The Rangers announced today that they have released right-handed pitcher Wei-Chieh Huang, who had been playing at the team’s alternate training facility.
Huang was a member of the Rangers’ 60-man player pool, though he was not on the 40-man roster. He was acquired in the 2018 trade that sent Jake Diekman to Arizona.
Huang appeared in four games for the Rangers last year, tossing 5 2/3 innings and working to a 3.18 ERA. He struck out just two batters while walking seven. That said, he has been a strikeout pitcher throughout his minor league career, averaging 12.6 K/9 across three levels of the minors last season.
He hit a bit of a wall at Triple-A in 2019, but the 26-year-old Huang is still relatively inexperienced in the upper minors: since debuting in affiliated ball in 2015, he’s played just 43 games at Double-A or above. With that in mind, the lack of a minor league season in 2020 might be especially costly to his development; this year would have been pivotal for Huang.
Nonetheless, Huang has two option years remaining and, as mentioned, is just 26 years old. He’ll likely get another shot as a depth option with another club who can offer him more exposure in the upper minors.
DarkSide830
Klentak
Ricky Adams
????? Dont get this move. 25yo 5 career ip and 3.18 era and rangers pitching depth in past has always been a problem, and their pitching so far this season has been too hot
DarkSide830
might have been requested by Huang
Briffle2
His 2.2 WHIP is more telling than his 3.18 era.
Ricky Adams
Still only 5ip.
AngelDiceClay
Is he the cousin of Wei Cei Hung? Asking for a friend
madmanTX
Not a fan of Huang, but I bet a lot of other commenters here probably are.
retire21
I saw this guy open for The Cars back in the mid 80s.
HALfromVA
Everybody have fun tonight
Ashtem
Huang Soto
RockHard
I’m going to speculate he did something stupid behind the scenes. No real reason to release him on a team that is going nowhere. Doesn’t make sense.