According to FanSided’s Robert Murray (via X), the Rangers have signed right-handed pitcher Codi Heuer to a minor league contract. After the Cubs declined to tender him in November, Heuer became a free agent.
Heuer hasn’t pitched in the major leagues in more than two years, and he has only 12 2/3 minor league innings since the start of the 2022 season. Heuer was sidelined for much of that period due to a Tommy John treatment, but while pitching in a minor league rehab appearance last June, he suffered an elbow fracture that necessitated more surgery.
Heuer was drafted in the sixth round by the White Sox in 2018 and made his Major League debut in 2020, pitching 23 2/3 innings. Heuer had a fantastic 1.52 ERA in his maiden appearance at the Show, even though a.193 BABIP helped him surpass peripherals such as a 3.69 SIERA. The righty came close to that number in 2021, with a 4.28 ERA in 67 1/3 combined innings with the White Sox and Cubs, as Heuer and Nick Madrigal moved from the South Side to Wrigleyville as part of the all-Chicago deadline transaction that brought Craig Kimbrel to the Sox.
Between the extended layoff and the variables that went into the 2020 season, it is difficult to predict whether Heuer will ever be able to duplicate his remarkable figures (including a 27.2% strikeout rate and a 9.8% walk rate) from that abbreviated season, since his K% plummeted to 19.9% by 2021. Heuer’s fastball also decreased from 97.6 mph in 2020 to 95.9 mph in 2021, and it’s reasonable to wonder how two surgeries have affected his velocity. Still, Heuer isn’t 28 until July, and he wouldn’t be the only underappreciated pitcher to experience a second wind in his career after regaining health. Texas has little risk and a lot of upside in this minor league deal, especially after bolstering the bullpen.
