Evaluating Rangers Fifth Starter Options After One Spring Training Start

The Texas Rangers have played five games in spring training entering Wednesday's action. More importantly, each of their three potential options to take the fifth spot in the starting rotation have pitched in one game.

With Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Leiter and MacKenzie Gore virtually assured of spots, the last spot is up for competition. Kumar Rocker and Jacob Latz are the two holdovers from last season. The non-roster option is Cal Quantrill.

It’s hard to draw conclusions after one start and Rangers manager Skip Schumaker sees that competition as wide open after one week of games. But here’s how they did in their first starts of the spring.

Kumar Rocker

Rocker threw two innings against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. He gave up two hits and one run. He walked one and struck out two. He threw 28 pitches, 15 of which were strikes. He’s trying to balance working on a new change-up that Texas wants him to use more against left-handers with showing he’s ready to return to the rotation.

“It’s feeling good,” he said on Saturday. “I’m getting good results from it. I just need to throw it more.”

Rocker only threw two first pitch strikes to hitters in the game, something Schumaker and the coaching staff want him to get better at. But, overall, it was an encouraging outing. He spent the second half of last season in the minors after he struggled with command and controlling the run game in the Majors. Chicago did steal three bases on him and catcher Danny Jansen.

Jacob Latz

Latz made his first start on Tuesday against Arizona. He also went two innings and proved to be a bit more efficient than Rocker. He gave up two hits without allowing a walk or a run. He didn’t strike out a hitter. He threw 20 strikes out of his 28 pitches.

He was one of the Rangers’ best relievers last season, becoming a swing starter due to injury. Former manager Bruce Bochy said Latz had the makeup and the stuff to be a Major League starter. He was also a starter in the minor leagues. Schumaker says the Rangers are leaving his role open for now, content to let the competition play out.

Cal Quantrill

Quantrill hasn’t started a game, but he pitched behind Rocker in Saturday’s game against Chicago. He gave up four hits, one earned run and two walks in 1.1 innings. Texas had hoped to get two innings out of him, given he’s heading to the World Baseball Classic to pitch for Canada next week. He’ll probably get one more outing before he heads out. Schumaker said the organization will be able to evaluate him even though he’s not at spring training.

“He’s a pro,” Schumaker said. “He's done it for so long that I anticipate him going out there to compete for his country but also continuing to work on stuff for the regular season. So he's the type of pitcher you don't really worry about too much because he has a plan to attack and try to still make a roster.”