Rangers prospect Jacob Johnson adds a cutter during scoreless Fall League start

Jacob Johnson is using the Arizona Fall League to test a new changeup grip and add a cutter. The Rangers’ No. 17 prospect described those changes after his second scoreless appearance for Surprise on Sunday, giving Texas a fresh look at how the 20-year-old right-hander is building his pitching repertoire.

Johnson told MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo that he began using the changeup grip about two weeks earlier, shortly before the Fall League started. He had thrown a few changeups in his first appearance and worked cutters into Sunday’s outing. Mayo reported a sinking fastball reaching 95 mph alongside a slider in the low 80s.

Watch Johnson’s official 44-second Fall League interview

The official box score credits Johnson with 2⅓ hitless innings in Surprise’s 5-4 win over Glendale on Oct. 11. He walked two, struck out one and threw 40 pitches, 22 for strikes. He faced nine batters before Jesus Gamez took over in the third inning. Johnson did not receive the win; Surprise came back later, with Logan Schuelke earning the decision.

That followed an Oct. 4 start against Salt River in which Johnson allowed one hit over two scoreless innings, struck out two and issued no walks. Through those two starts, his Fall League total is 4⅓ innings with one hit, two walks and three strikeouts. The sample is still small, especially for evaluating pitches he has only recently introduced.

Command was already a question entering the fall. In his Oct. 2 AFL pitching preview, Pitcher List’s Martin Sekulski highlighted Johnson’s sinking fastball and slider but noted an Arizona Complex League walk rate near 14%. Sekulski framed the fall assignment as a chance to sharpen control against more advanced hitters. Sunday’s two walks give that earlier scouting context a concrete point to follow.

Texas selected Johnson in the 11th round of the 2025 draft out of Pearl River Community College. His stated goal for next year, according to Mayo, is to begin in High-A and earn a chance at Double-A. Those are his development aims; no 2027 assignment has been announced.

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Johnson expands his repertoire in the Fall League · Official Glendale-Surprise October11 box score · Official 2026 Arizona Fall League pitching statistics · Arizona Fall League pitching preview (Oct. 2)