Rangers: The Rangers expect top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker to make his big league debut Thursday night against the Mariners in Seattle. The 24-year-old 6-foot-5 right-hander has a 1.96 ERA in 10 games for three different Rangers affiliates since July 5 after coming back from Tommy John surgery in May 2023. In his final two rehab starts for Triple-A Round Rock, he had 18 strikeouts over 10 innings, and finished with 47 strikeouts and four walks in 29 2/3 innings over seven starts combined for Double-A Frisco and Round Rock. Rocker was the third overall pick by the Rangers in 2022, the second draft in a row that he was a top 10 pick. He struck out 42 batters over 28 innings in six starts for Class-A Hickory and close to a promotion in 2023 before surgery, and will make his big league debut just under 16 months after that. The Rangers drafted Rocker a year after concerns over a physical led to the former Vanderbilt standout going unsigned by the Mets as the 10th overall pick. The Rangers have said his elbow surgery resulted from an injury sustained while pitching for them at Hickory. Rocker was 28-10 with a 2.89 ERA over 42 games from 2019-21 at Vanderbilt, where he was teammates with right-hander Jack Leiter. The Rangers drafted Leiter with the second overall pick in 2021, and he made his big league debut this season — and is now part of the Rangers rotation.

Pirates: Paul Skenes struck out nine over six solid innings and the Pirates edged the visiting Marlins 3-2 on Monday night. The 22-year-old Skenes (10-2) allowed one run on six hits, lowering his ERA to 2.10. Skenes also boosted his season strikeout total to 151, a Pirates rookie record, while winning his fourth straight decision. The 6-foot-6 right-hander’s fastball hit 100 mph six times while becoming just the fourth rookie ever to reach 150 strikeouts in 20 starts or less, joining Kerry Wood, Dwight Gooden and Mark Prior. “I think that just goes to the quality of his stuff,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “This kid’s got elite stuff and he’s going to strike out a lot of people throughout his career.” While Skenes wasn’t particularly efficient — he needed 98 pitches to record 18 outs and retired Miami in order just once — he was able to avoid major trouble to bolster his bid for National League Rookie of the Year. Skenes’ rapid rise has been one of the bright spots for the Pirates, who saw their hopes of staying in the postseason mix die during a miserable August. While the team around him has scuffled, Skenes has kept right on going. Though his velocity has dipped slightly since his electrifying debut, he started to lean a little heavier on a repertoire that includes a “splinker” (a mix of a sinker and a splitter) designed to keep hitters off balance. The Pirates have been spacing out Skenes’ appearances to help him get through his first full year as a professional healthy.

MLB: Tony Attanasio, a baseball agent since before the start of free agency whose clients ranged from Bobby Valentine to Ichiro Suzuki, died Aug. 30 at his home in San Diego following a long illness. He was 84. Attanasio’s first client was Valentine in 1972 and his last was Suzuki in 2014. Attanasio was widely regarded as a standout in salary arbitration.