After being drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 9th round of the 2016 MLB Draft, Hever Bueno signed with the team, officially ruling out a return to ASU Baseball.
Bueno, who sat out with an injury after only two starts this season, signed with the Rangers on a one-year deal worth $163,300.
Bueno will be recovering from Tommy John surgery that he will undergo this week according to a Texas Rangers insider and is expected to become an option out of the bullpen after he recovers.
In his three years at ASU, Bueno ended with a career ERA of 4.74 and only gave up one home run during his time as a Sun Devil.
In the end, this was the right move for Bueno.
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He wouldn’t have been able to play in his senior season, and he would have been a spectator in the dugout.
Bueno will be looked back on as a “what could have been” player. He was expected to be the ace in this year’s starting pitching rotation and he was ready to take on everything that came with that role.
His start against Xavier at the beginning of the season showed the level of talent Bueno could have brought to the Sun Devil rotation.
He ended that game with two hits and one earned run in 5.1 stellar innings. His most impressive stat of the night was his eye-opening six strikeouts.
If Bueno could have stayed healthy then Seth Martinez, who put together a great season, would have been the second man in the rotation.
Consequently, this would have drastically impacted the rest of the starting rotation and bullpen and ASU might have made a deeper run in the NCAA tournament.
Now Bueno will be a part of the Texas Rangers pitching staff where all ASU fans hope to see him succeed.