Cal Quantrill holds Astros to one in no-decision

Quantrill pitched himself out of a tough situation in the first inning when he got Mauricio Dubón to fly out with runners on second and third to end the frame. He was less fortunate in the second inning, as the Braves slapped four singles and drove in two runs to give them an early 2-0 lead, and by the fourth inning, the Braves had increased their lead to 6-0 thanks to homers by Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson. Quantril would make it out of the frame but was pulled to begin the fifth inning, bringing an end to his worst start of the season. He only allowed one free pass, but the six runs and 11 hits he surrendered were both season-highs. Hopefully, this is just a one-off for a pitcher who entered the day with a 3.11 ERA. His next start is scheduled for Wednesday against the White Sox.

Deciding to give Kumar Rocker and Jacob deGrom some extra rest and start Quantrill today probably didn’t hurt the Rangers; Quantrill wasn’t great, but the Rangers offense wound up being shut out anyway. Quantrill has a 3.35 ERA in three starts and 15 relief appearances for Texas. He has a 3-1 record, even though the Rangers are 4-14 when he pitches. Of course, a lot of those games were pretty much over by the time he came in.

Rocker will receive an extra day of rest with Cal Quantrill being moved up to take the ball on Saturday afternoon against Detroit. The 26-year-old has strung together back-to-back strong outings, striking out 14 batters and allowing just two runs over 11 innings against the Blue Jays and Marlins in his last two starts. There’s some definite streaming appeal for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues based on his recent efforts.

Quantrill was outstanding on Saturday, holding the Blue Jays scoreless over four innings of work, going deeper in his second start as he continues to get stretched out. He scattered two hits and one walk while collecting five strikeouts. The 31-year-old right-hander will take a 3.31 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and a 25/11 K/BB ratio across 35 1/3 innings into a start against the Tigers in Texas on Thursday.

Quantrill has been summoned to gobble up innings out of Texas’ bullpen after failing to make the club as a non-roster invitee earlier this spring. The 31-year-old righty posted a bloated 6.04 ERA across 117 2/3 innings between the Braves and Marlins last year. He can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats.

It looked like Sborz had a real chance of making the team after a decent run this spring in his return from shoulder injuries, but Rule 5 pick Carter Baumler got the nod over him. Texas will go with a bullpen of Robert Garcia, Chris Martin, Cole Winn, Jakob Junis, Jacob Latz, Jalen Beeks, Tyler Alexander and Baumler. It doesn’t leave them much flexibility that Garcia and Latz, their two best lefties, are the only guys there who can be sent down.

Quantrill got the win as Canada advanced to the WBC quarterfinals. It looked like James Paxton would get the save, but he was lifted after 2 2/3 scoreless innings and 49 pitches in order to keep him eligible to pitch Friday. Quantrill could start again if Canada makes the finals. If not, the veteran big leaguer will go back to trying to win a spot on the Rangers’ staff. He gave up seven runs over four innings in his two spring appearances before joining Team Canada.

Woof. Quantrill struck out one and did not walk a batter in the ballgame. The A’s jumped on him for a pair of runs in the opening inning on run-scoring knocks from Brent Rooker and Jeff McNeil. They then piled on with four more in the second with a two-run single from Tyler Soderstrom and a two-run blast off the bat of Brent Rooker. While he has never been one to rely on velocity, Quantrill’s fastball averaged just 92.3 mph in this outing, that’s a dip of 1.4 mph from his average during the 2025 season. He’s going to need to turn things around quickly if he has any chance of cracking the Rangers’ Opening Day roster.

Re-signed might come as a surprise to most, but the Rangers inked Quantrill to a minor league deal last September. They never did call him up afterwards, leaving him with a hideous 6.04 ERA in 117 2/3 innings with the Marlins and Braves. Like Patrick Corbin a year ago, he rates as adequate rotation depth, though he probably has even less of a ceiling.

Quantrill has been hit extremely hard this season across 26 starts between the Marlins and Braves, posting a bloated 6.04 ERA across 117 2/3 innings of work. The 30-year-old righty could presumably get the call to gobble up innings in a low-leverage relief role at some point in the final two weeks.