2025 Season in Review: Caleb Boushley
The 2025 Texas Rangers season has come to a close, and it's time to reflect on the players who took the field. Today, we're focusing on relief pitcher Caleb Boushley, a player who had a challenging yet intriguing journey with the team.
Boushley's role was unique; he was the team's versatile long reliever, often called upon when the team needed a reliable pitcher for multiple innings. Despite his limited major league experience, he quickly became a familiar face on the roster.
Before the 2025 season, Boushley had already logged a respectable 10 days of service time, pitching six innings across three games in the previous two seasons. Fast forward to the end of 2025, and he now boasts an impressive 143 days of service time, a significant increase.
The Rangers made a strategic move by purchasing Boushley's contract on April 8, making room for him on the active roster and optioning Gerson Garabito. This decision set the stage for Boushley's journey.
Garabito, however, sought new opportunities, requesting his release from the Rangers to join Samsung in the KBO league. Boushley, a free agent at the end of the season, followed suit, signing with KT Wiz for the 2026 season. The team's slogan, 'Nobody beats the Wiz!' hints at their ambition.
Boushley's journey with the Rangers was not without its ups and downs. He was optioned to AAA Round Rock in late April and recalled multiple times throughout the season, showcasing his versatility. However, the Rangers eventually designated him for assignment, leading to his release and a short stint with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he didn't pitch in the majors.
His performance with the Rangers was underwhelming. Boushley pitched 43 innings across 25 games, a relatively low number considering his time on the active roster. The Rangers' strategy was to use him when no other options were available or when the game was already lopsided.
The numbers tell a story of struggle. Boushley's ERA of 6.02 in 25 games was a cause for concern, with an ERA of at least 5 in every month except May, where he managed a 4.38 ERA. The first half of the season saw a 5.04 ERA, while the second half dipped to 8.31 ERA.
Boushley's performance was further highlighted by significant home/road splits. He excelled at home with a 3.31 ERA, allowing a modest .234/.300/.281 slash line, 3 doubles, and 0 home runs. On the road, however, his ERA soared to 7.67, with a more challenging .345/.398/.558 slash line, 9 doubles, and 5 home runs allowed.
The Shed, a term used to describe the ballpark, seemed to play a role in Boushley's performance. As expected, he wasn't a ground ball pitcher, allowing a high number of line drives. Statcast data revealed that 33.8% of the balls put in play against him were line drives, a concerning statistic.
Fangraphs supported this finding, ranking Boushley's line drive rate at 25.9%. Out of 402 pitchers who threw at least 40 innings, only nine had a higher line drive rate than Boushley, with five of them closely following at 26.0% or 26.1%. The league's worst line drive rate was 27.6%, held by AJ Smith-Shawver.
Boushley's BABIP of .374, tied with Mark Leiter, Jr., for the second-worst in baseball, was a significant concern. His xERA of 5.94 aligned with his ERA, and the -1.0 bWAR on the B-R page further emphasized his struggles.
However, there was a silver lining. According to Fangraphs, Boushley was still above replacement level, with a positive 0.2 fWAR. This was attributed to Fangraphs' FIP-based method, which considers factors like home runs, walks, HBPs, and strikeouts.
Despite the challenges, Boushley's FIP of 3.85 and xFIP of 3.95 in 2025 demonstrated his reliability. The assumption that pitchers have no control over balls put in play, except for home runs, forms the basis of FIP, which is calculated based on walks, strikeouts, and other factors (https://library.fangraphs.com/pitching/fip/).
While FIP is generally reliable, there are edge cases where pitchers give up high BABIPs due to factors beyond randomness or defense. Boushley's case falls into this category, and his performance in 2026 in Korea will be a testament to his resilience.
