The Rangers have signed right-hander David Buchanan to a minor league contract, MLB Commerce Rumors has discovered. The deal incorporates an invite for the 35-year-old Buchanan to attend the Rangers’ huge league Spring Coaching camp.
Buchanan hit the open market after electing minor league free company at season’s finish, following an outright off the Reds’ 40-man roster in September. Buchanan signed a minors cope with the Phillies final February and spent all the 2024 marketing campaign within the minors till Cincinnati acquired him in a commerce in late August. The injury-ravaged Reds had been in search of recent arms to cowl innings, and this want led to Buchanan tossing 3 1/3 innings in Cincinnati’s 5-4 loss to the Brewers on August 31.
Although he was designated for project the subsequent day, entering into that single sport was nonetheless a noteworthy milestone Buchanan, because it marked his first MLB look since October 4, 2015. A seventh-round decide for the Phillies within the 2010 draft, Buchanan posted a 5.01 ERA over 35 begins and 192 1/3 innings for Philadelphia over the 2014-15 seasons earlier than spending 2016 again on the Phils’ Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley.
The righty then launched into an extended stint abroad, starting with three seasons with the Yakult Swallows of Nippon Skilled Baseball from 2017-19. Whereas Buchanan’s time in Japan had its ups and downs, he discovered far more consistency whereas pitching with the KBO League’s Samsung Lions over the 2020-23 seasons. Buchanan posted a 3.02 ERA in 113 begins and 699 2/3 innings with the Lions, incomes KBO All-Star nods in each 2022 and 2023. Buchanan took his fame as a groundball pitcher to excessive heights in South Korea, posting grounder charges of over 70% throughout his time with the Lions.
Buchanan’s grounder charges normalized drastically when again in Triple-A ball final season, and he posted a 4.86 ERA, 17.1% strikeout fee, and 6.88% stroll fee throughout 124 complete innings with the Phillies’ and Reds’ prime associates. He labored as each a starter and as an extended reliever, so he offers Texas with an attention-grabbing swingman choice heading into Spring Coaching. Between Buchanan’s lack of strikeouts and the Rangers’ give attention to their bullpen this offseason, Buchanan is probably going ticketed for lengthy aid work if he cracks the energetic roster, however that’s nonetheless a stable function on a group seeking to amass as a lot pitching depth as doable given the harm issues throughout the rotation.
