Rangers notes: Verrett ‘ecstatic’ about playing for hometown team

Logan Verrett couldn’t have asked for a better situation.

The right-hander, whom the Texas Rangers claimed off waivers from the Orioles on Thursday, is an Arlington resident, living about 20 minutes from Globe Life Park.

“It went from not even knowing I was on waivers to getting claimed by the hometown team, so that was pretty fortunate for sure,” said Verrett, who has lived in the area for more than a year. “The commute to work is nice and the rent is cheap.”

Verrett played two years with Shawn Tolleson at Baylor before being drafted by the Mets in the third round of the 2011 draft. He was born in The Woodlands and attended Corpus Christi Calallen High School. When Tolleson heard the news, he texted Verrett a bunch of smiley faces.

Verrett pitched the first 2 1/3 innings against the Mets on Friday night at Globe Life Park. He allowed one run on two doubles in the first and then walked the lead-off batter in the second before striking out the next three batters. He came out after an infield hit in the third.

“I’m definitely excited to get up there and stretch it out a little bit and get my pitch count up a little bit,” said Verrett, who was a Rule 5 draft pick by Baltimore and was impressive this spring, allowing three earned runs in 14 innings. Verrett will be in the Rangers’ bullpen for the season opener Monday at Oakland.

The Rangers had their eye on him for a while.

“We had talked about claiming him in the Rule 5 draft back in December,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “He’s got a full year in Triple A. His stuff played up a little bit in the bullpen and still maintained plus control, plus command.”

The Rangers’ need for a long reliever in the bullpen also led to the decision, Daniels said.

“It couldn’t have been by a better team for me,” Verrett said. “I was ecstatic.”

Gallo has surgery

The Rangers’ top prospect, Joey Gallo, had surgery on his left heel Friday morning to remove an os trigonum bone.

Daniels said Gallo is expected to be back in three weeks. It’s the same procedure Geovany Soto had last spring. Soto played in a game 16 days later.

Foot specialist Dr. John Crates performed the surgery.

Gallo, a third baseman, wore a boot the last few days of camp and missed a Futures Game with the Cubs on Monday because of the injury. He’ll start the season at Double A Frisco.

Bonilla on DL

Right-hander Lisalverto Bonilla will start the season on the disabled list after being diagnosed with a posterior impingement of his throwing elbow by team physician Dr. Keith Meister. Bonilla received an anti-inflammatory injection. Daniels said Bonilla will play catch Monday after a few days off.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: Verrett ‘ecstatic’ about playing for hometown team."