Rangers’ Key Player suffers career threatening;To Undergo UCL Surgery….

Rangers pitching prospect Jose Corniell is out for the season. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that the 20-year-old righty will undergo surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow. It’s unclear if he’ll require a full Tommy John reconstruction or the modified internal brace procedure.

In either case, it’ll cost him all of 2024 and shelve him well into next season. Corniell has spent the entire season on the minor league injured list while attempting to rehab the issue without surgery. That unfortunately proved unsuccessful. It’s a tough follow-up to a season that put Corniell more firmly on prospect radars. The Dominican-born hurler — whom Texas initially acquired from the Mariners in 2020 for Rafael Montero — turned in a 2.92 earned run average in A-ball a season ago. He punched out nearly 30% of opponents against a 7.8% walk rate over 101 2/3 innings.

The Rangers added Corniell to their 40-man roster last winter. Texas was concerned that another team (likely a rebuilding club) could grab him in the Rule 5 draft and try to stash him in the bullpen even though he’d yet to pitch above High-A. Corniell will continue to count against the 40-man while he’s on the minor league injured list.

If they’re willing to pay him at the the prorated $740K MLB minimum rate, Texas could place Corniell on the 60-day IL to open a roster spot. He’d need to be reinstated over the offseason, though the Rangers could elect to non-tender him with an eye towards bringing him back on a minor league deal instead.