Rangers Send Bullpen Options to Rehab

ARLINGTON, Texas — Pitchers Kyle Funkhouser and Danny Duffy were reinstated from the injured list in Triple-A Round Rock and transferred to Double-A Frisco on Saturday, a sign that the pair are ready to start further injury rehab work and perhaps become bullpen options this season for the Texas Rangers.

To make room, the RoughRiders moved right-handed pitcher Hever Bueno to the 7-Day injured list and moved left-handed pitcher Juan Mejia to the development list, per The Prospect Times. Mejia was throwing long-toss at Globe Life Field on Saturday before the Rangers claimed a 16-6 win over the Seattle Mariners.

Both Funkhouser and Duffy have been ramping up in the past couple of weeks with bullpen sessions and batting practice sessions, both in Arlington and at the team’s training complex in Surprise, Ariz.

Either could be a candidate to join the Texas bullpen at some point this season.

The Rangers signed Funkhouser to a minor-league contract in January knowing that it was possible he would need part of the 2023 season to rehab a surgically-repaired shoulder. He didn’t pitch in 2022.

Funkhouser is a former fourth-round pick of the Detroit Tigers who broke into the Majors in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. From 2020-21 he pitched in 70 games with a 4.20 ERA and one save.

Duffy, an 11-year veteran with a 68-68 record, joined the Rangers after spending nearly his entire career with the Kansas City Royals. But he’s been out of baseball since the summer of 2021 with arm issues, including surgery for a torn flexor tendon. When the Rangers broke Spring Training, he remained behind to continue his rehab.

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