ANAHEIM — There were plenty of times that Daniel Robert considered retirement. There were, at least, plenty of flags that could’ve steered him toward that direction.
He hardly pitched in college but had to overcome season-ending elbow surgery to even earn a contract. A broken arm derailed him when he finally did reach the professional ranks. He was, at one point, well into adulthood, more than a stone’s throw away from the major leagues and surviving on a minor league baseball player’s salary.
“I was 27 with a week of High-A time seeing everybody that I grew up with doing their own thing,” Robert said Monday. “and I’m in a cast in Arizona with not a ton to my name. There were a lot of times [I considered quitting].”
The emphasis is on considered.
“I’m glad he didn’t — we’re glad he didn’t,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Monday at Angels Stadium. “and I’m sure he is too.”
Robert, a 29-year-old right-handed pitcher and a former 21st-round draft pick had his contract selected by the Texas Rangers on Monday before their series-opening game against the Los Angeles Angels. Right-hander Grant Anderson was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to clear a major league roster spot, and left-hander Antoine Kelly was designated for assignment to clear space on the 40-man.
General manager Chris Young called Robert, who had been with Triple-A Round Rock, late Sunday night to inform him of the promotion. Robert’s gear was in Reno, Nev., where the Express are scheduled to play this week, so he had to scrounge for equipment in the affiliate’s clubhouse.
That might’ve been the easiest task.
“If it wasn’t for other people around me,” Robert said inside the Angels Stadium visitor’s clubhouse, “this was in no way possible. It was a lot of long nights, not a lot of money. It was leaning on my support system.”
The road that Robert took from college baseball to the major leagues was not for the faint of heart. It was hardly typical, either. Like, this is how it began:
“I got drafted as a pitcher,” Robert said. “which was strange-ish.”
Strange-ish because Robert, really, was not a pitcher. He had thrown just 15 2/3 innings in three seasons at Auburn — more than half of which came during part-time duty during his senior year — but he slashed .290/.402/.429 in 60 games which were largely spent at first base or in the outfield in his fourth and final season with the Tigers. The Rangers still plucked the 6-4 righty with the 644th pick in the draft with the hope that they could work his projectable frame into a practical arm.
There was a snag, though. Robert experienced elbow issues in his senior year but never underwent an MRI because he hit every day. He reported to the Rangers’ facility in Arizona after the draft, at which point it was determined that he needed Tommy John surgery. The Rangers — who had not signed Robert to a contract at this point — allowed him to undergo his operation back at Auburn.
He underwent Tommy John surgery in July of 2017, rehabbed “pretty intensely” and threw off the mound just six months later in January of 2018 in an attempt to sign a contract before spring training. Texas officially signed Robert as a free agent that winter.
“I just started learning how to pitch in 2019,” Robert said. “and tried to get better every year.”
Robert yielded a 0.99 ERA in his first season of professional baseball in 2019 with Texas’ Short-A and Single-A teams. He did not pitch in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was limited to just 22 and 2/3 innings one season later after a comebacker broke his arm in May. He posted a 6.28 ERA in 2022 and a 4.40 ERA in 2023, both in Triple-A, but had recorded a 2.35 ERA in 30 and 2/3 innings pitched out of Round Rock’s bullpen this season.
Opponents have hit just .132 against Robert this season and he’s whittled his walks-per-nine-innings down to just 2.05. The difference, Robert said, is that he’s thrown more strikes. He was invited to big league camp this spring and worked with Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, who urged Robert to “trust his stuff.”
“The talent has always been there,” Young said of Robert, whose fastball sits in the mid 90′s and can reach 97 mph. “He’s continued to grow in terms of understanding what he has to do to be successful. The stuff is phenomenal, and just time and experience. Some guys peak at 18, some guys peak at 28. Maybe he’s peaking at 30? Who knows?”
Has Robert peaked? It’s too early to tell. It might be irrelevant, too. It’s quite a summit that he’s reached considering where he began.
“You love the stories of perseverance,” said Bochy, who said that Robert could help the Rangers in high-leverage situations. “That’s certainly been the case with him.”
