Rangers agree to terms with free agent RHP Kirby Yates on one-year Major League contract

Nashville — The Texas Rangers tonight announced that the club has agreed to terms with free agent right-handed pitcher Kirby Yates on a one-year Major League contract.

Yates, who will turn 37 on March 25, posted a 7-2 record, 5 saves, and a 3.28 ERA (22 ER/60.1 IP) over 61 relief appearances with Atlanta last season, ranking among National League relief leaders in opponent batting average (6th, .167), wins (T8th), and strikeouts per 9.0 innings (11th, 11.93). He made his first career postseason appearance in Game 2 of the National League Division Series vs. Philadelphia, logging one scoreless inning as part of a 5-4 Braves’ victory.

The right-hander has spent the last two campaigns with Atlanta after he missed the entire 2021 season while recovering from ‘Tommy John’ ligament replacement surgery performed on March 24, 2021. Since making his return from the procedure in July of 2022, Yates has gone 7-2 with a 3.48 ERA (26 ER/67.1 IP) and 86 strikeouts (11.5 SO/9) across 70 relief outings.

The Hawaii native owns a career 12.51 strikeouts per 9.0 innings figure, which ranks eighth all-time among pitchers with at least 300.0 career innings behind only Josh Hader (15.01), Edwin Díaz (14.81), Aroldis Chapman (14.80), Dellin Betances (14.45), Craig Kimbrel (14.17), Spencer Strider (13.56), and Kenley Jansen (12.82). His 486 career strikeouts are the seventh-most ever by a Major League pitcher born in the state of Hawaii.

Yates finished ninth in voting for the National League Cy Young Award in 2019, recording an MLB-high 41 saves with San Diego to earn his first career All-Star and All-MLB First-Team selections. His career-low 1.19 ERA (8 ER/60.2 IP) from that campaign remains the lowest single-season ERA figure in Padres franchise history (min. 60.0 IP).

The nine-year veteran has pitched exclusively in relief at the Major League level, compiling a lifetime 19-19 record, 62 saves, a 3.53 ERA (137 ER/349.2 IP), and 486 strikeouts in 361 appearances with Tampa Bay (2014-15), New York-AL (2016), Los Angeles-AL (2017), San Diego (2017-20), and Atlanta (2022-23). He was originally signed by the Rays as a non-drafted free agent on June 19, 2009 out of Yavapai College in Prescott, Ariz.

With the addition of Yates, there are now 37 players on the Rangers’ Major League roster.