Rangers Option Curvelo, Helman, Osuna to Triple-A Round Rock

Three Texas Rangers headed to Triple-A Round Rock on March 23, but the real story was what their departures unlocked in the major-league bullpen: a roster spot for Rule 5 right-hander Carter Baumler, who learned mid-game Monday that he had made the Opening Day roster.

Rule 5 Draft pick Carter Baumler won a spot in the Rangers' Opening Day bullpen. The path there ran directly through the options placed on right-hander Luis Curvelo and outfielders Michael Helman and Alejandro Osuna, all three of whom were assigned to the Round Rock Express per the official Texas Rangers PR transaction announcement. McCutchen was not on the 40-man roster and thus needed to have his contract selected for the move to become official, adding another layer of roster maneuvering to an already busy Monday for Texas.

With Curvelo headed down, Baumler's case for the final bullpen spot became airtight. Baumler worked to a 2.04 ERA with a 29.1% strikeout rate in 2025, then was outstanding with Texas this spring, tossing 9 1/3 shutout innings with a 28.6% strikeout rate, a 5.7% walk rate, and a 54.5% ground-ball rate. The Rule 5 mechanics made the decision consequential: Baumler must stick on the major-league roster or injured list all season to shed his Rule 5 designation, which prevents him from being optioned to the minors at any point. If Texas had felt the need to go in a different direction, Baumler would have needed to pass through waivers unclaimed and subsequently be offered back to the Orioles for a nominal sum of $50,000.

Texas manager Skip Schumaker delivered the roster news to Baumler during a mound visit in Monday's Cactus League game against the Royals. After recording the first two outs in the top of the fifth, Baumler was visited by Schumaker and the entire infield group. During an in-game interview, Baumler confirmed he was informed about making the team after initially thinking he was being taken out when he saw Schumaker emerge from the dugout. "A few years ago I never would have expected this," Baumler said. "Looking back ... I'm glad I kept my head down and kept hammering away."

The three players shipped to Round Rock each brought different spring resumes. Helman, 29, scuffled at the plate all spring, going 7-for-30 with a .575 OPS and zero walks across 33 plate appearances. That followed a 2025 season in which he hit .232 with five home runs and a .745 OPS over 110 plate appearances in Texas. Osuna offered a sharper spring line: he hit .313 and swiped four stolen bases in 13 games, building on a 2025 MLB debut in which he slashed .212/.313/.278 with 15 RBI, five stolen bases, and 12 runs over 63 games. That's still the highest single-season workload of his career.

The roster arithmetic surrounding these moves points directly to Andrew McCutchen. General manager Chris Young said before Monday's 3-2 exhibition win against the Royals that McCutchen officially made the club after hitting .421 with a 1.297 OPS over 19 at-bats in eight games this spring. McCutchen edged out Mark Canha for a bench spot. At 39, McCutchen will embark on his 18th big-league season when the Rangers open 2026 in Philadelphia on Thursday.

The Rangers open the 2026 regular season on Thursday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Between now and that first pitch, Texas still needs to finalize the 40-man maneuver required to select McCutchen's contract. The optioning of Curvelo, Helman, and Osuna helped clear the logjam. Baumler, who was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in December's Rule 5 Draft and immediately traded to the Rangers, will open the year in the Texas bullpen, the Round Rock roster gets three players with big-league experience, and the Rangers go into Opening Day having made their toughest roster call the most memorable one of camp.