CLEVELAND -- Cameron Cauley was awoken at 6 a.m. on Sunday to the sound of the phone ringing in his Tacoma, Wash., hotel room.
Not his cell phone.
The actual hotel room phone.
This was a first for Cauley as he answered the phone in his hotel room. And what followed was a conversation he’ll never forget. On the other end was Rangers director of player development Josh Bonifay, who informed Cauley that he needed to get to Cleveland for his Major League debut.
After being called up to the Rangers’ taxi squad a week ago, Cauley was officially added to the active roster on Monday, batting seventh and playing second base in the 6-3 win over the Guardians.
Cauley's triple helped set up Nicky Lopez’s go-ahead single in the seventh inning, becoming the fourth Rangers player to record a triple as their first big league hit in their debut and the first since Hanser Alberto on May 29, 2015.
He finished the game 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk.
While Cauley went 0-for-2 in his first two at-bats and committed an error in the fourth inning, he made up for it (and then some) with his triple.
“Some young players might look at that a little bit differently and sit and hang their head," Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said, "but I’ll say that all 25 players on that bench and the coaches came up to him and told him he was good.”
Less than three innings after his error, Cauley was a catalyst in the Rangers’ comeback against Cleveland’s strong pitching staff.
“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” Schumaker said.
After Cauley found out about his promotion, he called his wife, Madison, and his parents, Kelly and Chris, to tell them the news. But there was one problem: his parents were in church. After Chris didn’t pick up, he called Kelly, who was forced to answer the call after her ringer went off.
“She got eyeballed by the preacher,” Chris said.
Normally, Madison is right by Cauley’s side on the road, but she missed the Triple-A Round Rock Express’ road trip to Tacoma to go visit family in Mont Belvieu, Texas. When Cameron called, she was in the midst of the 197-mile trip back to Round Rock.
“My first thought was, goodness, I need to get home,” Madison said with a laugh.
The three of them landed in Cleveland around 11 a.m. on Monday -- in time for Cauley’s debut at Progressive Field.
“It’s surreal,” Kelly said. “He’s put in a lot of hard work to have his dream come true.”
While the promotion wasn’t a total surprise since Cauley, the Rangers' No. 13 prospect, had been pulled midway through Triple-A Round Rock’s game the day prior, it didn’t do anything to take away from the moment for Cauley, who spent the first four seasons of his career cycling between Rookie ball, Single-A and High-A before spending last season in Double-A and 2026 in Triple-A.
Cauley’s promotion comes in the midst of the strongest season of his career, as he stole 23 bases in 74 games with Triple-A this season while posting a .262/.363/.407 slash line. His .363 on-base percentage with the Express is the best mark of his career.
“The game’s going in this direction of the young, dynamic, fast, run prevention kind of player,” Schumaker said. “He showed that in Spring Training, and he’s having a really nice season so far."
While Cauley can bounce around the diamond, he should get plenty of opportunities in center since the Rangers placed outfielder Wyatt Langford on the injured list Sunday with a left hamstring strain that’s expected to keep him out until after the All-Star break.
The Rangers also suffered another blow on Monday night with Brandon Nimmo suffering an AC joint sprain that could result in a stint on the injured list.
Adding Cauley gives the club a bit more versatility and speed alongside outfielder Evan Carter.
Those factors should allow for Cauley to make an immediate impact with the Rangers, who have stolen just 41 bases this season (the seventh-lowest mark in baseball). Adding him to the bench gives Texas a second utility option along with Ezequiel Duran, who has played every position but catcher this season.
Most of Cauley’s damage this season has come against left-handers (.904 OPS in 49 games), which could make him a logical platoon partner with the left-handed-hitting Carter.
Cauley's speed was on full display when he clocked a home-to-third time of 11.24 seconds on his triple.
"I was thinking a double out of the box when I saw the fielder didn’t get it clean," Cauley said, "I thought, ‘Screw it, I’m going to go to third.’”
That speed helped earn a postgame beer shower that also included mustard, baby powder and various other substances.
“About everything you can think of,” Cauley said.
Monday’s game was also a full circle moment, as Cauley took the field on Monday wearing No. 27, the same number his father wore when he was a pitcher in the White Sox system.
While Cauley didn’t plan on wearing the number, it was one of the options the Rangers offered him, and he took it. When he ran out to second base for his MLB debut with No. 27 on his back, Chris sat about 100 feet away wearing a necklace with the same number.
“He told me that he chose [No. 27], and I said, ‘Yeah, me too,’” Chris said with a smile.