How ‘Anger’ Fuels Former Phillies Starter’s Season With Rangers

Michael Lorenzen didn’t get the chance to come back to the Philadelphia Phillies after he arrived last season in a trade. The Phillies certainly aren’t hurting for starting pitching.

Lorenzen isn’t necessarily bitter about leaving Philly. But he did admit to some anger that it took him until nearly the start of the 2024 season to find a contract.

The 32-year-old right-hander landed with the Texas Rangers on a $4.5 million deal, with $2.5 million in incentives. But he didn’t sign until March 20 and he spent part of the first month on the 15-day injured list with a neck injury.

Since he returned to the Majors, he’s given the Rangers a real boost. Texas hasn’t had Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle in its rotation all season, while both Nathan Eovaldi and Jon Gray have missed time.

Lorenzen hasn’t missed a turn since he returned. He’s 3-3 with a 3.05 ERA.

In an interview with The Athletic, he admitted to the writer, Ken Rosenthal, that he would make each pitch he threw in 2024 in “anger” during an exchange in spring training.

Curious if Lorenzen had calmed down, Rosenthal recently talked with the starter again. Lorenzen said that after he signed he told his agent, Ryan Hamill of CAA, that he was going to call him “…before every start and you’re going to remind me how this offseason went so I go out there and pitch remembering exactly how I feel at this moment.’”

Yep, he was angry. After all, he was an All-Star last year for Detroit. He pitched well enough to get the Phillies interested in him at the trade deadline. Early in his Phillies tenure he threw a no-hitter. But by season’s end he ended up in the bullpen as Philadelphia steamed into the playoffs and ultimately lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series.

There likely wouldn’t be much room for Lorenzen in this Phillies rotation. He would be a luxury. Ranger Suárez, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are, by most measures, the best 1-2-3 punch in the game. Between Cristopher Sanchez, Spencer Turnbull and Taijuan Walker, the Phillies have the arms in their rotation.

Anger is a funny thing, though. Lorenzen admitted that he doesn’t call Hamill before every start. He also admitted that he doesn’t throw every pitch in anger. He’s calmed, he said, in part because he’s pitching well and in part because his Christian faith tells him to turn the other cheek, so to speak. He can be a free agent after this season.

Besides, he said there are other ways to, well, act out on the mound.

“I’m a human and I’m a sinner and I want to seek revenge,” Lorenzen said. “But my revenge is just going out and competing. I always had that drive to want to get better. But there are different levels, different gears. You have a fourth gear and fifth gear. It definitely kicked me back into fifth gear.”