No quit: Express starter Cole Ragans staying positive after two elbow surgeries

When Cole Ragans took the mound for the High-A Hickory Crawdads on May 5, 2021, it had been more than 1,300 days since he last threw a pitch in a competitive baseball game.

The right-handed pitcher saw his 2018 season end early when he had Tommy John surgery. He needed a second Tommy John operation that ended his 2019 campaign before it started, and the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

His first pitch back after three lost seasons landed behind the right-field wall.

“I was just on the mound watching it, and I was just like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” he said.

Welcome back.

“A bad day out here is better than any day in rehab,” Ragans said. “Even the best have bad days, and I can learn from that. I’m healthy, and I get to play baseball. I get to still chase my dream. ”

Ragans has become a reliable starter for the Round Rock Express this season, posing a 2-2 record and 3.62 ERA in seven starts this season. He began 2022 with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders, pitching to a 6-3 record and a 2.52 ERA while walking 19 and striking out 65.

He was named PCL Pitcher of the Week in late June and most recently allowed just two hits in six innings, helping the Express shut out the Las Vegas Aviators on Saturday night.

“To go through the rehab again and start at ground zero, there are a lot of guys that walk away from that and say they don’t want that challenge,” Round Rock manager Matt Hagen said. “He met the challenge head-on. He’s a very mentally tough kid and a great competitor.”

Ragans reached the 90s on the radar gun when he was a sophomore in high school at North Florida Christian in Tallahassee. Being a first-round pick was never really on his mind. Originally committed to Florida State, he elected to sign with the Rangers after they picked him 30th overall in 2016.

He made four appearances in rookie ball in 2016 and made 13 starts for the short-season Spokane Indians in 2017, finishing with a 3-2 record and 3.61 ERA, including 87 strikeouts in 57.1 innings.

“He’s matured a lot since then,” said Hagen, who managed Ragans and Spokane in 2017. “We talked about the expectations about high draft picks and the effect it can have on them. If you didn’t know he was a first-round pick, you wouldn’t be able to tell. He’s not entitled at all.”

The list of players that have long and successful careers after one Tommy John surgery is long.

But two? That is a much shorter list.

“I had my days where I was questioning whether I’d be healthy again, or if I’d be able to play baseball and chase my dream,” Ragans said. “I would come in every day and try to attack where I was at in the process and go from there.”

The monotony of rehabbing in Arizona got old quickly for Ragans.

When COVID wiped out the 2020 season, he went back home to Florida to continue his rehab there. After working out in the morning, he was able to take his mind off the game a bit and go swimming or hunting with friends.

He was promoted to Double-A Frisco midway through last season and got the call to come to Round Rock on June 14. He’s currently the Rangers’ No. 29 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

“When I go out, I’m going to have fun,” Ragans said. “If my plan is to make it to the big leagues, that’s God’s plan for me, if not, I know I gave it all I got. They’ll let me know when they’re ready for me, and until then, I’ve got to have fun and enjoy playing baseball every day.”

Ragans said his curveball continues to be a big focus, and his cutter is a new pitch this year and continues to be something he and the coaching staff continue to fine-tune.

Texas has plenty of top-level talent in the starting pitcher prospect pool, highlighted by 2021’s No. 2 pick Jack Leiter and 2022’s No. 3 pick Kumar Rocker, former college teammates that helped Vanderbilt win the National Title in 2019.

But it’s clear the team still has high hopes for Ragans as well.

“I don’t think we know what his ceiling is yet,” Hagen said. I think everybody (in the Rangers organization) is very pleased with how he’s been pitching this year. I don’t think he’s done improving yet. He’s had a great season, but he’s only going to get better and more polished.

Ragans is learning something every day, picking the brains of the other Round Rock starters about technique or understanding that every batter, regardless of accolades, is largely the same.

Whether he’s in the dugout or on the mound, he is happiest when he is at a baseball field. That just might be a big-league park one day.

“Going through two (surgeries), I didn’t do that for nothing,” Ragans said. “All those days I was miserable in rehab and I had doubts in my mind, I’m going to push as hard as I can to make it. Hopefully, one day I get to say that.”

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Original Article: https://www.hillcountrynews.com/stories/no-quit-express-starter-cole-ragans-staying-positive-after-two-elbow-surgeries,96595