With the Dodgers having finished off the Blue Jays in an appropriately epic Game 7 to conclude one of the all time great World Series, the offseason is officially here and underway. And in just 15 — count
‘em, 15 — days, we have the deadline for teams to add players to the 40 man roster to protect them from the 2025 Rule 5 Draft. You can check out the rules regarding the Rule 5 Draft, including what makes a player eligible to be picked, here.
The Rangers had 47 players on their 40 man roster at the end of the 2025 season, with 12 of them becoming free agents yesterday. The 40 man roster now stands at 35, though that includes several guys who are likely to be waived or non-tendered — Billy McKinney, for example, is still on the 40 man roster. There are four or five players who seems likely to be dropped from the 40 man roster, and Cody Bradford will land on the 60 day injured list once spring training opens, so there’s no real concern at this point about a 40 man roster squeeze.
Thomas Nestico put together a spreadsheet of every Rule 5 eligible player currently under contract with a major league team, sorted by team. Part of the reason the Rangers won’t have a 40 man roster squeeze is seen at the very top of his spreadsheet, where Kohl Drake and Mitch Bratt are the very two players listed for Arizona, the very first team listed. Bratt and Drake were traded by the Rangers to the Diamondbacks in the Merrill Kelly trade last summer. Were they still with the Rangers, they would likely have been locks to be added.
Between trades and in-season callups, the Rangers would not appear likely to have many moves to make come the November 18 deadline to protect players. It would be surprising if the only player the Rangers add is righthanded pitcher David Davalillo. The 22 year old is currently #8 on the Baseball America prospect list for the Rangers, and split the 2025 season between high-A Hub City and AA Frisco, putting up a 2.44 ERA in 107 innings over 23 games between the two leagues.
Davalillo is an interesting guy, originally signing with the Mets in 2021, then being released soon thereafter. Davalillo signed with the Rangers in 2022, and after a couple of unremarkable seasons, broke out in 2024, when he spent most of the year in low-A. He’s a strike-thrower who commands a four pitch mix but doesn’t have loud stuff — he touches 96 mph with his fastball, and its funny to think that’s kinda ho-hum nowadays.
Cam Cauley would seem to be, aside from Davalillo, the most likely Ranger prospect to be protected. The team’s third round pick in 2021, Cauley took a step forward in 2025, slashing .253/.325/.448 in 490 plate appearances with 28 steals in 35 attempts. After being an infielder — primarily a shortstop — prior to this year, Cauley got 43 games in center field in 2025. With Texas having added Cody Freeman — an infielder with a similar profile to Cauley’s — to the 40 man roster this past summer, I’m not sure if they’ll want to carry both Freeman and Cauley. Cauley probably wouldn’t be selected, and stick on a roster all year, as a Rule 5 pick, but the defensive versatility and speed makes him the type of player a team could take a keep as a late inning bench option all season.
Aside from Davalillo and Cauley, there are a handful of players who would seem to be in the possibilities to be protected, or to be selected if they aren’t protected, though most likely will be neither.
Abi Ortiz is probably the most noteworthy of that group. The lefthanded hitting first baseman/right fielder was an undrafted free agent of the Rangers in 2021 out of Florida SouthWestern State College. A disappointing 2022 campaign at low-A was followed by a terrific 2023 season that saw him slash .294/.371/.619 between low-A and high-A. 2024 saw him put up mediocre numbers at Frisco, and though he was Rule 5 eligible last year, he was not considered a candidate to be protected or selected.
After a mediocre first half, Ortiz kicked it into gear in the second half, and earned a promotion to AAA Round Rock for the final two months of the season. Ortiz put up a .283/.388/.565 slash line in 165 plate appearances for Round Rock, with 9 homers, 21 walks and 36 Ks.
The argument for adding Ortiz is that he has legitimate power, performed at AAA last year, and, given that he’ll be 24 to start the 2026 season, there’s little concern about him burning through options prematurely, since the soonest he’d be out of options would be his age 27 season. The argument against is that his track record of hitting at the upper levels is limited, and he is a bat-only guy, which means its harder for a team to stash him on their bench all season.
The two names whose omission from the 40 man roster last offseason caused the most consternation among Rangers fans were Josh Stephan and Bryan Magdaleno. Neither pitcher had a good 2025 season, and neither appears likely to be a serious consideration to be added this offseason.
Ismael Agreda and Aidan Curry are A ball starting pitchers with good stuff and, in the case of Agreda, good result results. Each is an interesting arm, but neither is impressive enough to warrant protecting at this stage.
Robby Ahlstrom and Wilian Bormie are relievers who a selecting team could possibly take a flyer on. Ahlstrom is a lefty who has spent time at AAA each of the past two seasons but hasn’t missed enough bats or thrown enough strikes. The fact that the Rangers didn’t call him up in September, when they were needing warm bodies, suggests to me he won’t be protected. Bormie is a righthander who spent a little time in AA but most of 2025 at high-A. He throws hard and misses bats but also walks a lot of guys. Each is the type of bullpen arm a selecting team could want to take a look at in spring training for the Rule 5 price.
You can peruse Nestico’s list and see who else might jump out at you, either with the Rangers or another team. It does include players who are eligible for minor league free agency, and thus aren’t really applicable to this discussion, with the most notable on the Rangers’ list being pitchers Avery Weems and Gavin Collyer.
