Rangers Acquire Rule 5 Pick From Pittsburgh
The Rangers did not pick anyone in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 draft, but they did manage to come away with a Rule 5 pick, nonetheless. They made a trade with the Pirates who had the 5th selection. They traded Jaiker Garcia and cash considerations to Pittsburgh in return for the player the Pirates would select, RHP Carter Baumler. The team he was selected from was the Orioles who drafted him out of high school in the 5th round of the 2020 draft. Baumler will turn 24 at the end of next month.
Baumler was available mainly because of his injury history. He has essentially had one complete season combined over the past 5 years. He missed the last half of the 2024 season and the first month of the 2025 season with a shoulder injury. The Orioles played it safe with him in 2025 and never pitched in on back-to-back days and often they gave him 4 or 5 days between outings.
He had an outstanding second half in 2025. He allowed just 1 run through his last 17.1 innings. During that stretch he struck out 25 batters and walked 8 while hitters only batted .125 against him.
He mostly split the year between High-A and AA. He put up an amazing 2.04 ERA striking out 46 and walking 18 in 39.2 innings.
He uses three pitches including a four-seam fastball, slider and curveball. His fastball sits 95-96 and reaches 98 mph. His curveball sits at 83-85. With his curve he generates a whiff rate of 32% and a chase rate of 39%.
From 2024 to 2025 Baumler saw his fastball increase in velocity from 91.1 mph to 95.3 mph. According to Baseball America that was tied for the 12th most increase in velocity in all of the minor leagues.
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