Texas Rangers Potential Closer Was Solid in Spring Training Debut Sunday

The Texas Rangers are still looking for a closer, and one of the players that can earn the role made his spring debut Sunday.

Aug 7, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Chris Martin (55) warms up during the eighth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are searching for someone to fill the closer role for them in 2025. They have some options, but nothing has been decided yet.

Chris Martin is one of the pitchers in contention to be the closer this year. He made his spring training debut on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The 38-year-old missed the beginning of camp due to an illness, but he was healthy enough to take the mound Sunday afternoon.

In the outing, he pitched a scoreless, 15-pitch fourth inning that included a strikeout. The three batters he faced were Jordan Lawler, Ildemaro Vargas and Trey Mancini. It was a solid debut for Martin, but it was not a surprise.

Since 2022, he has quietly been one of the best relievers in the MLB.

In that time span, he appeared in 160 games, threw 151.2 innings, struck out 170 batters and owns a 2.49 ERA. Along with that, his FIP is lower than his ERA and his WHIP is just above 1.000. Perhaps most impressively, the right-hander has walked just 16 batters in the last three seasons.

The former 21st-round pick has just seven career saves, though.

He has not been much of a closer throughout his nine seasons in the bigs, but four of those saves came when he played for the Rangers in 2019.

Texas could look to use him as the go-to guy in the ninth inning this year. They have left-hander Robert Garcia who is also in contention to be the closer, but there isn't a clear-cut answer.

Manager Bruce Bochy has mentioned he could use a closer-by-committee approach. This would put both Martin and Garcia in position to record some saves in 2025.

Others have predicted Martin to be the teams sole closer.

No matter the decision, Martin has been lights out in recent years, and he was a solid addition after losing some key bullpen arms in the offseason.

In 2024, the righty had an elite 35.2% chase rate, 1.7% walk rate, 4.1% barrel rate and his hard-hit percentage was a very low 35.0%. It was not his best season in terms of ERA, but there is a lot left in the tank.

The local native made his first spring inning look easy, so there seems to be no regression in his ability to pitch at a high level.

If that outing against Arizona is any indication, Texas might have found somebody to be the main player to close games for them this year.