playing in the bigs he has negative WAR and a career batting average of .216. Looking at his stats and metrics this looks to be a minor league depth move. The Rangers did just move Abimelec Ortiz to the Nationals in the MacKenzie Gore trade, and will need to add another option at first base in the minors. Expectations probably aren't set very high on Pratto, but crazy things can happen and maybe he is playing really well and finds his way onto the big league roster.

It would not be surprising if the Rangers announce a few more minor league signings in the lead-up to spring training, particularly on the pitching side.