ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers selected the contract of right-hander Michel Otañez from Triple-A Round Rock on Friday and optioned left-hander Robby Ahlstrom to Round Rock in the corresponding active roster move. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, Texas transferred right-hander Cole Winn from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list.
Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported the Otañez and Ahlstrom moves at 4:24 p.m. CT, ahead of the club’s announcement of all three transactions before Friday’s series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays at Globe Life Field.
Michel Otañez Back On The Texas Rangers’ 40-Man Roster
Otañez, 29, will wear No. 58 and has not pitched in a major league game this season. On June 13, Texas designated him for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot. He cleared waivers and was sent outright to Round Rock five days later, the first outright of his career.
At the time of the designation, he carried a 6.15 ERA over 26 1/3 innings in 25 appearances for the Express, with 37 strikeouts and 25 walks. This season at Round Rock, he is 5-1 with a 4.42 ERA over 55 innings, with 74 strikeouts and 42 walks.
The Rangers claimed Otañez off waivers from the Athletics on Nov. 5, 2025. In spring training, he allowed 4 earned runs over 2 1/3 innings in 3 Cactus League appearances. Texas optioned him to Round Rock to open the season.
All 42 of his major league appearances came with the Athletics. He made his debut June 10, 2024. As a rookie, he posted a 3.44 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 1 save over 34 innings in 36 games. In 2025, he allowed 8 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings across 6 outings. His career line is 1-0 with a 4.81 ERA and 61 strikeouts over 39 1/3 innings.
Otañez is a native of Villa La Mata, Dominican Republic. He signed with the New York Mets as an international free agent on July 2, 2016.
Robby Ahlstrom Optioned, Cole Winn Moved To The 60-Day Injured List
Ahlstrom, 27, spent 87 days on the active roster in his first stint with Texas, from June 1 to Aug. 26. Over 36 relief appearances in that span, he went 3-1 with a 6.03 ERA, 10 walks, and 28 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings. Texas optioned him after an Aug. 26 outing against the Chicago White Sox, when he allowed 5 runs in 1 inning of a 10-4 loss.
He was back without throwing a pitch for Round Rock, recalled Aug. 31 on the same day Winn went on the 15-day injured list. Since then, he has allowed 4 earned runs and struck out 6 over 5 2/3 innings in 6 appearances.
His last outing came in Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, a bullpen day for Texas. Ahlstrom walked the first two batters he faced in the seventh inning. One of them scored on a forceout before right-hander Jakob Junis relieved him with Texas ahead, 3-1.
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said after the game that the walks left Texas using Junis to finish the seventh and sending him back out for the eighth. Closer Jacob Latz came in after that.
“We’re hoping that Robby could get the bottom of the order, and a couple walks hurt us,” Schumaker said. “It forced us to kind of use Junis there and then send him back out. And then we had to use Latz to clean them up. But I think you’re right. I think that the walks ended up hurting us towards the middle innings, ended up scoring some runs.”
In his major league debut June 3 at St. Louis, Ahlstrom retired all 4 batters he faced, 2 on strikeouts. The New York Yankees drafted him in the seventh round in 2021 out of the University of Oregon. Texas acquired him on April 2, 2022, in the trade that sent catcher Jose Trevino to New York.
His first career win came June 11 at Kansas City, though the official box score did not show it for four days. Ahlstrom entered with two outs in the fifth inning and a runner on, then retired all 4 batters he faced as Texas stretched its lead to 4-2. Winn followed with a scoreless inning. The official scorer credited the win to Latz, who finished the game with 2 perfect innings. After the Rangers appealed, MLB changed the decision June 15.
Ahlstrom did not learn about the scoring until he checked his phone after the celebration.
“I mean, we celebrated like I did [get the win]. I mean everybody thought it was going to be that way,” Ahlstrom said June 16, two days before his 27th birthday. “A little interesting finding out after the fact.”
“I was more thinking of like, I don’t want to go through that beer shower again,” Ahlstrom continued.
Schumaker told Ahlstrom about the change just before pregame stretch June 15 and said he was excited for him.
“He got the beer shower already, so I’m glad he didn’t have to do that again,” Schumaker said.
Winn has been on the injured list since Aug. 31 with a right rotator cuff strain, with the placement retroactive to Aug. 28. The 60-day period runs from that Aug. 28 date, which makes Oct. 27 the first day he is eligible to be activated.
The 26-year-old last pitched Aug. 25 at Chicago, allowing 2 earned runs over 1 1/3 innings in an 11-7 loss to the White Sox. It was his second injured list placement of the season. Right arm fatigue kept him out from May 24 to June 8.
In 51 games this season, including 1 start, Winn went 5-3 with 1 save, 9 holds, and a 5.63 ERA. He struck out 49 and walked 16 over 48 innings. His first career win came March 31 against the Baltimore Orioles, when he threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
His 2025 season ended on the injured list. Texas placed him there Sept. 26 with a right rotator cuff strain, after he had posted a 1.51 ERA with 35 strikeouts over 41 2/3 innings in 33 games. The Rangers drafted him in the first round, 15th overall, in 2018 out of Orange Lutheran High School in Orange, Calif.
The Rangers are 76-77 and second in the American League West, 1 game behind the Houston Astros. Texas is 2 games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the third American League wild card.
In a pregame interview Friday on Rangers Sports Network, Schumaker said every win and every loss carries more weight at this point in the season.
“We won two out of three. So if you’d have told me at the beginning of the series that you would go in and win two out of three, I would have signed up for it,” Schumaker explained. “Obviously, [the way] the game ended yesterday, we’d have loved to have swept where we are in the season. Every win and every loss is a little bit more meaningful right now.”
“But two out of three is still good winning series, and hopefully we can win another one against a tough Blue Jay team,” Schumaker continued.
Toronto arrived tied with Texas for fourth place in the American League wild card standings, and the Rangers have 9 games left. Schumaker said on the same broadcast that Rocker had a lapse in the fifth inning of his last start, Sept. 12 at Arizona, after a long Rangers half-inning at the plate.
“Well, it’s 3:45, so I don’t know if they’ve thrown just yet. So we’ll find out the health and the state of the bullpen once they do their catch play,” Schumaker said. “But as far as Rocker, he had a really good last start. The first four innings, we had a long offensive inning, and then he kind of had a little bit of a lapse there in the fifth inning and had to take him out. But as far as the stuff and the pitch quality, that might have been his best four innings I’ve seen in the last couple months.”
“I mean, it was really, really good, 96-97 with a really good slider and a cutter. If he can do that, then you could see him in the fifth and sixth inning, and then we can kind of manage the bullpen accordingly,” Schumaker added. “Seeing who’s available, I don’t know that yet. Again, it’s a little bit earlier in the day, so trying to figure out who is up and who’s not. But what we saw in Rocker last time, hopefully that can carry over tonight.”
Kumar Rocker (5-11, 4.54 ERA) started Friday’s opener for Texas against Toronto right-hander Dylan Cease (11-5, 2.38 ERA). First pitch was set for 7:05 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
