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Kumar Rocker

Leiter, Rocker, Pillar Make Rangers’ Roster; Carter Optioned To Triple-A

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The Rangers are moving closer to setting their Opening Day roster. They’ll break camp with touted young righties Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker in the rotation, president of baseball operations Chris Young revealed to the team’s beat (link via Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports). Veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar, who’d been a non-roster invitee in camp, will also make the club, while young outfielder and former top prospect Evan Carter is being optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.

Leiter and Rocker have now made the improbable rise from college teammates and top draft prospects at Vanderbilt to members of the same big league rotation. The path to get there was far rockier than most would’ve anticipated, though. Leiter was selected No. 2 overall in 2021 and ha struggled with his command and susceptibility to home runs throughout his pro career. He posted an ERA north of 8.00 through 35 2/3 innings in last year’s MLB debut.

Rocker “fell” to the No. 10 pick after Leiter went to the Rangers but didn’t end up signing with the Mets, who raised concern over the state of Rocker’s elbow. Rather than return to college, Rocker pitched on the independent circuit and reentered the draft the following summer. Rocker’s stock was considered by most to be down considerably, so much so that it was a genuine shock to see Texas select him third overall. Less than a year later, Rocker required Tommy John surgery. The “Vandy Boys” collective stock had plummeted.

Fast forward, and it’s an entirely different story. Rocker looked outstanding across three minor league levels in his return from surgery and impressed enough to make his MLB debut late last year. Leiter has been the talk of Rangers camp, brandishing better velocity and sharper stuff en route to a 3.48 ERA in 20 2/3 Cactus League frames.

Even with strong spring performances, it would’ve been hard to envision both pitchers breaking camp. Multiple injuries paved the way for that to take place, however. Jon Gray broke his wrist when he was struck by a comebacker. Cody Bradford is sidelined by elbow soreness and won’t throw for a few weeks. Leiter and Rocker impressed enough that both will now begin the season in Bruce Bochy’s rotation. Given injury risks with rotation-mates Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle, it’s feasible that either could stick even when Gray and/or Bradford are healthy. Certainly, both young righties will have the opportunity to claim long-term spots on the staff.

Carter, 22, was a late-season revelation for the Rangers during their World Series-winning 2023 campaign. The 2020 second-rounder, then considered one of the sport’s top all-around prospects, debuted with a .306/.413/.645 slash in 23 games/75 plate appearances down the stretch and posted similarly excellent numbers in 72 postseason trips to the plate. Injuries hobbled Carter in 2024, however, leading to a disappointing .188/.272/.361 output in 188 plate appearances. He’s posted rough numbers in camp, too, slashing .154/.214/.205 in 42 turns at the dish.

The 36-year-old Pillar is batting .238/.292/.333 this spring. He’ll serve a backup role in the outfield, potentially platooning with Leody Taveras in center and/or logging some at-bats at designated hitter against left-handed pitching. Pillar hit .229/.291/.377 for the White Sox and Angels last season and is a career .255/.293/.406 hitter in parts of a dozen big league seasons.

Cody Bradford To Start Season On Injured List

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TODAY: Bradford won’t throw for at least four weeks, Young told Kennedi Landry and other reporters today.  This new timeline likely sidelines Bradford until well into May, as he’ll need plenty of time to rebuild his arm strength once he is cleared to throw.

MARCH 13: Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford is going to start the season on the 15-day injured list. Manager Bruce Bochy passed the news along to reporters, including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. The southpaw has had some soreness in his throwing elbow lately. Thankfully, a recent MRI came back clean, but the club will shut him down for ten days to see how he reacts.

The timeline is fairly uncertain apart from that, as it will depend how Bradford feels after his shutdown period. If he is cleared to throw again in ten days, he will presumably need a few rehab outings to get back into game shape. IL stints can be backdated three days, so it’s theoretically possible Bradford could rejoin the club 12 days into the season if he’s healthy by then, though no one really knows how possible that is.

“I can’t tell you if this is something that’s going to linger and last longer than a day or two to get the soreness knocked out,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “We did take the necessary steps in terms of evaluating. He’s been in touch with Dr. [Keith] Meister [team physician] back in Texas. We are going to shut him down for a few days and see how this goes. Hopefully the time off will allow it to calm down. But anytime the pitcher has pain in the elbow, it’s concerning.”

Over the past two years, Bradford logged 132 1/3 innings for the Rangers, allowing 4.28 earned runs per nine. Last year, a low back strain cost him most of the first half but he finished the year having made 13 starts and one relief appearance, posting a 3.54 ERA. His 22.7% strikeout rate was around league average while his 4.2% walk rate was excellent. That would have lined him up for a rotation spot this year if he were healthy, but he’ll have to focus on his health for the time being.

The Rangers have another starter with a nebulous timeline. Tyler Mahle was scratched from a start earlier this week due to forearm soreness. Like Bradford, his MRI came back clean. He is expected to throw again in a few days, so perhaps his situation is a bit less serious than that of Bradford, though more updates will likely be forthcoming in the next week or so.

For the Opening Day rotation, the Rangers have three spots taken by Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Jacob deGrom. Mahle will have a fourth spot if he can get in game shape in the next couple of weeks. That leaves one or perhaps two spots for Jack Leiter and/or Kumar Rocker.

Between the two prospects and former Vanderbilt rotation mates, Rocker finished 2024 with more steam. He came back from Tommy John surgery and tossed 36 2/3 innings in the minors with a 1.96 ERA, 39.6% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 52.6% ground ball rate. He then posted a 3.86 ERA in his first three big league starts. Leiter, meanwhile, had an 8.83 ERA in his first 35 2/3 MLB innings.

But Leiter has had the stronger showing in camp, with a 2.53 ERA over his four appearances. His 14.6% walk rate is certainly high but he’s also punched out 31.7% of batters faced in that small sample. Rocker allowed eight earned runs in two official spring innings, though as detailed by Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News, he then pitched in an unofficial backfield game which went much better. If Mahle is healthy, the Rangers might have to make a tricky decision between the two, though both might nab rotation spots if Mahle will also need to miss some time.

Rangers Notes: Rocker, Eovaldi, Langford

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Rangers righty Kumar Rocker made his Spring Training debut today against the Royals. The results weren’t good — he allowed four runs in his inning of work — but that’s inconsequential this early in camp.

As Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News writes, manager Bruce Bochy and GM Chris Young have left open the possibility for Rocker to break camp. That might require an injury elsewhere in the rotation, however, as it seems Rocker enters Spring Training sixth on the depth chart. Texas has a veteran top four: Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Tyler Mahle and Jon Gray. The fifth spot could come down to a battle between Rocker and left-hander Cody Bradford — with the latter potentially having the leg up.

“We’re going to see where we come out of camp, where we are from a medical standpoint, who’s healthy, how guys have thrown the ball, but (Rocker is) certainly one that is in our plans,” Young said. “We just can’t tell you exactly how at this point.” The third overall pick in the 2022 draft, Rocker earned a brief debut last September. He started three games, allowing six runs (five earned) through 11 2/3 innings. The 6’5″ righty recorded 14 strikeouts with an excellent 13.3% swinging strike rate. It’s an exceedingly small sample, but he looks capable of missing bats at the highest level.

Rocker averaged 96 MPH on his heater, while opponents had few answers for his slider. The latter pitch may already be one of the game’s top breaking balls. Baseball America graded the slider as a plus-plus offering (70 on the 20-80 scale) while ranking Rocker among their top 20 prospects. The 25-year-old will certainly be a factor at some point this season, though it remains to be seen how the Rangers want to handle his workload. Rocker underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 and has all of 19 professional appearances under his belt. He has tallied fewer than 30 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Rocker carved up minor league hitters upon returning from the surgery, working to a 1.96 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 36 2/3 frames over 10 appearances.

The 27-year-old Bradford has almost the polar opposite approach. He’s a soft-tossing lefty who relies on a plus changeup and elite command. Despite lacking huge stuff, Bradford turned in a 3.54 ERA with a solid 22.7% strikeout rate over 76 1/3 innings last season. A back injury cost him three months, but he was a quietly productive starter when healthy. Both Rocker and Bradford have minor league options remaining. While Dane Dunning remains on hand as well, he’s likelier to pitch in long relief after a rough ’24 season.

There’s no doubt about Eovaldi’s role. He’ll be back in the top half of the rotation after re-signing on a three-year, $75MM free agent deal. The 13-year MLB veteran has been incredibly consistent, turning in a sub-4.00 ERA in five straight seasons. That hasn’t stopped him from using exhibition play to tinker with his arsenal.

Eovaldi told reporters last week that he has been working on a two-seam fastball throughout the offseason (link via Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). The righty confirmed that he used it a few times in his Spring Training debut on Friday against Kansas City. Brooks Baseball tracked five of his pitches as sinkers (which is the two-seam fastball) over two innings. Eovaldi has had a five-pitch mix for most of his career: four-seam, splitter, cutter, curveball and a slider that he only throws against right-handed hitters. He told Landry and other reporters that he’ll continue to work on the two-seam, which he wants to run up and in against righty batters to keep them off the splitter lower in the zone.

One player who has yet to get his exhibition season underway: second-year left fielder Wyatt Langford. Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports was among those to report last week that Langford was being held back from baseball activities for a few days after being diagnosed with a mild oblique strain. Bochy maintained that the Rangers consider this a minor setback and anticipate that Langford will be ready for Opening Day. He’ll look to build off a solid rookie season in which he hit .253/.325/.415 with 16 homers across 557 plate appearances.

Chase Anderson Elects Free Agency

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September 15: The Rangers announced this morning that Anderson has cleared waivers and elected free agency.

September 12: The Rangers on Thursday designated right-hander Chase Anderson for assignment, the team announced. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker, whose previously announced promotion to the big leagues is now official. The Rangers have formally selected Rocker’s contract, and he’ll start tonight’s game against Seattle.

Anderson, 36, spent the bulk of the year with the Red Sox but was cut loose and signed a minor league pact with Texas in August. The Rangers selected him to the big league roster on Aug. 31 and now stand as the ninth team for which the journeyman Anderson has pitched in the majors. He appeared in only two games as a Ranger, pitching 6 1/3 innings and surrendering seven earned runs. In 52 innings with Boston, Anderson logged a 4.85 ERA.

Earlier in his career with the D-backs and Brewers, Anderson was a solid mid-rotation starter. From 2014-19, he pitched 857 innings of 3.94 ERA ball, striking out 20.2% of his opponents against  a sharp 7.9% walk rate. He’s never been a flamethrower, but Anderson was able to miss enough bats, limit walks and duck enough homers that he had a nice six-year stretch of quality big league innings.

In the five seasons since that time, however, Anderson has regularly been hit hard. He’s posted an ERA north of 5.00 each year since 2020, ultimately combining for 250 1/3 innings with a flat 6.00 ERA. His velocity has been up and down along the way, and he’s seen both his strikeout and walk rates trend in the wrong direction — all while yielding higher levels of hard contact and significantly more home runs. He’s served as a cost-effective innings eater in multiple stops along the way — Toronto, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Colorado — but hasn’t found sustained big league success since the first six years of his career.

Anderson will be released or head to waivers now that he’s been designated and the trade deadline is behind us. He’ll very likely clear outright waivers if the Rangers go that route, at which point he could reject in favor of free agency right now or accept and wait until season’s end to become a minor league free agent.

Rangers To Promote Kumar Rocker

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The Rangers are promoting top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker to the majors, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The No. 3 overall pick from the 2022 draft will make his major league debut and start Thursday’s game against the Mariners, per the report. Texas will need to formally select Rocker’s contract to add him to the 40-man roster prior to that debut appearance.

News of Rocker’s call to the big leagues comes just two days after manager Bruce Bochy downplayed the chances of him pitching in the majors this season. That was followed a day later by GM Chris Young stating that a promotion of Rocker was still under consideration. Now, in what’ll be just his 17th total appearance since being drafted, Rocker will toe the rubber on a major league mound.

Rocker’s journey to the majors has been an odd one. He and Jack Leiter were star teammates at Vanderbilt University and widely considered to be in the mix for the top overall selection in the 2021 draft. Leiter went second overall — to the Rangers, of course — while Rocker “slipped” to the tenth pick, held by the Mets. New York ultimately did not sign Rocker, citing concerns over his physical.

Rather than return to college, Rocker signed with the independent Tri-City ValleyCats of the Frontier League. He retained his draft eligibility but was not seen as a consensus top-10 pick the second time around. Reactions to the Rangers’ selection of Rocker with the No. 3 pick in 2022 ranged from surprised to stunned. Rocker looked sharp in his first six starts at the High-A level the season following his selection, but he suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery and knocked him until July of the current season.

Since returning, Rocker has rewarded the Rangers’ faith in spades. He made three shaky starts with the Rangers’ Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League but has since gone on an utter tear, obliterating minor league lineups and forcing his way into the Rangers’ plans sooner than anyone would’ve reasonably expected after he went under the knife last year.

Rocker skipped over High-A this season and went right from the ACL to Double-A. In five starts there and another two with Triple-A Round Rock, he’s pitched 29 2/3 innings of 0.91 ERA ball with a laughably dominant 47-to-4 K/BB ratio. He’s fanned 44.3% of his opponents against a minuscule 3.8% walk rate. He’s yielded all of one home run during that run of seven starts. In his two Triple-A outings, he’s fanned 18 hitters against one walk in ten innings.

Rocker’s meteoric rise through the Rangers’ system means that he and Leiter will now be reunited not just as teammates but as rotation-mates in the major leagues. The Rocker/Leiter pairing will give Texas fans a potential glimpse of the future — a silver lining near the end of an otherwise disappointing season where the Rangers never seemed to be a true contender to defend last year’s World Series crown. Leiter certainly hasn’t staked a claim to a long-term rotation spot just yet, but he’s looked better in his three recent starts than he did in a trio of spot starts earlier this season when he appeared overmatched.

Depending on how the final few weeks go for Leiter and Rocker, one or both exciting young hurlers could more convincingly force his way into the Rangers’ early 2025 plans. It’s unlikely Texas would simply pencil both into the rotation and bank on a full season of starts, but the former NCAA standouts are now both squarely in the short-term plans for the organization. Next year’s rotation will be fronted by Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle and Jon Gray, health permitting, and it’s possible righty Nathan Eovaldi will be back as well. He’ll trigger a $20MM player option once he completes nine more innings, but given how well he’s pitched this season he’ll also likely turn that down and return to the open market. Righty Dane Dunning and lefty Cody Bradford are also in the mix for starts next season.

Rangers Notes: deGrom, Scherzer, Rocker

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Jacob deGrom’s 2024 debut finally appears imminent, after the two-time Cy Young Award winner completed his fourth and likely final minor league rehab outing on Saturday.  DeGrom has seemingly come out of that four-inning, 49-pitch appearance in good health, and is now set to make his return to the majors at some point during the Rangers’ upcoming six-game road trip that begins Tuesday.

“If it all goes well, he’ll be pitching for us next time around,” manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry and other reporters.  “It’s pretty cool because it’s been a long road as these guys go through the rehab on the Tommy John.”

DeGrom had his Tommy John surgery in June 2023, and last pitched in a big league game on April 28, 2023.  After signing a five-year, $185MM free agent contract with Texas during the 2022-23 offseason, deGrom’s only contribution to the Rangers’ World Series season was six starts and 30 1/3 innings, albeit with a very impressive 2.67 ERA and his typically excellent strikeout and walk rates.

Statistics compiled during minor league rehab stints should always be taken with a grain of salt, but deGrom has looked quite sharp in posting an 0.84 ERA over 10 2/3 total innings in the minors.  As Landry noted, deGrom has been so dominant that he hasn’t been able to entirely hit his assigned rehab checkpoints.  In his start on Saturday, Bochy said deGrom was assigned for four innings or 60 pitches, yet deGrom breezed through Double-A opponents on just 49 pitches — the most he has thrown in any of his four rehab starts.

As the season enters its final three weeks, the Rangers’ title defense has resulted in only a 70-74 record and a longshot bid at a wild card berth.  DeGrom won’t be returning to a pennant race, but there’s some obvious benefit in getting back on a big league mound and shaking off some rust in advance of a hopefully normal offseason, and then a standard ramp-up in Spring Training.  At age 36 and with just 186 2/3 MLB innings pitched since Opening Day 2021, deGrom’s health history will always make him something of a question mark, yet he has continued to deliver whenever he has been able to pitch.

DeGrom could soon be joined by another veteran ace in Max Scherzer, whose minor league rehab stint got underway Saturday at Triple-A with four hitless innings of work on 53 pitches.  Right shoulder fatigue and then triceps discomfort has kept Scherzer on the injured list since the start of August, but a mechanical fix seems to have corrected his triceps issue, and Scherzer looked to be in good form on Saturday.

It seems possible that Scherzer could rejoin the Rangers as early as this week’s road trip, depending on whether or not the team feels he needs any more rehab work to more fully build his pitch count.  The Rangers could also activate Scherzer and then allow him to rebuild at the MLB level, either on a limited innings count or with a piggyback pitcher working behind Scherzer.

Heading into the season, Texas planned to have deGrom, Scherzer (who was then recovering from offseason back surgery), and Tyler Mahle (Tommy John surgery) all back around the middle of the year, providing the rotation with some reinforcements down the stretch.  While a few setbacks delayed these pitchers on that projected timeline, the bigger problem was other injuries and a lack of hitting that torpedoed the Rangers’ season.

Ironically, this planned surplus of pitching has now come at a time when the Rangers might prefer to look at their future arms.  One such hurler is top prospect Kumar Rocker, who has opened some eyes since his own return from a May 2023 Tommy John surgery.  The third overall pick of the 2022 draft has an 0.46 ERA over 19 2/3 innings in Double-A ball this season, and an 1.80 ERA in 10 innings since being promoted to Triple-A Round Rock.

These numbers have been impressive enough that Rangers GM Chris Young told reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that the team hadn’t closed the door on the possibility of Rocker making his big league debut at some point before the 2024 campaign is over.  Grant ran through the various factors involved, including Rocker’s rough 50-inning cap in his first season back from TJ surgery, and the fact that Texas would be putting Rocker on the 40-man roster perhaps earlier than necessary.  With three weeks remaining in the season, there’s still time for Rocker to bank a few more Triple-A innings, and if he keeps forcing the issue, the Rangers still have time to perhaps have the right-hander make a cameo after the minor league season is over.

Rangers Giving Jack Leiter Rotation Opportunity

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An 11-14 showing in August has slammed the door shut on the Rangers’ playoff chances. The defending World Series winners will spend the season’s final month evaluating their plans for 2025. To that end, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that Texas intends to give former #2 overall pick Jack Leiter regular rotation run for the rest of the year.

Leiter made his first three big league starts between April and the middle of May. The Rangers optioned him to Triple-A Round Rock on May 15 and had kept him in the minors until this week. Texas brought Leiter up as the 27th man for the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the White Sox. He tossed four innings, allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

In a procedural move, Texas reassigned Leiter back to Round Rock after the game. Pitchers normally need to wait 15 days after being optioned before they can be recalled to the big leagues. That does not apply to players who were temporarily added to the roster for a doubleheader. The Rangers can recall Leiter at any time and Grant reports that they’ll keep him in the big league rotation. His next turn won’t come until early next week, at which point teams will be allowed to carry a 14th pitcher on the active roster with the September expansion.

Leiter’s professional career has not played out as smoothly as the Rangers envisioned when they drafted him in 2021. The Vanderbilt product has struggled to throw strikes consistently. He walked upwards of 13% of opponents at Double-A in each of his first two full seasons. Leiter has scaled back the free passes to some extent this year, issuing walks at a 10.6% clip with Round Rock.

While he’s unlikely to ever have pinpoint command, Leiter still has intriguing stuff. He has punched out a third of opposing hitters over 17 Triple-A starts this year. He owns a 3.51 earned run average across 77 innings with Round Rock, an impressive mark in the Pacific Coast League. The 6’1″ righty hasn’t gotten beyond four innings in any of his first four big league starts. He has allowed 22 runs (19 earned) over 13 1/3 MLB innings.

Leiter clearly isn’t a finished product. It’s nevertheless sensible for the Rangers to give him a few chances to try to find his form against big league hitters. He has logged 254 2/3 minor league frames, all of them at Double-A or above. He’s 24 years old and already occupies a 40-man roster spot. Texas is wrapping up a lost season and will go into the offseason with a lot questions about the rotation.

Max Scherzer and Andrew Heaney will be free agents. It’s likely that Nathan Eovaldi is also headed to the market. Eovaldi needs to pitch 23 more innings to unlock a $20MM player option. Even if he hits the vesting threshold, he could decline the option in search of another multi-year free agent deal.

That’d leave Texas with a rotation core of Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle and Jon Gray. deGrom and Mahle could be on innings limits after returning from 2023 Tommy John procedures. Gray has been on the injured list twice this year due to groin strains. He has a 4.32 ERA over 98 innings. Dane Dunning has an ERA north of 5.00 and has been in and out of the rotation. Cody Bradford has been limited to nine appearances this year by a rib fracture. Scherzer, Mahle and deGrom are all currently on the injured list.

GM Chris Young and his staff will undoubtedly add to the group over the winter (likely with at least two outside pickups). They’ll need some kind of emergence from their younger starting pitchers to supplement that expensive veteran group. That has not been a strength for the organization.

Former notable prospects Cole Winn and Owen White remain on the 40-man roster. Neither has become a key contributor. Winn posted an ERA above 7.00 in Triple-A last season and has moved fully to relief. As Grant observes, the Rangers also converted the 25-year-old White to the bullpen in Triple-A this month. White has had better results since moving to relief but still carries a 5.51 ERA over 94 2/3 total frames.

It’s not out of the question that Leiter’s command could eventually push him to the ’pen as well. That’s not currently on the table, though, and the Rangers will give him his first real opportunity against MLB opposition next month. That probably won’t be enough runway to guarantee a spot in the Opening Day starting five, but a strong showing could give him a chance to battle for a rotation job in Spring Training.

Leiter’s college teammate Kumar Rocker has returned from Tommy John surgery and has begun mowing down upper minors hitters. The #3 overall pick of the 2022 draft fired 19 2/3 innings of one-run ball in five Double-A appearances. He tossed five scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in his Triple-A debut last night. Rocker presumably won’t be in line for a big league call this year, as doing so would require carrying him on the 40-man roster all offseason. He could put himself on the radar for a promotion early in the ’25 campaign if he keeps on anything close to his current trajectory.

Rangers Notes: Seager, Mahle, Rocker

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Rangers fans were dealt a major injury scare last night when star shortstop Corey Seager went down after being struck on the wrist by a pitch from Orioles lefty Cade Povich. Seager immediately exited the game but fortunately Rangers manager Bruce Bochy confirmed to reporters last night that initial x-rays came back negative. That indicated that the runner-up for the 2023 AL MVP award seemingly had avoided a worst case scenario, though the Rangers still planned to evaluate him further today.

Said evaluation could have been more encouraging. As noted by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News earlier today, Bochy told reporters prior to today’s game against Baltimore that Seager was still feeling “pretty sore” and that the club is planning to have him undergo an MRI exam tomorrow when the club returns home to Texas. Even if the MRI comes back clean, however, Bochy admitted that Seager is going to be out for at least “the next couple of days” even in an absolute best case scenario.

The Rangers called up infielder Jonathan Ornelas prior to tonight’s game to serve as an extra infield option while Seager nurses his injury, but the 24-year-old youngster has just nine plate appearances to his name at the big league level and a lackluster 66 wRC+ at the Triple-A level this year. That leaves him unlikely to impact the club on more than an emergency basis, and if Seager were to go on the injured list the club would likely call up utility bat Ezequiel Duran to fill in on the infield instead. It’s possible Duran would’ve been recalled instead of Ornelas if not for Duran being optioned to the minors just last week, meaning he can’t return to the big leagues for ten days unless replacing a player headed to the IL.

While the news regarded Seager certainly could be better, Rangers fans have also received positive news regarding the status of a handful of rehabbing pitchers in recent days. As noted by Grant, right-hander Tyler Mahle threw a bullpen yesterday and is slated to begin a rehab assignment next week as he makes his way back from Tommy John surgery. Mahle went under the knife on the same day as top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker, who will start a rehab assignment of his own in rookie ball sometime next week. According to Grant, Bochy indicated that both Mahle and Rocker are essentially going to be on the schedule of a starter ramping up during Spring Training, meaning that Mahle could be an option to join the Rangers rotation sometime after the All Star break.

Mahle signed with the Rangers on a two-year deal this past offseason while rehabbing the aforementioned Tommy John surgery and has long appeared ticketed for a return at some point in the season half of this year. The 29-year-old has generally been a solid mid-to-back of the rotation arm when healthy enough to take the mound, with a 3.90 ERA (117 ERA+) and 3.86 FIP across 374 innings of work while striking out a solid 21.7% of batters since the start of the 2020 season. Health has been the primary question regarding Mahle in the recent years of his career, as he’s only made it to 30 starts once (a 33-start campaign in 2021) in his eight years as a big leaguer. Should he stay healthy enough to contribute, Mahle figures to provide the Rangers additional rotation depth behind their current group of Max Scherzer, Jon Gray, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, and Michael Lorenzen.

As for Rocker, the right-hander was among the best-regarded prospects in both the 2021 and 2022 drafts. He was selected 10th overall out of Vanderbilt in the 2021 draft by the Mets but ended up not signing over concerns regarding his elbow, leading the Rangers to pick him third overall the following year. Rocker posted a solid 3.86 ERA in six starts with the Rangers at the High-A level last year before going under the knife back in May, striking out a fantastic 37.9% of batters faced at the level. Now 24, Rocker figures to resume his ascent up the minor league ladder upon his return to action. While it seems unlikely that he would factor into the club’s plans at the big league level this year given his lack of pro experience, it’s easy to imagine the righty debuting in the majors as soon as next season if he sports the same high-octane stuff he flashed in the minors and the SEC prior to his surgery.

Rangers Notes: Scherzer, Mahle, Rocker, Church

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Right-hander Max Scherzer has made one rehab start already and was slated for a second one but will be delayed a few days after experiencing some soreness in his right thumb, GM Chris Young told the Rangers beat last night (X link via Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). They’re hopeful he can make his next start this week.

The 39-year-old Scherzer has spent the entire season to date on the 15-day injured list while he mends from offseason back surgery. He was excellent in eight starts down the stretch last year, pitching to a 3.20 ERA with a 29.9% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate following the trade that sent him from the Mets to Texas. The original thought was that Scherzer would be sidelined into June, but the Rangers held off on placing the three-time Cy Young winner on the 60-day injured list with his recovery ahead of schedule. There’s no indication that his back is providing any problems, so assuming the thumb injury proves minor, a mid-May return still feels viable.

Texas currently ranks 14th in the majors with a 3.87 ERA from the rotation. That’s thanks largely to strong showings from Nathan Eovaldi, Dane Dunning and Jon Gray — each of whom has made six starts. Left-hander Cody Bradford impressed early but has since gone on the injured list with a stress fracture in his rib. Veteran Andrew Heaney has struggled in five starts, and rookie Jack Leiter was hit hard in his big league debut. Right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who signed a late-spring one-year deal, has helped solidify things through his first three starts — but a return from Scherzer would be a substantial boon to the staff, of course.

Scherzer is just one of three veteran starters on the mend for Texas. Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle are both expected back later in the season. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News provides an update on Mahle’s rehab from Tommy John surgery, noting that he and Rangers prospect Kumar Rocker not only coincidentally had their Tommy John procedures performed on the same day last year but performed by the same surgeon: Dr. Keith Meister. Rocker has begun throwing all of his pitches off a mound, while Mahle is also pitching off a mound and will join his teammates on their upcoming road trip. Mahle and Rocker aren’t yet to the point where they’re facing live hitters, but each is progressing well through the rehab process.

Things aren’t going quite so well for pitching prospect Marc Church. Young revealed yesterday that the right-hander has been diagnosed with a strained rotator cuff and will be sidelined for a yet-to-be-determined period as a result of that shoulder issue (X link via Jeff Wilson of RangersToday.com).

Church, 23, was the team’s 18th-round pick back in 2019 — signing for an over-slot $300K bonus — and has emerged as a prospect of note in the Rangers’ system, ranking 22nd at MLB.com. Church has missed bats in bunches throughout his minor league tenure, fanning 34.7% of his total opponents. A former high school shortstop who didn’t begin pitching until his senior year, he draws praise for his athleticism and could yet have some untapped upside as he’s still relatively new to pitching. MLB.com’s report on him notes that he has a pair of plus-plus (70-grade) offerings when his heater and slider are at their best but lacks consistency.

Church has also begun to encounter some command troubles in the upper minors. He split last season between Double-A and Triple-A, walking a combined 14% of his opponents. He also fanned just shy of 30% of batters faced, however. Church opened the current season with a solid 4 2/3 innings out of the ’pen before going down with his current injury. He’s already on the 40-man roster and stands as a candidate to make his big league debut in 2024, particularly after a strong spring showing: 10 2/3 innings, five hits, three runs, five walks, 14 strikeouts. If Church is able to get back on the mound without a long-term absence, he could still find his way to the big leagues this season, but it’s not entirely clear how feasible that is in light of this setback. The Rangers will presumably have more updates on the promising young righty in the weeks to come.

Kumar Rocker To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Rangers prospect Kumar Rocker will have Tommy John surgery, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

Rocker, 23, has a higher profile than the typical High-A prospect given the drama that has surrounded him in recent years. He was one of the most highly-touted youngsters going into the 2021 draft and was selected 10th overall by the Mets. Shortly after the draft, it was reported that he and the club were going to agree to a $6MM signing bonus, above the $4.7399MM slot value for the pick. However, the two sides would eventually be unable to come to an agreement when the club reportedly grew concerned by something in Rocker’s right elbow.

Having his plans to jump into affiliated ball scuttled, Rocker pivoted to sign with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League, eventually tossing 20 innings for them last summer. The Rangers then selected him with the third overall pick in last year’s draft, quickly agreeing to terms on a $5.2MM bonus that was below the $7,587,600 slot value of the pick.

After all of that runaround, Rocker was finally able to join the affiliated ranks this year. He made six starts for the High-A Hickory Crawdads, posting a 3.86 ERA in 28 innings. He struck out a huge 37.8% of batters faced against a 6.3% walk rate, getting grounders at a 51.6% clip. Earlier today, MLB Pipeline tweeted that they had just added Rocker to their list of the top 100 prospects in the league, just about 25 minutes before the news dropped that he would have to go under the knife.

Rocker will now be out of action for the rest of 2023 and at least part of 2024 as well, given the typical 14 to 18 months required to rehab from Tommy John surgery. It’s an unfortunate setback for a pitcher who has already dealt with a few twists and turns on his road to the big leagues. He isn’t yet on the club’s 40-man roster and won’t even be Rule 5 eligible until after the 2025 season.

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