Former Guardians starter blossoming into staple in Rangers’ rotation (and could be huge postseason roadblock)

Earlier this summer, Cal Quantrill quietly made his return to Progressive Field when he ate up 2 1/3 innings in Cleveland’s 6-0 win over the Rangers. At the time, it seemed like Quantrill was going to fill that long relief role in Texas’ bullpen until they eventually decided to give his roster spot to someone younger or with more potential. 

But then a funny thing happened: Quantrill started shoving.

After recording three more appearances out of the bullpen following his outing against Cleveland, the Rangers shifted Quantrill to their starting rotation, which has proved to be one of the shrewdest moves the team has made all season. 

Quantrill provided another example of that on Sunday when he tossed six scoreless innings against the Angels in the Rangers’ 5-3 win that helped them keep pace with the Guardians in the American League Wild Card standings. 

That outing marked Quantrill’s fifth straight start of five or more innings with one or zero earned runs allowed. 

At this time last year, it looked like Quantrill’s career could be over after he had a disastrous two-game tenure with the Atlanta Braves.

Now he’s one of the most important pitchers on the Rangers’ roster, and could end up playing a huge part in helping the Rangers fight off the Guardians as the two teams fight for a Wild Card spot. 

Cal Quantrill could help pitch the Rangers into the postseason

Quantrill’s journey to get here was by no means a straight line. After that aforementioned disastrous tenure with the Braves (which bumped his season ERA to 6.04), he signed a minor league contract with the Rangers and spent the rest of 2025 at Triple-A Round Rock. 

He then spent all offseason with the Rangers on a minor league deal, and was added to their big league roster in the middle of April when Texas suffered a rush of injuries. He stuck around on their roster since then while pitching out of a variety of roles, though most of his action has come out of the rotation. 

Quantrill pitched well in his first stint in Texas’ rotation (3.57 ERA in 35 1/3 innings), but was moved back to the bullpen at the beginning of August when Cody Bradford returned from the injured list. 

However, that time in the bullpen lasted all of one outing before he went back into the rotation after Nathan Eovaldi suffered an elbow injury. He’s been even better since, as Sunday’s dominant start pushed his ERA to a sparkling 0.50 over his last three starts (17 innings).

While Quantrill was never the biggest name in Cleveland's rotation during his 3 1/2 year stint with the club, he was always a steady contributor who even flashed from frontline stuff during his strong 2021 season. 

He’s re-found that 2021 groove this year, only it’s helping one of the teams the Guardians are chasing down in the standings. He's come a long way since that forgettable June outing. 

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