SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Texas Rangers used right-handed pitcher Peyton Gray as one of their designated live bullpen arms last season. When a hitter prepared for a rehab assignment, or sometimes even in lieu of one, the Rangers shuttled Gray up to Arlington’s Globe Life Field to throw to them before he returned to the minor leagues immediately afterward.
“I don’t think he’s going to be an option for that anymore because he’s so good,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Friday afternoon, “and now a real option for us.”
The Rangers reassigned Gray — a 30-year-old journeyman who bounced around independent leagues, international winter runs and various ranks of affiliated ball before this spring — to minor league camp Friday morning alongside catcher José Herrera. He remained with the big league club until the second-to-last day of camp, and in the process, established himself as someone that the Rangers could very likely turn to this season.
Gray posted a 1.86 ERA, 17 strikeouts and 0 walks in 8 2/3 innings of relief in Cactus League play this spring. He threw an impressive 73% of his pitches for strikes, struck out more than half of the batters he faced, and ran his plus changeup alongside a 94 mph fastball and a newly added cutter that he landed for eight called strikes in exhibition play.
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“He was one of the guys that stood out the most in camp,” Schumaker said. “He’s in a really good spot. Someone that now, all of the sudden, we’re going to call and ask about if something happens. Quite honestly, he was probably on the outside looking in coming into camp, just getting some innings, and you saw what happened.”
The Rangers, as expected, will carry just two catchers to start the season in Kyle Higashioka and Danny Jansen. Schumaker said the Rangers haven’t determined who the third catcher would be if needed, and while Willie MacIver is the only other one on the 40-man roster, the manager said he doesn’t “put too much stock into that” in the instance that they wanted to call someone else up instead.
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