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Texas Rangers pitcher Peyton Gray throws live batting practice during a spring training workout at the team’s training facility on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Surprise, Ariz.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON \u2014 If you ask Rangers manager Skip Schumaker<\/a>, those end-of-camp conversations, specifically the ones that include a roster cut, are the hardest ones to have. If you ask right-handed pitcher Peyton Gray<\/a>, who was among the many on the other end of those chats just over a month ago, it went better than most.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was just excited to still have a job,\u201d Gray said Friday afternoon, \u201cand to still be able to\u00a0throw a ball and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Gray, 30, understands what it\u2019s like to be without one.\u00a0<\/p>\n He now has one that he\u00a0relentlessly pursued across multiple leagues\u00a0\u2014 and multiple countries\u00a0\u2014 for nearly a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rangers<\/a>\u00a0placed left-handed pitcher Robert Garcia on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation Thursday, selected Gray\u2019s contract from Triple-A Round Rock and designated catcher Willie MacIver for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot for the journeyman reliever. Gray will be the oldest American-born player to make his big league debut with the Rangers since left-handed pitcher Brandon Mann debuted as a 33-year-old on May 13, 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s sunk in yet,\u201d Gray said. \u201cIt\u2019s surreal to be here. A couple of years ago I didn\u2019t even know if I was ever going to play in the states again. I was in Mexico, I was playing independent ball, stuff like that. There were some bad times where I didn\u2019t ever see this as a possibility, so being here, it\u2019s a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n RELATED: For one long-shot Rangers reliever, dreams of big league debut are sharpening into reality<\/a><\/p>\n Gray\u00a0pitched at three different colleges, signed with the Colorado Rockies as an\u00a0undrafted free agent eight years ago, sandwiched three different\u00a0stints with the independent league Milwaukee Milkmen around three different\u00a0minor league opportunities, was released by three different organizations, bounced between winter leagues in Mexico and the Dominican\u00a0Republic and worked odd jobs on the side to support his baseball career. The Rangers signed him to a minor league contract last year, and after successful runs at Triple-A Round Rock and Double-A Frisco, invited him to big league camp this spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you, I had to, like, introduce myself to him,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cI had to put a face to the name. I didn\u2019t really know who he was other than video. But, right away, he showed us who he was, which was a credit to him. He came in ready to win a spot, and he did everything he could to win a spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Rangers pitcher Peyton Gray delivers during the sixth inning of a spring training game against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in Tempe, Ariz.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n The Columbus, Ind., native had operated as one of the club\u2019s go-to live bullpen arms last season when it needed a warm body to face big leaguers at Globe Life Field, but by the time camp broke this spring, he\u2019d established himself as a legitimate option. Gray posted a 1.86 ERA, 17 strikeouts and no walks in 8 \u2154 innings of relief in Cactus League play. He threw 73% of his pitches for strikes and struck out more than half of the batters he faced.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a 30-year-old non-roster invite, without any big league time, I don\u2019t think they expected me to put up as many zeroes and throw as many strikes as I did,\u201d Gray said. \u201cI think I surprised them. I might\u2019ve surprised myself a little bit too.\u201d<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gray boosted his own confidence in the process. He struck out 15 batters in 12 \u2154 scoreless innings at Round Rock to start this season and continued to pound the zone with a 72% strike percentage. His changeup, considered the bread and butter of his arsenal, has held minor league hitters to a .095 batting\u00a0average and a 33% swing-and-miss percentage this year. Gray is the only pitcher at the Triple-A level who\u2019s thrown a changeup 70 or more times this season and held hitters to a .100 batting average or less.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rangers believe Gray can pitch multiple innings out of the bullpen. He logged two or more innings in three of his last four games at Round Rock and allowed two combined hits in those appearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a story this is going to be when he gets on the mound,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cThe journey, from minor leagues to independent ball to international, the whole deal, it\u2019s an incredible story. It\u2019s earned. It\u2019s not just because we need a pitcher. He\u2019s earned this, and that sticks out the most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers pitcher Peyton Gray throws live batting practice during a spring training workout at the team’s training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-263598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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