Rangers sign vet reliever Strickland to Minor League deal

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- A friend of Bruce Bochy is a friend of the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers announced on Wednesday that they signed right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland to a Minor League deal with an invite to Major League camp. The 36-year-old spent the first part of his big league career with Bochy¡¯s Giants from 2014-18.

Strickland said that familiarity with Bochy drove him to sign this deal in Texas.

¡°The offseason drug on for me, but this is a place that I felt like home, even though I¡¯ve never been here, obviously,¡± Strickland said. ¡°I think [the familiarity] is huge. I think [Chris Young] and Boch have done a tremendous job with the guys that I've seen. Obviously, I've only been here a couple of days, but they've got a lot of good things in here. It doesn't seem like any bad attitudes or anything like that. Everybody's professional. It's a little bit of an older group. Everybody just goes about their business and gets the job done.¡±

Strickland, 36, spent the 2024 season with Angels, collecting one save and 12 holds to go along with a 3.31 ERA and a club-leading 72 appearances.

Bochy said that while bullpen roles and competitions still need to play themselves out over the final two weeks of camp, it¡¯s more than likely that Strickland will start the season with Triple-A Round Rock and be one of the first callups when the Rangers need an arm.

¡°Hunter had a nice year last year,¡± Bochy said. ¡°He gives us depth experience. He's pitched late in the ballgame, he's pitched in middle relief. He's a pro. He's a little different pitcher now than when I had him. He's more of a pitcher now, probably versus being a power guy. It's good to have him in camp. He's a good teammate. We'll get him going here, and he'll go Triple-A now [and] we'll get him ready.¡±

A 10-year MLB veteran, Strickland has 29 saves with a 3.40 ERA and 408 strikeouts over 480 career relief appearances with the Giants (2014-18), Mariners ('19), Nationals ('19), Mets ('20), Rays ('21), Angels ('21, '24), Brewers ('21) and Reds ('22).

He will no doubt be a valuable depth option for the Rangers, who fully rebuilt their bullpen this offseason after a number of losses in free agency. Bochy has said throughout camp that roles in the bullpen are not yet defined and that there is still competition for those final spots.

It¡¯s worth noting that Strickland is now the clubhouse leader in saves with 29.

¡°He has a very good big league track record as a veteran pitcher who's been in a lot of different roles,¡± said president of baseball operations Chris Young. ¡°We feel like it's a good arm to come in and add to the competition with our group. ¡­ We're looking for the best 13 arms to help us win games. If he's one of those, then certainly we'd be thrilled to add him to the roster. We feel good about the arms we have, and that will evolve over time.¡±

Strickland is just happy to be here and join the competition.

¡°Obviously, there's never any guarantee,¡± Strickland said. ¡°We¡¯ve gotta go out here and do our job and work hard and let the rest take care of itself. There's a healthy competition here. I'd like to think that's always a good thing. I think it makes everybody better.¡±