Texas Rangers Talented Rotation Could Limit Award Chances for Young Pitcher

Will the depth in the starting rotation hurt a young pitcher for the Texas Rangers?

Sep 19, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) throws to the plate during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Globe Life Field. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

With pitchers and catchers getting set to report soon for the Texas Rangers, their opportunity for a bounce-back season is right around the corner.

Despite a frustrating 2024 campaign, there is a lot of reason to believe that the 2025 version of the Rangers will be closer to what was seen in 2023.

Injuries played a big part in the struggles for Texas last year, but the team is currently looking healthy with a lot of depth, especially in the starting rotation.

While the batting order had some notable players miss a significant amount of time, the Rangers’ starting rotation was banged up last season.

Now, the unit is looking healthy with a nice mix of veterans and young players. There is never such thing as having toom much pitching, but the Rangers will have to navigate how to get some of their talented young arms innings this coming season. Injuries resulted in a few of the top prospects coming up at the end of last year, and now they need to find space for them, while also trying to win.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic recently spoke about some players who could be in the Rookie of the Year conversation in 2025. For the Rangers, he mentioned starting pitcher Kumar Rocker as a player to watch.

One of the young electric arms that has a ton of upside is the right-hander. The 25-year-old made his debut last season with Texas and performed well in a small sample size. In 11.2 innings and three starts, he totaled a 3.86 ERA and 14 strikeouts.

When the Rangers were out of playoff contention at the end of the campaign, it was wise to get Rocker some innings in the Big Leagues. They were carefully monitoring the workload of the young right-hander, but he showed his ability to strikeout batters at a high level.

Now, Rocker will be heading into Spring Training looking to solidify a spot in a rotation that is very crowded. Currently, the rotation for Texas has Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle, as the seeming locks on Opening Day.

However, with Cody Bradford, Rocker, and Jack Leiter, using a six-man rotation to start the season might make a lot of sense. Even if they elect to do that, one of those three pitchers will be left out.

Spring Training is going to be very important for the Rangers to figure out what their rotation will look like, with plenty of options.

For Rocker, getting the workload in to be in consideration for the Rookie of the Year award currently projects to be challenging. However, if he shines in Spring Training and starts the season well, all of that can change quickly.