The Texas Rangers have released minor league pitchers Mike Matuella and Ryan Dease, per Scott Lucas on Twitter.
This is disappointing but not entirely unexpected news regarding Matuella. Matuella was at one point considered to be the likely #1 overall pick in the 2015 draft, but the righthander from Duke dropped to the third round because of back and elbow issues, and between injuries and the pandemic, has accumulated just 171.2 IP as a professional, none above high-A. He was part of the Alternate Training Site group this spring, and I had assumed he would pitch out of the bullpen for either Frisco or Round Rock in 2021, but apparently that won’t be the case.