The Rangers announced that right-hander Dom Hamel has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for right-hander Jakob Junis, whose one-year deal with Texas is now official.
Hamel, 27 in March, has never pitched for the Rangers. He was just claimed off waivers from the Mets in late September, during the final weekend of the regular season. He stuck on the roster for a few months but has now been squeezed off.
His major league track record is one of the smallest possible. He tossed one scoreless inning for the Mets on September 17th. He was then designated for assignment and claimed by the Orioles. Baltimore put him back on waivers a few days later, which is when the Rangers claimed him.
Hamel came up as a starting pitcher in the Mets’ system but struggled with control. He was primarily used as a multi-inning reliever in 2025 with some encouraging results. He tossed 67 2/3 Triple-A innings over 31 appearances. 11 of those were technically starts but were mostly of the opener variety. His 5.32 earned run average wasn’t especially impressive but his 25.2% strikeout rate was above average. Perhaps more importantly, given his past issues with control, he only walked 7.4% of batters faced.
He did allow 12 home runs in that time, which helped push more runs across the board. Despite those issues with the long ball, he generated enough interest to be claimed off waivers twice late last season.
The Rangers will now have a week to determine his next steps. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could field trade interest over the next five days. Hamel still has a couple of options remaining, which could help him land elsewhere as a depth piece. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Rangers as non-roster depth since he does not have a previous career outright nor three years of big league service time.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images