Patton, Vincent among Ranger NRIs

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesSpencer Patton and Nick Vincent will apparently be among the pitchers vying for spots in the Texas Rangers bullpen this spring.

Patton, a one-time Ranger (he was acquired from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Jason Frasor in 2014) who has been pitching for Yokohama the past four seasons, was announced earlier this week as having signed a minor league deal with the Rangers. After putting up ERAs of 2.57 and 2.36 his first two seasons in Japan, he had a 4.89 ERA in 2019 and 4.92 ERA in 2020, the spiking appearing to largely be driven by an increase in his walk rate and home run rate.

Patton will presumably be in the mix for a bullpen job this spring. I…