Texas Rangers righthanded pitcher David Davalillo is being promoted from high-A Hub City to AA Frisco, per the beats.
The 22 year old Davalillo started the season at high-A Hub City, and through 10 starts he had a 1.09 ERA in 49.1 IP with 68 Ks against 11 walks. A six run, 1.2 IP outing his last time out resulted in his ERA jumping up to 2.12 on the season, though it wasn’t so bad of an outing that the Rangers felt a delay in moving him to AA was warranted.
Davalillo spent 2023 mostly pitching in the Arizona Complex League, making one start for Down East that season. He started 2024 at Down East and earned a promotion after 17 appearances for the Ducks, wherein he allowed a 1.79 ERA in 80.1 IP. He put up a 2.10 ERA at Hickory — which was high-A last year — after his promotion, throwing 30 innings in five starts.
Davalillo has had a 34.0% K rate against a 5.5% walk rate this year, compared to a 25.4% K rate and 7.2% walk rate last year. He’s also allowed just two home runs in 2025, something he was successful at preventing last year as well, when he allowed three home runs between low-A and high-A.
Davalillo is not someone who lights up the radar gun, but he has a four pitch mix and locates his pitches well. That is the sort of profile that can sometimes be exposed at the upper levels, so seeing how he handles the promotion and facing Texas League hitters will be an important test.