Cole

Ragans

The run was quite a fluke. Kody Clemens drifted off second base thinking a strike-two pitch was actually an inning-ending strike three and should have been a dead duck. Salvador Perez, though, airmailed the throw to second, sending it to center field, and Clemens, who at least was alert enough to take off for third instead of returning to second, was able to score easily. Ragans generated 16 whiffs and had a 39-percent CSW today. He gave up four hits but only one hard-hit ball. Still, he left down 1-0 in spite of the much more dominant showing than what Taj Bradley put together. He’ll face the Guardians next week.

Ragans retired the first two batters he faced to start this one, but gave up a solo homer to Ozzie Albies with two outs, and followed that by allowing a single to Matt Olson and a walk to Austin Riley. An Eli White groundout ended the early threat, but Ragans would fall victim to the homer again in the third inning when Drake Baldwin took him deep to extend the Braves’ lead to 2-0. Ragans would allow two more runs in the fourth inning courtesy of a two-run homer by Michael Harris, and did not return to start the fifth inning. It was an uncharacteristic outing for Ragans, who allowed just seven homers in 13 games last season. He’ll look to get back on track in his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday at home against the Twins.

Ragans struggled in the fourth, giving up all three runs. The left-hander was still able to strike out against two walks while allowing seven hits. Ragans is set to start Opening Day against Atlanta on Friday, and while he offers some volatility, the ability to miss bats makes him one of the better fantasy options in the American League to open 2026.

It had already been announced that Cole Ragans would pitch against the Braves in Atlanta on Opening Day. He’ll be followed by Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, with Noah Cameron rounding out the rotation and pitching on Wednesday against the Twins. It’s possible that Cameron could actually get pushed back to Thursday with Ragans working Wednesday on regular rest, but they may not want to push their ace so early in the season.

Ragans gets the ball for his third consecutive Opening Day assignment. The 28-year-old fantasy ace is a borderline SP1 in fantasy drafts this spring after posting a 4.67 ERA (2.67 xERA), 1.18 WHIP and 98/20 K/BB ratio across 61 2/3 innings over 13 starts during last year’s injury-marred campaign.

Ragans gave up a run-scoring single to Edgar Quero and uncorked a wild pitch, which accounted for all the damage against him in this one. The 28-year-old lefty has been hit hard this spring overall, but still owns an impressive 15/3 K/BB ratio across 10 2/3 innings of work. He’s widely regarded as a top 12-15 fantasy starter in drafts this spring, making him a borderline SP1 or strong SP2.

Ragans sat in the mid-90’s consistently with his four-seam fastball and generated 11 swinging strikes, with five of them coming on his slider. The 28-year-old southpaw is a borderline SP1 in fantasy drafts this spring based on his significant strikeout upside, despite injuries limiting him to just 13 starts last year.

Yikes. Ragans struck out two batters on the evening while issuing one base on balls. Things were bad right out of the gate for Ragans as the Rangers started with a single, stolen base, single combination to push a run across. Ragans then uncorked a wild pitch, plunked Corey Seager and served up a three-run homer to Jake Burger before he recorded an out. Trouble found him again to start the second inning as he walked Sam Haggerty an gave up a two-run blast to Wyatt Langford. Fantasy managers shouldn’t overreact to one start, but this was about as bad as it can get for Ragans. The one good thing to take away is that his velocity was up, averaging 96.8 mph on his fastball (+1.5 mph).

This jives with recent reporting from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who suggested that the Red Sox could double down on pitching upgrades after losing out on Alex Bregman. We already know that the Red Sox have been linked to Freddy Peralta, Joe Ryan, and Cole Ragans since the offseason began. Bradford says that the names “floated as targets are no doubt” top-of-the-rotation arms. We’ll see if this amounts to anything.

Rosenthal reports that “The Royals are under the impression Duran would cost them left-hander Cole Ragans,” who the Red Sox will most certainly ask for as part of a deal. However, Rosenthal also noted that “the Red Sox view the initial talks as more informal and exploratory, according to people briefed on the conversations.” These two teams have been circling each other for a while, but it doesn’t seem like anything is imminent.