Arlington, Texas—The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has signed right-handed pitcher Spencer Patton to a 2021 minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

Patton, who turns 33 on February 20, has spent the past four seasons with the Yokohama Bay Stars organization in Japan. He went 3-2 with a 4.92 ERA (29 ER/53.0 IP) over 57 relief appearances for the Bay Stars' Central League club in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in 2020. Patton had cumulative NPB totals of a 12-9 record with a 3.68 ERA over 219 relief appearances for Yokohama from 2017-20, posting a 1.347 WHIP figure with 10.6 strikeouts per 9 innings and just 0.7 home runs allowed per 9 innings. He also saw limited action with Yokohama's minor league Eastern League affiliate from 2017-19. 

Patton is seeking his first U.S. action since 2016, when he made 16 relief appearances for a Cubs team that would go on to win the World Series that year. Originally acquired by Texas in a July 16, 2014 trade with Kansas City in exchange for reliever Jason Frasor, Patton has a career MLB record of 3-2 with a 6.26 ERA over 52 relief appearances with Texas (2014-15) and Chicago-NL (2016). His last MLB appearance was with the Cubs on September 24, 2016 vs. St. Louis.

Texas currently has 64 players on its spring training roster, including 24 non-roster invitees.