The Texas Rangers were probably going to promote one of their top pitching prospects from Class-A Hickory soon. An unusual situation forced them to accelerate the process. The Hickory Crawdads, the Rangers’ Class A affiliate in North Carolina, reported that there was a fire in the visitors’ clubhouse after Friday’s game. The fire forced the Crawdads to cancel their games on Saturday and Sunday. It's also not clear where Hickory will handle future home games. The Crawdads are on the road next week and the team’s released indicated it was determining next steps for the next homestand. That presented a problem for Rangers Top 30 pitching prospect AJ Russell. He was supposed to start Saturday's game for Hickory. So, the Rangers came up with a novel solution. They promoted him to High-A Hub City and let him start on Saturday night. AJ Russell’s First High-A Start — MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 9, 2026 A promotion from one affiliate to the next can sometimes pose issues for young pitchers.…