Searching For A Fifth Starter In Texas
The Rangers solidified the top of their rotation when they landed left-hander MacKenzie Gore in a trade with the Nationals. Gore, Jacob deGrom, and Nathan Eovaldi will form what should be a dominant trio, as long as everyone stays healthy. Former top prospect Jack Leiter delivered a solid campaign in his first full-time look at the big league level, likely earning him the No. 4 spot. After that, it gets murky.
Texas’ starting pitchers led the league with a 3.41 ERA last season, but the club will have to replace a lot of reliable innings in 2026. Veteran Patrick Corbin matched deGrom for the most starts on the team at 30. He’s now a free agent. Tyler Mahle and trade deadline acquisition Merrill Kelly both departed in free agency.
Here’s a look at the remaining mix of options to round out the rotation.
By pedigree, Rocker would be the favorite for the fifth starter job. The 26-year-old was the third overall pick in the 2022 draft. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs had Rocker behind only Sebastian Walcott among Rangers prospects midway through last season. That was even after the highly-touted righty was destroyed for 18 earned runs in 20 innings to open the year. He landed on the IL with a shoulder issue in late April.
Rocker made it back to the big leagues for nine starts across June and July. He posted a 4.67 ERA, though a 4.14 xFIP and a 4.34 SIERA suggest he was a bit better than that mark. Rocker found himself back in Triple-A by August. He’s yet to impress for an extended stretch at the highest level, but will likely get the chance to stick in the rotation this spring.
Texas used Latz in a Swiss Army Knife role last year, and he pitched well whenever called upon. The 29-year-old lefty made eight starts and 25 relief appearances this past season. Latz’s versatile gig included a quality start and a three-inning save in the span of a week. He compiled a 2.84 ERA in 85 2/3 innings. It came with an xERA and a SIERA above 4.00, so expectations should be tempered, but there might be enough here for Latz to be a full-fledged starter.
Latz relied on a three-pitch mix that featured a fastball, changeup, and slider. He also mixed in a curveball to right-handed hitters. Latz used each of his three main pitches more than 20% of the time, so the repertoire is deeper than that of a typical reliever. The fastball was dominant, holding hitters to a .193 batting average while recording a +11 Run Value. The changeup got whiffs at a more than 40% clip. Latz will have a role on this team one way or another.
Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber, Nabil Crismatt
The Rangers brought in this group of veterans on minor league deals. They’ll serve as depth pieces if injuries pop up. One of them could find their way into the rotation if Rocker flops in the spring and the club prefers Latz out of the bullpen.
Quantrill spent 2025 with the Marlins and Braves, posting an ERA over 6.00 across 26 starts. He finished last season in the Rangers’ minor league system. Gomber was cut by the Rockies in August after scuffling through a dozen starts. He latched on with the Cubs on a minor league pact, but didn’t make it to the big-league club. Crismatt actually pitched decently last year, putting together a 2.70 ERA in his first six games with the Diamondbacks. He was crushed out of the bullpen in his final outing of the year, which sullies the final line.
Bring back Corbin
The veteran lefty revived his career in his lone season as a Ranger. After four brutal years to close his time in Washington, Corbin was one of the brightest surprises in the first half of 2025. He notched an ERA under 4.00 through July with the underlying metrics to back it up. Corbin’s performance fell off in the final two months of the season, but he still put up a respectable overall line. Whatever the Rangers did with him, it seemed to work, and he could likely be brought back for a minimal commitment.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images
Rangers Notes: Garcia, Latz, Mahle
Adolis García is out of the Rangers’ lineup today in Arizona. He pulled up while beating out a force play in the ninth inning of last night’s contest. He gingerly came around to score on Jake Burger’s RBI triple but was lifted for defensive replacement Alejandro Osuna in the next half-inning.
Manager Bruce Bochy revealed this evening that García has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 right quad strain (via the MLB.com injury tracker). That’s one of moderate severity and often merits an injured list stint. However, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News points out that the Rangers’ lack of upper minors position player depth is a reason they’ve held off on making a roster move.
Texas already has Marcus Semien, Evan Carter, Corey Seager and Sam Haggerty on the injured list. Infielder Justin Foscue is their only healthy position player who is on optional assignment. He has three hits in 51 career big league at-bats and doesn’t have any kind of outfield experience. The Rangers already have Burger, Ezequiel Duran and Dylan Moore as infielders on the MLB bench. Foscue wouldn’t play much even if they recalled him.
They could select a non-roster outfielder like Billy McKinney or Dustin Harris. They’re operating with at least one free 40-man roster spot since Jon Gray can be transferred to the 60-day injured list after being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. Ideally, neither McKinney nor Harris would get much playing time as Texas tries to run down a Wild Card spot. They’ll hold out hope for a quicker return from García rather than bringing anyone else up, although Bochy conceded the veteran outfielder is unlikely to play for at least a few days.
García has had a middling season. He’s been on a hot streak since returning from a minimal IL stay due to an ankle sprain, however. He’s hitting .368 with four doubles and a couple home runs in his past nine games. Texas will need to rely on Osuna in right field for at least a few games, while Michael Helman is playing center field in Carter’s stead. They’re using another rookie, Cody Freeman, at second base with Semien on the shelf.
The Rangers have overcome the injuries of late, feasting on a soft schedule to keep their season alive. Going back to August 22, they’ve swept the Guardians and A’s while taking two of three from the Angels. They were down to their final strike but came back to beat the Diamondbacks yesterday. They’ve pulled within a game of the reeling Mariners and still have an outside chance at catching the division-leading Astros, who are 4.5 games up and likely to lose to the Yankees tonight.
Texas also took a huge hit on the pitching side two weeks ago. Nathan Eovaldi’s potentially season-ending rotator cuff strain seemed like a nail in the coffin. The Rangers didn’t have a clear option to fill the vacated rotation spot. Kumar Rocker is sorting through mechanical adjustments and not pitching in minor league games.
Texas appears to have settled on lefty Jacob Latz to round out the starting five behind Jacob deGrom, Jack Leiter, Merrill Kelly and Patrick Corbin. Latz started and worked 4 1/3 innings on 66 pitches against the Halos last Wednesday. He’s on the mound again tonight at Chase Field. The 29-year-old southpaw had made a trio of spot starts throughout the season but has mostly worked from the bullpen. He’d been pitching short relief stints in Triple-A for the first few weeks of August. Latz has done well when called upon, taking a 3.13 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate into today’s start.
It might not be long before the Rangers get a rotation reinforcement. Tyler Mahle, out since mid-June with a rotator cuff strain of his own, may finally be nearing a return. He began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Round Rock this evening. The results weren’t good — he got knocked around for five runs while only completing one inning in a brutal pitching environment in Albuquerque — but logging game action at all is a big development. It raises the possibility of Mahle getting back on an MLB mound within the next couple weeks, potentially to work in some kind of tandem with Latz rather than building all the way to a traditional starter’s workload.
Rangers Select Matt Bush
The Rangers announced this afternoon that the club has selected the contract of right-hander Matt Bush. In corresponding moves, the club optioned left-hander Jake Latz to Triple-A and designated right-hander Alex Speas for assignment.
Bush, 37, was selected first overall by the Padres in the 2004 draft but didn’t make it to the majors until 2016 thanks to off-the-field issues. Bush’s rookie season with the Rangers was an impressive one, as the righty posted a 2.48 ERA in 61 2/3 innings of work. He’d go on to post a 3.34 ERA in 177 2/3 innings of work across five and a half years as a member of the Rangers organization before being traded to the Brewers at the 2022 trade deadline.
While Bush had a 2.95 ERA and a 29.8% strikeout rate at the time of the deal, his time in Milwaukee saw things take a turn for the worse. He posted a pedestrian 4.30 ERA the rest of the way with the Brewers in 2022 before struggling badly in 2023, allowing 11 runs in 10 1/3 innings of work before the Brewers ultimately released him in early July. Bush landed back in Texas on a minor league deal shortly thereafter and has been pitching in the Rangers’ minor league system ever since. Bush has posted strong numbers at the minor league level this season, with a 2.27 ERA in 35 2/3 innings of work between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Now, Bush will get a chance to pitch for the Rangers as they look to clinch their first postseason appearance since 2016.
Exiting the roster in favor of Bush is left-hander Jake Latz, who has posted 6 1/3 scoreless innings for the Rangers across three appearances since being called up earlier this month. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Rangers DFA’d Speas, a 25-year-old rookie. The right-hander made his MLB debut back in July but struggled badly across three appearances, allowing three runs in two innings of work.
Rangers Place Ian Kennedy On 60-Day IL, Select Jake Latz
Ian Kennedy‘s season is over, as the Rangers announced that the veteran right-hander has been placed on the 60-day injured list due to a right rotator cuff strain. Texas selected the contract of left-hander Jake Latz from Triple-A to take Kennedy’s spot on the active roster.
The injury adds to an altogether rough season for Kennedy, who has spent most of the season at Triple-A while compiling a 7.16 ERA over 16 1/3 innings at the MLB level. The Rangers signed Kennedy to a minor league deal last winter and he made the roster out of Spring Training, but Texas then designated the 38-year-old for assignment in May. He had enough service time to opt for free agency rather than accept an outright assignment, but Kennedy then re-signed with the Rangers on a new minors deal a month later.
The Rangers only just selected Kennedy back to the MLB roster on September 5, but this second look in the Show hasn’t gone any smoother. Kennedy had a 7.20 ERA over 10 innings at the time of his DFA in May, and he has a 7.11 ERA in 6 1/3 innings and five appearances since returning in September. Friday’s 12-3 Rangers loss to the Guardians saw Kennedy tagged for three earned runs over 1 1/3 innings.
Now in his fifth season as a full-time relief pitcher, Kennedy posted good numbers in 2019 and 2021, but he has a 5.81 ERA over 66 2/3 frames since the start of the 2022 season. This rotator cuff problem now presents another obstacle to his quest to land another contract this winter, though the severity of his strain isn’t yet known.
Since even a lower-level rotator cuff strain means that Kennedy would miss more than 15 days on the IL, the immediate placement on the 60-day IL allows Texas to open a 40-man roster spot for an immediate bullpen replacement. This opens the door for Latz to make his first Major League appearance since his debut outing in 2021, when he threw 4 2/3 innings in a spot start when the Rangers were shorthanded by a COVID-19 outbreak.
A fifth-round pick for the Rangers in the 2017 draft, Latz has spent his entire pro career in the Texas organization, apart from a brief stint in independent ball during the canceled 2020 minor league season. Working as both a starter and a reliever, Latz has a 4.10 ERA over 63 2/3 Triple-A innings this year, with an impressive 32.7% strikeout rate but also an underwhelming 10.9% walk rate.
Rangers Promote A. J. Alexy
The Rangers announced they’ve recalled right-hander A.J. Alexy to start this evening’s game against the Rockies. It’ll be the 23-year-old’s major league debut. Alexy was already added to the 40-man roster last offseason to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.
An eleventh-round pick of the Dodgers out of a Pennsylvania high school in 2016, Alexy spent the first year of his career in the Los Angeles system. The Dodgers included him as part of a three-player package to land Yu Darvish at the 2017 trade deadline. Alexy pitched very well at Low-A the following season, but he missed much of 2019 to injury and obviously couldn’t log any minor league action last year.
Despite missing almost two full seasons, Alexy hasn’t shown much sign of rust this year. He’s split the 2021 campaign between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock, pitching to a 1.66 ERA over 65 innings. Along the way, Alexy has struck out a whopping 29.8% of batters faced, although he’s partially offset that by issuing walks at a lofty 10.6% clip.
Alexy has been an inconsistent strike-thrower throughout his career. Both Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs and Baseball America suggest he’s likely to wind up in a bullpen role someday because of those control issues. Nevertheless, both outlets slotted him among the back half of the Rangers’ top 30 prospects thanks to the quality of his arsenal. Each of FanGraphs and BA suggest Alexy has a pair of plus offerings: a mid-high 90s fastball and a sharp 12-6 curveball, in addition to a passable changeup that serves as his third pitch.
The Rangers have almost no certainty in their starting rotation at the moment. Each of Spencer Howard, Dane Dunning and Mike Foltynewicz are on the COVID-19 injured list, forcing Texas to turn to a series of rookies in their place. Alexy becomes the third Rangers starter to make his MLB debut within the past week, joining Jake Latz and Glenn Otto. Amidst a larger-scale retooling effort, Texas figures to give continued chances to younger players over the season’s final five weeks as they look ahead to 2022.
Latz, however, has been returned to Round Rock after one appearance. Because he was selected as a COVID replacement, he needn’t be exposed to waivers to be removed from the 40-man roster. Latz will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter if he’s not re-selected to the big league roster before November.
Rangers Select Hyeon-jong Yang, Ryan Dorow
The Rangers are selecting the contracts of left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang and infielder Ryan Dorow before this evening’s game against the Indians, according to Levi Weaver of the Athletic (Twitter link). Catcher Jonah Heim is landing on the COVID-19 injured list, joining four other Rangers (Charlie Culberson, Brock Holt, Drew Anderson and Mike Foltynewicz) on the COVID list. It seems Spencer Howard and Dane Dunning could join them, as neither player accompanied the team to Cleveland as part of health and safety protocols. Weaver notes that left-hander Jake Latz is expected to be selected tomorrow as part of the roster maneuvering.
Yang returns for his second stint on the active roster. The KBO veteran signed a minor league deal with Texas over the winter and was selected to make his big league debut in late April. Yang went on to make eight appearances — including four starts — and posted a 5.59 ERA with worse than average strikeout and walk rates (15% and 11.8%, respectively) over 29 innings. Texas designated the 33-year-old for assignment and passed him through outright waivers in June. Yang has worked 45 frames with Triple-A Round Rock this season, posting a 5.60 ERA.
Dorow, who just turned 26 over the weekend, was selected by the Rangers in the 30th round of the 2017 draft out of Division III Adrian College in Michigan. That’s not the draft profile of a likely big leaguer, but Dorow has earned a look at the highest level against the odds with solid numbers up through Double-A. The right-handed hitter owns .260/.347/.405 line across 1455 professional plate appearances, including a .333/.394/.600 showing over 99 trips to the plate with Double-A Frisco this season. He’s struggled in his first look with Round Rock, hitting .210/.305/.359, but Dorow has ample experience at each of second base, third base and shortstop in the minors.
Like Dorow, Latz is in line for his first MLB opportunity. A fifth-rounder out of Kent State in that same draft, Latz has spent most of the season in Frisco. The 25-year-old has a 4.69 ERA over 63 1/3 innings, but he’s punched out a very strong 30.9% of batters faced. That’s come with a slightly elevated 10.3% walk rate, but Texas will give Latz a look in the hope he can carry over his strong bat-missing capabilities to the highest level. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted Latz as the #50 prospect in the Texas organization in May, praising the southpaw’s above-average curveball.
Because that trio has been (or will be, in Latz’s case) selected to replace players landing on the COVID-19 IL, they can be removed from the active and 40-man rosters upon players’ returns from the COVID list. It seems they could be on the big league club for the near future, though, since COVID spread within the Texas clubhouse has now dealt a significant hit to their infield and rotation depth charts.