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Brock Burke

Angels, Brock Burke Avoid Arbitration

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The Angels avoided arbitration with lefty reliever Brock Burke on a $1.15MM deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Burke had been projected at $1.2MM by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

Los Angeles grabbed the 28-year-old southpaw off waivers from Texas in August. Burke pitched well down the stretch, working to a 3.54 ERA while striking out more than 30% of opponents across 20 1/3 innings. It was a dramatic turnaround. Burke had allowed more than a run per inning over 13 appearances with the Rangers earlier in the year.

The terrible early-season production left Burke with a middling 5.82 earned run average on the year. He showed enough in his six weeks with the Angels to get another opportunity. Burke is arguably the top lefty in a bullpen that should also include José Quijada and potentially Rule 5 pick Garrett McDaniels. He’ll be eligible for arbitration once more next offseason.

Angels Claim Nick Robertson, Brock Burke

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The Angels announced that they have claimed right-hander Nick Robertson off waivers from the Cardinals and left-hander Brock Burke off waivers from the Rangers. Both pitchers had been designated for assignment in recent days. The Halos had two vacancies on their 40-man roster and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Each pitcher has shown some promise in past seasons but was struggling of late. They both got nudged off their respective roster spots but it makes sense for the Angels to take fliers on them. The Halos are out of contention and can use the remainder of the season to audition players for future roles, and had the open roster spots anyway.

Robertson, 26, pitched for the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2023. He tossed 22 1/3 innings in the majors with an unimpressive 6.04 earned run average but better underlying numbers. He struck out 24.5% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.5% clip and got grounders on 47.1% of balls in play. His .397 batting average on balls in play and 57.5% strand rate were both on the unlucky side, which is why he had a 3.88 FIP and 3.76 SIERA. He also had a strong 2.54 ERA in Triple-A last year with a huge 37.5% strikeout rate.

The Cards acquired him as one of the two pieces they got back from Boston in the Tyler O’Neill trade. He missed about a month of this season due to right elbow inflammation and has also been on optional assignment, only throwing 12 1/3 innings for the Cards. In that time, he had a 4.38 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate and 3.8% walk rate. Oddly, he performed far worse in his 21 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He had a 7.48 ERA there, along with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 15.7% walk rate.

It’s not been an outstanding season so St. Louis decided to move on, but the Angels can see if he can find his way in a new environment. Robertson can be optioned for the rest of this year and will still have one option after that. He also currently has less than a year of service time, meaning he still has a ways to go before qualifying for arbitration or free agency.

Burke, 28, had a tremendous 2022 season. He tossed 82 1/3 innings for the Rangers that year with a 1.97 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. But his numbers backed up a bit last year, as he logged 59 2/3 frames with a 4.37 ERA and diminished 20.8% strikeout rate, though he did lower the walks to a rate of 3.6%.

This year, things have been even worse, which was partially self-induced on Burke’s part. He punched a wall in frustration after a poor outing and suffered a fracture in his right hand. Though it wasn’t his throwing hand, it still kept him on the IL for two months. Around that IL placement, he posted a 9.22 ERA in 13 2/3 innings and also spent about a month on optional assignment.

The results have obviously been trending in a bad direction and the wall-punching reflects poorly on him, but he can still be optioned for the rest of this year if the Angels so choose. He’ll be out of options next year but can be retained via arbitration through 2026.

Rangers Select Matt Festa, DFA Brock Burke

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The Rangers have selected right-hander Matt Festa’s contract from Triple-A Round Rock, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. To make room on the 40-man roster, the team has designated left-hander Brock Burke for assignment. In a pair of additional transactions, Texas placed right-hander Josh Sborz on the 15-day IL and recalled left-hander Walter Pennington from Triple-A.

Burke, 28, has struggled mightily this season. After getting off to a rough start in April, he missed two months with a fractured hand. He didn’t look sharp upon his return either, and the Rangers optioned him to Triple-A at the end of June. He was recalled earlier this month and continued to struggle. Overall, he has a 9.22 ERA and 4.30 SIERA in 13 appearances in the majors this season. He also has a 5.31 ERA in 16 appearances at Triple-A. The Rangers have little margin for error as they attempt to gain ground in the AL West, and evidently, they decided they could no longer afford to keep Burke on the roster. He showed tremendous promise in 2022 (1.97 ERA, 3.05 SIERA in 82 1/3 innings), but he has not been able to recapture that success over the past two years.

Festa, 31, does not have much of a track record in the major leagues; he has a 4.66 ERA and 3.96 SIERA over 90 games with the Mariners and Mets from 2018-24. However, he has looked sharp at Triple-A this year, with a 2.70 ERA and 3.10 FIP over 33 games in the Padres, Mets, and Rangers’ systems. He signed a minor league contract with Texas back in July and re-upped with the team after he was released in August.

Sborz, 30, was a postseason hero last fall, but he has, unfortunately, struggled with shoulder injuries in his follow-up campaign. He has a 3.38 ERA and 3.28 SIERA in 16 innings of work, but this is now his third trip to the IL. Pennington, 26, has made two brief appearances this season. He made his MLB debut for the Royals in July, facing two batters and recording two outs. Not long after, he was included in the trade that sent Michael Lorenzen to Kansas City. Pennington made his Rangers debut in August, and the results weren’t quite as strong. He gave up a solo home run and walked three batters over a single inning of work. He has a 2.13 ERA and 3.27 across 63 1/3 innings at Triple-A this year.

The Rangers have taxed their bullpen heavily over the second half of the season as they continue to deal with injuries to the starting rotation. Jon Gray and Max Scherzer both hit the IL just before the trade deadline and, most recently, Nathan Eovaldi has dealt with tightness in his right side. Grant notes that his next start, which would have been scheduled for Thursday against the Twins, will be pushed back or skipped entirely. José Ureña will remain in the rotation for the time being, and Grant suggests Dane Dunning will likely re-join the rotation on Wednesday to fill an open space caused by Saturday’s doubleheader. It is unclear who will start for Texas in Eovaldi’s place on Thursday.

Rangers Reinstate Brock Burke, Outright Derek Hill

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The Rangers announced they’ve reinstated lefty reliever Brock Burke from the 60-day injured list. Texas optioned Grant Anderson to Triple-A Round Rock in a corresponding move. The Rangers already had an opening on the 40-man roster after designating outfielder Derek Hill for assignment last week. Texas announced tonight that Hill went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to Round Rock, though he has the right to elect free agency in lieu of the Triple-A assignment.

Burke suffered a fractured metacarpal in his non-throwing hand back in April. The southpaw punched a dugout wall in frustration after a poor outing. He underwent surgery and missed a couple months. Burke had an excellent 2022 campaign in which he threw 82 1/3 innings of 1.97 ERA ball. Last year’s 4.37 mark was more pedestrian, and he gave up five runs in his first three frames this season. Burke rejoins Jacob Latz as lefty options for Bruce Bochy, though he’ll likely need to pitch his way back into the later innings.

Hill, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and got added to their big league roster about three weeks ago. He got a small sample of work while on the roster, getting just ten plate appearances in five games, hitting .222/.300/.222 in those. Last week, the Rangers needed an extra infielder with Corey Seager day-to-day due to hamstring soreness. They recalled Davis Wendzel and nudged Hill out. Since Hill is out of options, they had to remove him from the 40-man entirely.

Any team acquiring him would have also had to plug him directly onto the active roster and it seems none of them were willing to do so. Since he has a previous career outright, he has the right to reject any outright assignment in favor of free agency. Should he explore that avenue, he should be able to find a minor league deal somewhere.

Hill hasn’t hit much in his big league career but he can provide value in others ways. Statcast considers his sprint speed to be in the 98th percentile this year and Hill has five Outs Above Average in his 746 1/3 outfield innings. It’s also possible there’s some upside at the plate since he’s had some good performances in the minors and was slashing .333/.387/.659 for Round Rock before getting called up this year.

Brock Burke Undergoes Hand Surgery

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Rangers reliever Brock Burke underwent surgery to repair a fractured metacarpal in his right (non-throwing) hand on Thursday, the team announced (X link via Kennedy Landry of MLB.com). It’s unclear precisely how long he’ll be out of action. Texas placed Burke on the 60-day injured list this week, ruling him out until at least the middle of June.

Burke suffered the injury last week when he punched a dugout wall in frustration. That came on the heels of another poor outing in what had been a rough start to the season. The southpaw has given up five runs through his first three innings. Burke had been searching for a rebound after a pedestrian 2023 campaign. In 59 2/3 innings a year ago, he pitched to a 4.37 ERA while allowing nearly two home runs per nine.

As recently as 2022, Burke looked like a potential building block. He led MLB with 82 1/3 relief innings, managing a sub-2.00 ERA with a 27.4% strikeout rate. The former Rays draftee has not managed to repeat that success even though his velocity and swing-and-miss rates haven’t changed much over the last year-plus.

Texas is light on left-handed bullpen options. Jake Latz is the only southpaw currently in the MLB relief group. He’d been excellent over his first nine appearances but took the loss tonight against the Braves after conceding a grand slam to Travis d’Arnaud (his third homer of the game). Antoine Kelly is on the 40-man roster but has yet to reach the majors. Chasen Shreve, Danny Duffy and Blake Taylor are non-roster options with Triple-A Round Rock.

Rangers Promote Jack Leiter

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April 18: Texas officially selected Leiter’s contract on Thursday morning. The Rangers optioned Grant Anderson to Triple-A in a corresponding move. To create space on the 40-man roster, they transferred lefty reliever Brock Burke to the 60-day injured list. Burke broke his non-throwing hand last week and will now be out of action until at least the middle of June.

April 16: The Rangers announced this morning that top pitching prospect Jack Leiter will have his contract selected to the major league roster and make his big league debut Thursday against the Tigers. Texas has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to accommodate the right-hander, whom they drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2021.

It’s an early birthday present for Leiter, who’ll turn 24 just three days after making his long-awaited debut. The second-generation talent is the son of two-time World Series champion and two-time All-Star Al Leiter, the nephew of 11-year MLB veteran Mark Leiter, and the cousin of current Cubs setup man Mark Leiter Jr.

The fourth Leiter to reach the majors, Jack hasn’t had the most straightforward path to the show despite his considerable draft and prospect pedigree. He annihilated hitters in college ball at Vanderbilt, fanning 41% of his opponents in two seasons prior to being drafted, but struggled with command following an aggressive assignment to Double-A right out of the gate.

Leiter walked more than 13% of his opponents and posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of his first two seasons at the Double-A level but has been an absolute monster in his first three Triple-A appearances this season. In 14 1/3 innings, he’s punched out 25 of his 57 opponents (43.9%), walked only three (5.3%) and surrendered just 11 hits. Four of those, unfortunately, have left the yard and saddled Leiter with a 3.77 ERA that’s far less impressive than his overpowering K-BB profile would otherwise suggest, but it’s hard not to be encouraged by the strikeout and walk trends. That’s especially true given that Leiter also pitched 12 2/3 innings for Texas this spring and posted a much-improved 9.6% walk rate in that short time as well.

Texas’ rotation has been hammered by injuries. Jacob deGrom, signed to a five-year contract in the 2022-23 offseason, opened the year on the 60-day injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June. Max Scherzer, acquired at least year’s trade deadline, required offseason back surgery to repair a herniated disc. Twenty-six-year old southpaw Cody Bradford was a godsend through three starts to begin the season (1.40 ERA) … until he suffered a lower back strain of his own and was subsequently placed on the 15-day IL.

Leiter will step onto a starting staff that’s in flux. Veteran righty Michael Lorenzen, who inked a one-year deal late in spring training, made his Rangers debut yesterday with five shutout frames over his former Tigers teammates (albeit with five walks against four strikeouts). Veteran lefty Andrew Heaney would’ve been on tap for Thursday’s start, but he’s yet to last five innings in any of his three starts while pitching to a 6.75 ERA. It seems Leiter will overtake that spot, at least for the time being.

That all points to a rotation that’ll include Lorenzen, Leiter, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Wednesday’s starter Dane Dunning — at least for the time being. It’s not clear how long a leash Leiter will be given if he struggles out of the gate, though one would imagine the Rangers are planning to give him multiple starts following his initial call to the big leagues. Manager Bruce Bochy and/or general manager Chris Young will presumably expand on the team’s plans for their young righty in the days to come.

Leiter’s 2022-23 struggles were enough to drop him off prospect rankings, meaning he’s ineligible for MLB’s prospect promotion incentives. He won’t accrue a full year of service time, given the lack of sufficient time remaining on the calendar, nor can he net the Rangers a draft pick based on his Rookie of the Year voting. As it stands, he’ll be controllable through the 2030 season and is set up on pace to reach Super Two status, granting him four trips through the arbitration process rather than the standard three. The first of those arb-eligible offseasons would come in the winter of 2026-27, though future optional assignments could yet impact both his free agent timeline and arbitration status.

Rangers Place Brock Burke On 15-Day Injured List

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The Rangers will be placing southpaw Brock Burke on the 15-day injured list due to a broken right hand, manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today).  In corresponding moves, Texas selected the contract of right-hander Austin Pruitt, and moved infielder Justin Foscue to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster space.

The injury occurred in ignominious fashion, as Bochy said Burke broke his hand while punching a wall following his rough outing yesterday.  Texas defeated Houston 12-8, though the Astros drew a lot closer after scoring five times in the seventh inning.  Burke was charged with four of those runs over two-thirds of an inning of work, including a two-run homer off the bat of Kyle Tucker.

Burke now has a garish 15.00 ERA across three innings and five appearances this season, and he’ll face an extended absence while his non-pitching hand heals up.  In a best case scenario, this might serve as a bit of a reset for Burke for just this season and really over two years as a whole, as his 2023 numbers declined after his breakout 2022 campaign.  The advanced metrics behind his 1.97 ERA in 2022 suggested some regression was in order, and Burke ended up posting a 4.37 ERA over 59 2/3 innings last season.  He couldn’t get on track in the postseason, as Burke allowed five runs over two-thirds of an inning (over two appearances) during the Rangers’ run to the World Series.

Even with Burke and Jose Leclerc struggling, Texas’ bullpen is pitching better overall than it did for much of last year’s regular season.  David Robertson could now be getting closer duties since Leclerc has been temporarily demoted to lower-leverage work, and the trio of Jose Urena, Jacob Latz, and Kirby Yates have combined for 21 2/3 innings of scoreless ball.

Pruitt now joins this mix, pitching less than an hour’s drive from his hometown of Plano, Texas.  Pruitt isn’t a hard thrower and he has had some problems keeping the ball in the park over his six MLB seasons, but the veteran reliever has posted some solid results.  The righty quietly had a 2.98 ERA in 48 1/3 innings for the A’s in 2023, even if he enjoyed some good fortune in the form of a .264 BABIP and a 78% strand rate.  The Rangers signed Pruitt to a minors deal after the Athletics non-tendered him, and Pruitt now looks to temporarily step into Burke’s multi-inning relief role.

Foscue was placed on the 10-day IL earlier this week due to a left oblique strain, and this rather quick shift to the 60-day IL indicates that Foscue’s strain is a more severe variety.  It makes for a tough start to Foscue’s big league career, as he only just made his MLB debut on April 5 and played in two games before suffering the injury.  Injuries to Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Jung, and now Foscue have left the Rangers a little thin around the infield, though Lowe is expected to start a rehab assignment this coming week as he plots his return from his own oblique strain.

Rangers Remove Adolis Garcia, Max Scherzer From World Series Roster

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6:11PM: The Rangers have officially replaced Garcia and Scherzer on the World Series roster with Duran and left-hander Brock Burke, the league announced.  Burke had a 4.37 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, and 3.8% walk rate over 59 2/3 innings for Texas this season, initially working as a multi-inning reliever before settling into a more standard one-inning bullpen role.  The southpaw has made only one appearance during the Rangers’ playoff run, tossing one-third of an inning in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Orioles.

5:12PM: Adolis Garcia and Max Scherzer each left yesterday’s Game 3 with injuries, as Garcia was removed with an apparent side injury after a big swing in the eighth inning and Scherzer lasted only three innings on the mound due to back tightness.  Providing updates on both players today, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told media that the club had yet to make a formal decision about whether or not either Garcia or Scherzer would be replaced on the World Series roster, but that decision might come prior to the start of tonight’s Game 4.

“It’s not great news” about Garcia, as Bochy bluntly put it, as the outfielder has suffered “a moderate strain of the oblique.”  Garcia took some swings to test his readiness and is undergoing treatment from team trainers, but he has already been ruled out of the starting lineup, as Travis Jankowski will instead get the nod tonight in Garcia’s customary right field spot.  As for Scherzer, the veteran right-hander’s back is still “pretty locked up,” putting his readiness for another appearance later in the Series into serious doubt.

Since a player cannot return to action in the World Series once he is removed from the roster, it is understandable why Texas is being as cautious as possible before making a final call on Garcia and Scherzer.  That said, it is hard to imagine either getting healthy enough to play within the short window of time remaining in the postseason.  The Rangers simply can’t afford to play essentially two men down, and even though Scherzer probably wouldn’t have pitched again until a possible Game 7 if healthy, the Rangers would still be fielding a shorthanded roster in the event that Scherzer was given an extra day or two for more observation.  Getting a fresh arm in Scherzer’s place would also help the bullpen sooner rather than later.

Ezequiel Duran has already been tabbed as the replacement should Garcia indeed be removed from the roster, yet obviously there’s no way to truly replace his huge contributions to the Texas lineup.  Garcia has been perhaps the biggest star of the Rangers’ playoff run, as he has hit .323/.382/.726 with eight home runs over 68 plate appearances this postseason.  Garcia’s 15 RBI during the ALCS set a new record for most RBI in a postseason series, and Garcia was rightly named ALCS MVP for his heroics in the Rangers’ seven-game triumph over the Astros.

The Rangers’ Multi-Inning Relief Weapon

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The Rangers spent most of last year out of playoff contention, in significant part due to an inability to win close games. Texas finished 26 games under .500 despite a relatively modest -36 run differential, with a staggering 15-35 record in one-run contests dooming any chance they had of sticking around the periphery of the Wild Card race.

Any time a team is that bad in close games, it’s safe to assume they were victimized by a lack of clutch hitting. That was true of Texas, although their struggles also reflected a middling relief corps. Ranger relievers finished 21st in strikeout/walk rate differential and tied for sixth in blown saves (28). Nevertheless, the Rangers shied away from any splashy additions to the bullpen this winter. They instead poured virtually all their resources into completely overhauling the starting rotation.

That’s a strong show of faith in the club’s internal bullpen options. It’s a relatively young group but one that has a few players coming off strong 2022 seasons. Hard-throwing righties José Leclerc and Jonathan Hernández returned from Tommy John rehabs to impress down the stretch. Meanwhile, left-hander Brock Burke quietly put forth an excellent year as a multi-inning weapon.

Burke underwent a significant surgery of his own a few years back. He’d debuted in the big leagues with six unsuccessful starts in 2019 and required a procedure to fix a labrum tear in his throwing shoulder the ensuing offseason. Burke would’ve missed the entire ’20 season regardless of whether a full schedule were played. He returned to health in 2021 but spent the whole year on optional assignment to Triple-A Round Rock.

When he took the mound for his 2022 debut on April 10, it represented his first big league outing in two and a half years. The Rangers unsurprisingly deployed him in mostly low-stakes innings for the season’s first month. After posting a 20:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio through the end of April, Burke increasingly found himself in more meaningful game states. He’d remain a consistent weapon throughout the year, posting an ERA below 4.00 in each month — including a sub-3.00 mark for the first four months of the season.

Called upon 52 times, Burke soaked up an MLB-leading 82 1/3 innings of relief. No reliever faced more than the 328 batters that stepped in against him. Despite frequently going into a second inning, Burke remained very productive on a per-batter basis. He held opponents to a putrid .211/.275/.356 line, striking out an above-average 27.4% of batters faced with a solid 7.3% walk rate. He compiled a 1.97 ERA. Estimators like FIP and SIERA felt his production was more akin to that of a low-3.00’s ERA hurler, but even regression to that level would leave Burke as a quality high-leverage arm.

Now 26, Burke had been a solid prospect prior to his shoulder injury. Acquired from the Rays in the three-team deal that sent Jurickson Profar to Oakland over the 2018-19 offseason, he appeared among Texas’ top 30 farmhands at Baseball America over his first two years in the organization. Evaluators regarded him as a potential back-of-the-rotation starter, though his injury threw that off course. Burke told reporters (including Levi Weaver of the Athletic) over the offseason he was hopeful of getting another crack in the rotation. The Rangers’ activity in that regard rules that out, at least to open the year, and the former third-round draftee added he was content with whatever role he’s assigned.

The Rangers seem poised to count on him even more heavily out of the bullpen. General manager Chris Young left open the possibility of Burke getting some ninth-inning work for the first time in his career, though he suggested the multi-inning fireman role might be more valuable for first-year skipper Bruce Bochy. Young implied the team could look to get Burke as many as 100 innings of relief in 2023, a tally only once reached in MLB over the past decade (by then-Rays southpaw Ryan Yarbrough, who frequently operated as a bulk pitcher behind an opener, in 2018).

Whatever the role, it’s clear Burke has put himself among Texas’ most important relievers. The club watched Matt Moore sign with the division-rival Angels and lost Brett Martin for at least the bulk of the upcoming season to shoulder surgery. Taylor Hearn, John King and non-roster invitee Danny Duffy are still in the mix, but the Rangers’ left-handed bullpen contingent isn’t as strong as it was six months ago. Burke certainly won’t function in a lefty specialist capacity but is certain to get plenty of looks against opposing teams’ best hitters from either side of the dish. While that wasn’t the case at this time a year ago, he’s now entrenched in the bullpen after his breakout season.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rangers GM Chris Young Discusses Closer Options

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The Rangers were active this offseason in overhauling their rotation for 2023. Martín Pérez was set to hit free agency but was given a $19.65MM qualifying offer that he accepted to return. The club also signed free agents Jacob deGrom, Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi, in addition to acquiring Jake Odorizzi from Atlanta. Those five and incumbent Jon Gray give the club six solid options for five spots. However, the bullpen hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention. Aside from that rotation surplus perhaps pushing Odorizzi into a long relief role, the club’s current relief options are holdovers and veterans on minor league deals.

The bullpen wasn’t an especially glaring weak point for the Rangers last year. Their collective 3.72 ERA was ranked 12th out of the 30 clubs in the majors. However, they lost Matt Moore and his 1.95 ERA last year when the lefty became a free agent at season’s end. They also don’t have an established closer, with various players having been given the job in recent years only to be felled by injuries and/or underperformance. The club’s saves leader in 2022 was Joe Barlow with 13, though the last one came in June as he spent much of the second half of the year on the injured list. As the club was holding Rangers Fan Fest this weekend, Levi Weaver of The Athletic discussed the situation with general manager Chris Young, who listed José Leclerc, Jonathan Hernández, Ian Kennedy, Danny Duffy and Brett Martin as some of the candidates to take over the closing duties, though Martin won’t be a short-term option since he recently underwent shoulder surgery that’s could wipe out his entire 2023 campaign.

Leclerc, 29, already had the closer’s role once upon a time. He racked up 12 saves in 2018 and 14 in 2019. However, his ERA jumped from 1.56 in that former season to 4.33 in the latter. He then missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries, including Tommy John surgery in March of 2021. He returned to the Rangers in June of last year and allowed five earned runs in his first three outings but posted a 2.01 ERA the rest of the way. He seemed to retake the closer’s job over the final months of the season, earning seven saves between August and September. He’s arguably the frontrunner and Young said Leclerc “could easily be the closer.”

Hernández, 26, is on a similar trajectory to Leclerc, in the sense that he underwent Tommy John in April of 2021. Prior to going under the knife, he had a nice breakout in 2020. He tossed 31 frames that year with a 2.90 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate. After missing 2021, he returned last year and posted a 2.97 ERA in 30 1/3 innings. His control didn’t fully come back to him, as he walked 13% of batters faced, but he kept the ball on the ground at a 62.4% clip. His closing experience is quite limited, with his four career saves all coming in a two-week stretch from late July to mid-August of last year. Teams generally prefer their closers to be reliable strikeout guys, which might work against Hernández since he only punched out 20.6% of opponents last year. Perhaps he can get some punchouts back now that he’s further removed from the surgery, and Young expressed his belief that Hernández could take on the role.

Kennedy, 38, would provide a more experienced option, though that won’t necessarily make him more reliable. A long-time starter, he moved to the bullpen in recent years but has seen wild fluctuations in his performance. He racked up 30 saves for the Royals in 2019 with a 3.41 ERA, but then had an ERA of 9.00 in the shortened 2020 campaign while being limited by injury to just 15 appearances. He joined the Rangers in 2021 and got back on track, registering a 3.20 ERA and saving 26 games between them and the Phillies after a midseason trade. But with the Diamondbacks last year, his ERA shot up to 5.36 while his strikeout rate plummeted to 19% after being at 27.2% in the prior season.

Duffy, 34, is another veteran option, though in a much different way. He has just one save, which came back in 2015. Most of his career has been spent as a starter, with just 30 relief appearances scattered over his time in the big leagues. He’s also coming off a lengthy absence, having last appeared in the majors in July of 2021. A flexor strain put him on the shelf at that time and he wasn’t able to rehab in time to pitch at all in 2022. The error bars on his 2023 are quite wide, since he posted a 2.51 ERA when last healthy in 2021, but he might need time to get back on track after being down for so long.

One big wild card in the club’s bullpen is left-hander Brock Burke. Young was asked about the southpaw and said he could “potentially” take the closer job and that it’s something he’s discussed with pitching coach Mike Maddux. Burke somewhat quietly had a tremendous breakout campaign in 2022. He made his MLB debut with six starts in 2019 but then missed all of 2020 due to shoulder surgery. He returned to the mound in 2021 but was kept in the Triple-A rotation, where he registered a 5.68 ERA. Last year, however, he took on a multi-inning relief role in the big leagues and dominated, posting a 1.97 ERA in 82 1/3 innings over 52 appearances. He struck out 27.4% of batters faced while walking just 7.3%. It might be tantalizing to see what he could do in a typical single-inning relief role but it sounds like the club doesn’t want to push him in that direction, with Young suggesting Burke could eclipse 100 innings this season. “I’m not sure he gets that in a closer’s role. Or maybe it’s a different type of closer’s role; maybe it’s not as conventional. I don’t want to get too far ahead because we’re not committing to that. It could be a traditional type of closer, but certainly we view Brock as a valuable member of our bullpen and he can pitch a number of different roles that could help us win games.”

Burke himself admits that he held out hope of returning to the rotation until the club revamped it this offseason. “I feel like my role in the bullpen, with the starters we have this year, is going to be very helpful,” he said. “I’m good with whatever they’ve got. If it’s one inning, two innings, break-up innings. Last year, I definitely would have said more innings the better, at one (point) but after getting used to going out there for one inning, I was more comfortable, so I hope that this year, whatever role the team needs me for.”

It seems the Rangers are keeping an open mind for the time being and will let the chips fall where they may over the next few months. Health and effectiveness in spring and the early parts of the season will surely help the club’s decision-makers navigate the upcoming campaign.

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