The Rangers got a bullpen arm back on Monday, reinstating left-hander Robert Garcia from the 60-day injured list and filling their 40-man roster in the process. To make room on the active roster, Texas optioned right-hander Ben Peoples.
Garcia’s season has been a rough one by any measure. He opened the year with eight innings, but the results never looked settled.
Across 34 batters faced, he issued seven walks and struck out only six before landing on the 15-day injured list in April with shoulder inflammation. That trip eventually turned into a stay on the 60-day IL.
Before this year went sideways, Garcia had built a solid track record. From 2023 through 2025, between the Nationals and Rangers, he posted a 3.58 ERA over 155 2/3 innings. His 27.2% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate all pointed to a pitcher who was doing a lot of things right.
Now Texas is hoping he can give them a useful stretch run. The Rangers are two games behind the Astros in the West division and a game and a half back of the Guardians for the final Wild Card spot. That makes every healthy arm matter, especially with a bullpen that has not carried its weight; Rangers relievers own a 4.45 ERA, which places them in the bottom third of MLB.
Garcia is also heading toward his first shot at arbitration after the season, though the time he missed will limit how much of a raise he can command.
The roster move leaves the Rangers with a 6/3 split of lefties to righties in the bullpen. Garcia joins Jacob Latz, Tyler Alexander, Adam Macko, Robby Ahlstrom and Jordan Montgomery on the left-handed side, while Jakob Junis, Chase Silseth and Trevor Williams give Texas its right-handed group. The timing matters, too, with the Rangers set to open a series against a lefty-heavy Mariners lineup tomorrow.
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