Ariel Jurado


Ariel Bolívar Jurado Agrazal is a Panamanian professional baseball pitcher for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.

Professional career

Jurado signed with the Texas Rangers as an international free agent in December 2012. He made his professional debut in 2013 with the Rookie-level DSL Rangers and spent the whole season there, going 6–0 with a 2.39 ERA in nine starts. In 2014 he played for the Rookie-level AZL Rangers, going 2–1 with a 1.63 ERA in innings pitched. Jurado spent 2015 with the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League, and was named the Nolan Ryan Minor League Pitcher of the Year by the Rangers after going 12–1 with a 2.45 earned run average with 95 strikeouts and only 12 walks in 99 innings. In 2016, he pitched with both the High Desert Mavericks of the Class A-Advanced California League and the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Texas League, combining to go 8–6 and 3.66 ERA in 123 innings. He returned to Frisco in 2017, where he posted a 9–11 record and a 4.59 ERA over 157 innings.
The Rangers added Jurado to their 40-man roster after the 2017 season. Jurado returned to Frisco to open the 2018 season and posted a 5–3 record with a 3.28 ERA and 58 strikeouts in innings for them.
Jurado made his Major League debut on May 19, 2018, at Guaranteed Rate Field against the Chicago White Sox. He pitched innings, giving up four earned runs on six hits, two walks, and two strikeouts, earning the loss as the White Sox defeated the Rangers 5–3. He finished his rookie season after going 5–5 with a 5.93 ERA in innings for the Rangers. Left-handed batters had a higher batting average against him,.365, than against all other MLB pitchers.
In 2019, Jurado was optioned to the Nashville Sounds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League to open the season, and went 3–0 with a 3.57 ERA over innings for them. With Texas in 2019, Jurado went 7–11 with a 5.81 ERA in innings.
Jurado was designated for assignment by the Rangers on July 31, 2020.