Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs’ take from July:
The Rangers have finally moved Slaten to the bullpen and he’s carving. He isn’t throwing any harder than he was in 2022, but Slaten has taken to a single-inning, air-it-out approach and isn’t walking anyone. He’s sitting 94-97 with plus-plus carry, bending in his usual knee-buckling low-to-mid-80s slider, and he’s also added a cutter. Slaten’s delivery is violent and he has a high-maintenance frame, so his prospectdom is a little less stable than a premium on-mound athlete’s, but he has late-inning stuff and seems to have taken a step forward from a control standpoint. He could be in Texas’ big league bullpen by the end of the year and, if not, is almost certainly a post-season 40-man add who’ll debut next year.
That looks to me like a guy who could be ready. Man, there’s definitely more trades to come.
Right-handed relievers currently on the 40-man:
Jansen
Martin
Schreiber
Campbell
Slaten
Weissert
Robertson
Llovera
Kelly
Weiss
(Winckowski)
(Houck)
(Crawford)
(Pivetta)
(Whitlock)
Plus Mata, Gonzalez and Perales who have yet to make their debut.
That’s too many!