Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers today announced the following transactions:
- Right-handed pitcher Jakob Junis signed to a one-year Major League contract covering the 2026 season.
- Right-handed pitcher Dom Hamel designated for assignment.
The 33-year-old Junis (pronounced ‘JOO-nis’) was on Cleveland’s active roster for all of 2025, going 4-1 with a 2.97 ERA (22 ER/66.2 IP), 18 walks, and 55 strikeouts in a career-high 57 relief appearances. His career-best 0.68 home runs per 9.0 ratio (5 HR/66.2 IP) ranked 10th among A.L. relievers (min. 65.0 IP), and he limited left-handed batters to a .237 (23-97) average and .669 OPS. Junis strung together a career-long 9-game scoreless streak on two occasions last year – 3/29-4/17 and 7/1-30 – and registered a 2.03 ERA (6 ER/26.2 IP) in 20 games after the All-Star break.
In his nine-year Major League career, Junis has gone 46-46 with 2 saves, a 4.36 ERA (410 ER/847.0 IP), a 4.31 FIP, and 768 strikeouts in 249 games/116 starts with Kansas City (2017-21), San Francisco (2022-23), Milwaukee (2024), Cincinnati (2024), and Cleveland (2025). He is one of four active pitchers with 100-or-more starts and 100-or-more relief appearances since 2017, along with Kansas City’s Seth Lugo, Atlanta’s Reynaldo López, and Philadelphia’s Brad Keller. The Jacksonville, Ark. native was originally selected by the Royals in the 29th round of the 2011 MLB Draft from Rock Falls Township High School in Illinois.
Hamel, 26, was originally acquired by Texas via waiver claim from Baltimore on September 27, 2025, and did not appear in a game for the Rangers. Texas has seven days to trade, release, or outright Hamel to the minor leagues.
With today’s transactions, the Rangers remain at the 40-man limit on the club’s Major League roster.
RANGERS SIGN SBORZ TO MINOR LEAGUE CONTRACT: Texas also announced today that the club has signed right-handed pitcher Josh Sborz to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training camp.
Sborz, 32, spent the entire 2025 campaign on Texas’ 60-day Injured List after undergoing right shoulder surgery in November 2024. The right-hander made 12 appearances with Triple-A Round Rock and Double-A Frisco while on rehab assignment in an attempt to ramp up for Major League action but was shut down following his final minor league outing on August 30. He last pitched in an MLB game in 2024 when he went 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA (7 ER/16.1 IP) over 17 relief appearances with the Rangers.
– RANGERS –