Cole resides in Tallahassee, Fla., with his wife, Tori, who he married on Nov. 3, 2018...Graduated from North Florida Christian High School in 2016, where he was named an Under Armour All-American and All-Big Bend Pitcher of the Year as a senior after going 9-2 with a 0.90 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 90.0 innings...Was committed to Florida State University before signing with the Rangers...Studied video of former All-Star Cole Hamels while he was in high school.
2023
Made Texas’ Opening Day roster in 2023 and had 17 appearances in relief before being optioned on June 13 to Triple-A Round Rock...Earned his first Major League win on Opening Day vs. Philadelphia after recording the final out of the fourth inning before the Rangers plated nine runs in the bottom half en route to an 11-7 victory...Was acquired on June 30 by Kansas City in a three-player trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to Texas...From his Aug. 2 recall through season’s end, he led all Major League pitchers in fWAR (2.3) and strikeouts (86)...Recorded a career-long homerless streak that lasted 37.2 innings from Aug. 12-Sept. 16...Had a career-best 26.0-inning scoreless streak from Aug. 18-Sept. 10 that was the sixth-longest by a starting pitcher in Royals history, and was the longest by a Royals starter since Zack Greinke’s club-record streak of 38.0 scoreless innings from 2008-09...Retired 23 straight batters from Aug. 23-29, including the last batters of his Aug. 23 start in Oakland and the first 12 batters of his Aug. 29 start vs. Pittsburgh...Named American League Pitcher of the Month for August, becoming the first Royal to win the award since Zack Greinke in April 2009…Ragans went 3-1 in six August starts with a Majors-best 1.72 ERA (7 ER in 36.2 IP) and 53 strikeouts...Ragans’ 53 strikeouts in August were the second most in any month in franchise history, trailing only Dennis Leonard’s 55 strikeouts in June 1977...His 89 strikeouts are the most by any pitcher through 12 appearances with the Royals, ahead of James Shields’ 78 through 12 outings in 2013...He induced 190 swings and misses in the second half, fourth most in the American League behind Luis Castillo (230 in 89.2 IP), Dylan Cease (206 in 74.1 IP) and Pablo López (205 in 83.0 IP)...He averaged 96.6 mph on his fastball, according to Brooks Baseball, which ranked second among American League left handers (min. 500 fastballs), trailing only Shane McClanahan (96.8 mph)...Added a slider after joining the Royals and in his 12 starts with Kansas City, he threw it 10.0% of the time with 24 strikeouts and a .180 opponents’ average.
2022
Went 0-3 with a 4.95 ERA (22 ER/40.0 IP) over nine starts in his Major League debut after his contract was selected from Round Rock (AAA) on 8/4...endured two stints on the 15-day Injured List due to a left calf strain: 8/26-9/6 and 10/3-end of season…took no decision in his ML debut on 8/4 vs. CWS (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R-0 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO, 93 pitches/55 strikes), a 3-2 Texas win…became just the 10th pitcher (and 2nd left-hander) in club history to log 5.0+ IP without allowing an earned run in a ML debut, first since A.J. Alexy on 8/30/21 (W, 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R)… permitted three-or-fewer ER in seven of nine GS, but ERA was ballooned by outings on 8/11 at HOU (4.1 IP, 5 R-ER) and 9/13 vs. OAK (4.0 IP, 7 R-ER)...closed season by issuing a total of three walks over his last four starts (18.2 IP), this after recording more walks (13) than strikeouts (12) in his first five career starts…opponents batted .272/.339/.456/.795 (43-158) with six home runs, incl. .222 (6-27) opp. BA vs. LHB and .282 opp. BA (37-131) vs. RHB...posted a 6.08 strikeouts per 9.0 innings mark, recording career-high 5 K’s in consecutive starts on 9/13 vs. OAK/9/20 vs. LAA.
MINORS IN 2022: Earned organization’s Nolan Ryan Minor League Pitcher of the Year award after he combined for an 8-5 record, 3.04 ERA (32 ER/94.2 IP), 10.7 strikeouts per 9.0 innings figure over 18 starts for Frisco (AA) and Round Rock (AAA)…opened season at Frisco, going 5-3, 2.81 (16 ER/51.1 IP) in 10 G/GS… was selected Rangers April Minor League Pitcher of the Month after posting a 2.13 ERA (3 ER/12.2 IP) with 17 SO over three starts at Frisco…did not allow more than 3 ER in any of final six starts at Frisco from 5/8-6/8: 4-2, 2.70 (10 ER/33.1 IP), 3 HR, 12 BB/43 SO, .197 opp. BA…entered 2022 as Texas’ No. 24 prospect according to Baseball America.
2021
Returned to action for the first time since 2017 after missing seasons due to injury (2018-19) and the pandemic (2020)... combined to go 4-3 with a 4.35 ERA (39 ER/80.2 IP) in 19 G/17 GS for Frisco (AA) and Hickory (A+)...owned reverse splits, with RHB at .222 and LHB at .293...began the season with Hickory and was promoted to Frisco in July after representing Texas at the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game on 7/11 at Coors Field in Denver (0.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R-2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR).
2020
Did not see official game action after Minor League season was canceled due to pandemic…returned from injury to pitch in the Fall Developmental League (13.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 8 BB, 20 SO), striking out 20 of 53 (38%) batters faced.
2019
Missed entire season after undergoing ‘Tommy John’ ligament transplant surgery on 5/15/19 performed by Dr. Keith Meister…had begun a throwing program before feeling arm discomfort...named the organization’s 11th-best prospect and “Best Curveball” entering 2019 by Baseball America.
2018
Tabbed the fourth-best prospect in the Texas farm system entering the season…underwent ‘Tommy John’ ligament transplant surgery on 3/28/18 and missed the entire season.
2017
Tabbed the top prospect in the Northwest League by Baseball America, leading the circuit with 87 strikeouts for Short-A Spokane…matched the third-highest strikeout total in the NWL since 2006…earned spots on both the NWL mid-season and postseason All-Star teams… held opponents to a .234/.344/.360/.704 slash line, whiffing 34.8% of all batters faced (87 of 250)…had the second-most walks (35) in the NWL…tossed 4.0 hitless innings on 6/28 vs. Tri-City and registered a season-best 10 strikeouts on 8/18 vs. Vancouver.
