The Rangers have signed left-hander Michael Plassmeyer to a minor league deal, according to the transactions section of the southpaw’s MLB.com profile page. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training.
The 28-year-old southpaw was a fourth-round pick by Seattle in the 2018 draft. He didn’t stick in a Mariners uniform for long, however, as he was swapped to the Rays as part of the five-player deal that sent Mike Zunino to Seattle early in the 2018-19 offseason. Plassmeyer’s 2019 season with the Rays was an extremely impressive one, as he dominated with a 1.91 ERA in 132 innings of work across three levels of the minors and ultimately reached Triple-A towards the end of his first professional season. That incredible progress through the minor leagues was stunted by the cancelled minor league season in 2020, however, and before Plassmeyer could follow up on his breakout campaign the Rays shipped him to San Francisco in a deal for right-hander Matt Wisler.
While Plassmeyer had looked good in the early days of the 2021 season at Double-A with the Rays, things took a turn for the worse once he was traded to the Giants. He struggled in 16 appearances at the Double-A level with a 5.08 ERA in 79 2/3 innings of work, and those struggles in the San Francisco farm system continued into the 2022 season as the lefty posted a 7.38 ERA in 11 appearances at the Triple-A level in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. Plassmeyer’s troubles finally came to an end when he was traded for the third time in his career, leading to him ending up in a Phillies uniform. At Triple-A with the Phils, Plassmeyer impressed down the stretch with a 2.41 ERA in 82 innings of work across 16 starts. That performance earned him a big league call-up late in the 2022 season, and the lefty made the most of it with a solid 3.68 ERA in 7 1/3 innings of work across two appearances.
Unfortunately for Plassmeyer, the lefty struggled early in the 2023 season with injuries. Even when healthy enough to take the mound, he struggled to a 5.05 ERA in 16 appearances at Triple-A. His second cup of coffee in the majors also didn’t go as well as the first, as Plassmeyer allowed ten runs (nine earned) on eight hits and three hit batsmen while striking out just four in 3 2/3 innings of work. After being designated for assignment in Philly and electing minor league free agency, Plassmeyer moved across the state to sign a minor league deal with Pittsburgh. 2024 was another tough season for Plassmeyer, who spent the entire season at Triple-A and struggled to a 7.93 ERA in 70 1/3 innings of work. His 26.7% strikeout rate was solid enough, and his 4.0% walk rate rate was nothing short of excellent.
The lefty’s 4.14 FIP suggests he may have been the victim of bad luck in 2024, and a look under the hood shows why: his .421 BABIP was incredibly high, and his 53.8% strand rate is almost unbelievably low. The Rangers are surely hoping Plassmeyer will post numbers more in line with his solid peripherals in 2025, which would make him a solid depth option from the left side for either the rotation or as a multi-inning relief option depending on the needs of the club.
