Gibson, Arihara Injuries Challenge Rangers Effort to Protect Young Pitching
We've beaten the dead horse in our coverage of the Texas Rangers this year: 2021 is all about growth and development. It's paramount, not only for future seasons, but even getting through this one.
One key aspect of the "growth and development" is keeping players healthy, specifically the pitching staff. It's why you've seen Dane Dunning exceed 80 pitches just one time this season.
So, when Kyle Gibson goes down with a minor groin injury and when Kohei Arihara gets shut down for 12 weeks, those are major hits to the pitching staff. The Rangers need innings. It was going to be one of the big hurdles of the season, and it's being put to the test now.
“We have some multi-inning guys that can shoulder the load,” Woodward said. “That’s kind of by design. We knew that we had those guys in place before the season started. ... It helps. That's part of the reason why we've limited our starters at times, because we knew we had that depth in our bullpen.”
The Rangers tried to start the season with two pitching tandems in the starting rotation, but that has all but dissolved. Pitchers like Jordan Lyles and Wes Benjamin, who can have their pitch count run a bit higher, are having a hard time eating innings due to performance.
Pitchers like Dunning and Taylor Hearn have to have their work loads limited this year. Dunning has only logged 34 innings over the past two seasons, while Hearn has logged only 37 2/3 innings. Kyle Cody was also going to be in a similar situation with Dunning and Hearn, but he's already gone down with a lengthy injury this season.
This is where Lyles and Benjamin, along with Hyeon-jong Yang, Kolby Allard, John King, or even Joe Palumbo could be valuable. While none of them will flirt with 200 innings, all of them can help eat up innings, which is something the Rangers desperately need.
"I think that's more up to the coaching staff," Allard said. "I'll throw until my arm falls off."
Commendable, but that's exactly what the coaching staff is trying to avoid.
The Rangers are trying to strike a balance between work load while also protecting long-term health. If the majority of these pitchers can get through 2021 with a decent number of innings, it paves the way for an uptick in work load next season when the Rangers might be more equipped to try and focus more on wins and losses.
And even though Ranges management isn't judging this year on where the big league club finishes in the standing, performance absolutely matters.
The Rangers want to win this year. They're not tanking nor trying to improve their spot in next year's draft. A valuable part of growth, development, and experience is playing in a culture where winning is demanded of them.
However, there is still the bigger picture. Protect the health of as many pitchers as possible, and the 2022-2023 staff could be the deepest the Rangers have had since the glory days of 2010-2011.
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