'I Want To Be a Starter': Rangers' Taylor Hearn Not Taking His Shot at Rotation For Granted
The debacle in Seattle is long gone. After suffering an injury in his Major League debut in April 2019, Taylor Hearn was forced to settle for a 108.00 ERA for the remainder of the season. Since then, the 6-foot-6 southpaw has spent the past two seasons working his way into this position: becoming a full-time starting pitcher.
When the Rangers acquired Hearn from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Keone Kela trade, Hearn was a starter at the Double-A level. After he recovered from his injury in 2019, the Rangers played with the idea of utilizing Hearn out of the bullpen. After all, a tall lefty that can throw in the upper-90s has a place facing only three or four hitters at a time.
Hearn never shied away from an opportunity. If the Rangers asked him to pitch out of the bullpen, he was going to do it. And after a successful campaign as a reliever in 2020, Hearn earned a spot in a tandem role last season, which eventually morphed into an actual spot in the rotation over the final two months of 2021.
"He's always told me, 'I want to be a starter. That's where I feel most comfortable.' And it showed," said manager Chris Woodward. "He had some really good outings."
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Ben Ludeman / Courtesy of the Texas Rangers
Hearn got off to a slow start in 2021, but improved as the year went along. When Woodward gave Hearn his first crack at the rotation in August, he didn't disappoint. In his first five starts, Hearn went 4-1 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.01 WHIP.
The biggest improvement for Hearn? He only walked two hitters over those five starts. In 2020, Hearn's walks per nine innings was an alarming 5.7, which is not a sustainable number for a pitcher aspiring for a starter's role. In 2021, he added a sinker to his repertoire, which gave him more confidence to attack hitters.
Now, as the club prepares to pivot away from tear-down mode, Hearn did enough to earn first crack at a spot in the 2022 rotation (along with Dane Dunning). Woodward said Hearn still has to earn it this spring, but the Rangers skipper has confidence in him after seeing the way he's grown over the past two seasons.
Despite being a heavy favorite to start the season as one of five starters, Hearn isn't taking anything for granted.
"Honestly, even if (Woodward) blatantly told me before spring training that I have a spot, it would kind of go in one ear and out the other," Hearn said. "That's no disrespect to him. It's just hard for me to get to that mindset that I'm entitled to stuff. I've never had that mentality. I've always been that type of guy where I want to work for it. I could sign a mega-deal and I'm still gonna have that mentality."
Hearn knows he has to hit another level in 2022. His final three starts last year were a bit rocky (9.00 ERA and 1.86 WHIP). There is a long list of talented starting pitchers in the organization that are not far from fighting for their opportunity. The club is also raising expectations for its younger players as management is taking concrete steps toward contention mode.
The Rangers would love for everything to work out for Hearn. Not only is he under club control for four more seasons, the Rangers believe in his potential.
"He's unique," Woodward said. "There's not too many lefties that throw as hard as he does or have two different fastballs like he does with the slider he's worked really hard to create. He's got a unique pitch mix where it's going to be really tough to hit him because most people haven't seen that."
So what can we expect in 2022? In addition to the two fastballs Woodward mentioned, Hearn is also adding a cutter to his arsenal, giving him a five-pitch mix. Pitching coach Doug Mathis describes it as his old slider, which had a higher velocity and tighter break than the new slider he began throwing last year.
"I'm excited to debut it," Hearn said. "I threw it in the past, but I was so focused on working on other pitches that I kind of put it on the back burner. I'm definitely happy to bring it back out."
Hearn likes the way the cutter has played in spring training thus far. It gives him a weapon to back right-handed hitters off the plate. Then you add in the ability to paint the outside corner with either fastball or an improving changeup.
What hasn't changed for Hearn is his intent to not set numerical goals for himself. He admitted this publicly last season, and it fits inside the same overall structure within the club of focusing on what they can control on a nightly basis rather than an end goal that is weeks or months away.
"It's definitely one of those things where I'm just trying to let my stuff play and let it figure itself out rather than trying to set a goal each month, like I want to hold lefties to an average under .200," Hearn said. "That's realistically hard. I try not to set goals and just let things happen for themselves."
Well, there is one goal that Hearn has he prepares for a bigger role.
"I want to get ready," said Hearn, "because I want to win a Cy Young and do well for the team."
