Texas Rangers roster moves for August 20

August 20th, 2021

Boston, MA—The Texas Rangers today announced the following roster moves:

--Recalled INF Nick Solak (#15) from Triple-A West Round Rock.

--Selected the contract of RHP Nick Snyder (#57) from Round Rock. Snyder will be looking to make his Major League debut.

--Placed RHP Joe Barlow on the 10-day Injured List, effective today, with a blister on his right index finger.

--Placed INF Charlie Culberson in the COVID IL.

--Transferred LHP John King from the 10-day to the 60-day IL.

The 26-year-old Solak will be in his second stint with the Rangers this season, as he was also with the club from Opening Day-July 22. Since being optioned to Round Rock (AAA) on July 23, Solak has batted .353/.409/.459/.867 (30-85) with one home run, 6 doubles, and 6 RBI over 22 games for the Express, including a 3-for-5 effort last night vs. El Paso. He has a 9-game hitting streak at Triple-A, batting .429 (15-35) with 2 doubles over that span. The Rangers' Opening Day second baseman, he leads the team with 88 starts at the position in 2021. Solak has batted .225 with 9 home runs and 34 RBI over 92 games with Texas this season. He produced a 71-game errorless streak from April 14-July 9, the longest single-season streak ever by a Texas second baseman.

Snyder, 25, has combined to go 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA (9 ER/33.0 IP), 4 saves, and 47 strikeouts against 5 walks over 28 relief appearances for Round Rock (5 G), Double-A Frisco (13 G), and High-A Hickory (10 G) this season. He opened the campaign with Hickory, earned a promotion to Frisco on June 16, and was scoreless in 9 of 13 games for the RoughRiders before a promotion to Round Rock on Aug. 2. He last pitched for the Express on Tuesday at Oklahoma City (1.0 IP, 0 R, 1 SO).

In four minor league seasons with Texas, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-hander owns a 7-4 record and 3.09 ERA with 10.7 strikeouts per 9 innings and a 1.152 WHIP figure in 78 outings, all in relief. The 2021 season marks his first official game action since 2019 with Low-A Hickory. Snyder underwent ‘Tommy John’ ligament transplant surgery on Feb. 28, 2020.

The Palm City, Fla. native was selected by Texas in the 19th round of the 2017 June draft out of Indian River State College. Snyder logged just 4 games/2.2 innings on the mound in college, as he was primarily a shortstop and earned Florida NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2017.

Barlow is 0-1 with a 0-1, 1.08 with 2 saves in 17 relief appearances since being promoted to Texas on June 23. He pitched a career high 2.0 innings and was the losing pitcher in a 9-8, 11-inning defeat to Seattle on Thursday.

King was placed on the 10-day IL on July 9, retroactive to July 7 with left shoulder inflammation. He is eligible to be activated from the IL on September 5.

With today’s moves, the Rangers’ Major League roster is at 39 players. The COVID IL does not count against the 40-man roster.