October 3, 2022 – Pacific Coast League (PCL) – Round Rock Express News Release
ROUND ROCK, Texas – The Texas Rangers announced the organization’s 2022 minor league award winners and Round Rock Express LHP Cole Ragans was named the Nolan Ryan Pitcher of the Year while RHP Chase Lee earned the organization’s Reliever of the Year award.
Ragans earns the honor after combining to go 8-5 with a 3.04 ERA (32 ER/94.2 IP) between High-A Hickory and Double-A Frisco. The left-hander was transferred to the Express roster on June 14 after 10 games with the RoughRiders. In his eight starts at the Triple-A level, Ragans went 3-2 with a 3.32 ERA (16 ER/43.1 IP), which included 12 walks and 48 strikeouts. Opponents hit only .211 against the southpaw while he owned a 1.06 WHIP.
The Crawfordville, Florida native came onto the Pacific Coast League scene on June 16 against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. In his first game, Ragans tossed 7.0 innings and allowed only two runs on six hits and eight strikeouts. He went 6.0 innings or more in five of his eight starts. On July 23 against the Las Vegas Aviators, Ragans earned a victory after 6.0 frames of shutout baseball while allowing only two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.
Lee joined the E-Train on June 14 after a stellar start with Double-A Frisco, where he had a 2.25 ERA (6 ER/24.0 IP) in 21 games. With Round Rock, Lee went 1-1 with a 5.46 ERA (19 ER/31.1 IP) in 30 appearances. After allowing 11 earned runs in his first five outings, the righty posted a 2.63 ERA (8 ER/27.1 IP) with six walks and 34 strikeouts in his final 25 outings. He owned a 1.24 WHIP during that stretch.
On August 10 against the Oklahoma City Dodgers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, Lee entered the game and collected a win after 2.0 innings with one hit and four strikeouts. The right-hander struck out the side on September 4 against Oklahoma City at Dell Diamond in a perfect frame of work. Lee had a scoreless-inning streak of 13.1 frames from July 15-August 28.
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