The Texas Rangers made a number of roster moves and made some statements this afternoon as they get ready for the upcoming season. Some are more impactful than others, but they will all play a part in the season. Let’s look into them.
Kumar Rocker earning the last spot in the rotation
This move may surprise people based on the way that Rocker and Latz pitched in 2025. Latz was a good long man out of the bullpen and made good spot starts when he was called upon while Rocker struggled to even stay up with the big league team.
However, Rocker has had a better spring compared to Latz with a 4.26 ERA compared to Latz’s 8.22 ERA. Normally Spring Training doesn’t make or break a player’s chances to be in the rotation, but there are a couple things that play a factor.
Rocker has more upside compared to Latz and his looked better than he did in 2025. He has posted 14 strikeouts compared to just 3 walks, in 2025 he posted 56 strikeouts and 23 walks. He also works better as a starter compared to a bullpen piece.
Latz is not a bad pitcher just because he didn’t earn a spot in the rotation. While yes, he did not have a good spring, he is still a good pitcher. One big reason that he didn’t make the rotation was due to the versatility that he provides. He can be a weapon out of bullpen for the Rangers and pitch high leverage innings.
There is also a chance that he could find his way into the starting rotation due to either injuries or Rocker underperforming.
Andrew McCutchen making the team
Andrew McCutchen was the Ranger that made the most of his opportunity. He tore apart Spring Training with a slash line of .444/.583/.1.361.
McCutchen will be the guy that will help hit lefties for the Rangers along with Sam Haggerty. He will likely platoon with Joc Pederson when he sits against lefties. McCuthen will mostly be a designated hitter, but Chris Young did not rule out the fact that Cutch might play the outfield as well.
It will be exciting to see how he can help the Rangers and see the impact that he can make in the regular season and help this offense.
Evan Carter earns the center fielder job
Carter is the guy that I have been rooting for the most on the roster. I am happy to see him being healthy and the improvements that he made in Spring Training. The Rangers certainly believe in as Chris Young deemed that Carter had earned the chance to be the primary left fielder.
The Rangers have indicted that he will get his chance to hit aganst lefties to start the season, but he will sit against some. Then he sits, Langford will take over in center. This is great to see Carter earn the confidence of the brass after he has been through so many struggles since bursting onto the scene.
Closer by committee
This seems to be a yearly thing that the Rangers do by bringing in a number of solid bullpen arms and seeing which guys separate themselves from the pack. It has had mixed results.
It has worked with guys like David Robertson and Kirby Yates who were a great duo for the Rangers in 2024. Other times it has not like last year with Luke Jackson and Robert Garcia.
However, Garcia will get another chance to prove that he can be the guy for the Rangers this year and he does have nasty stuff, but it seems like the moment gets a little too big for him at points. Young has said that he and Martin will be the two main options for the team out of the bullpen, but said there could be other guys that could get chances.
Those other guys could include Cole Winn who was great for the Rangers last year, Carter Baumler who was turned heads in Spring Training without allowing a run in 8 and 1/3 innings. It could also be one of the new guys that Young brought in like Jalen Beeks, Tyler Alexander, or Jakob Junis.
Only time will tell to see who claims the closer role.
Conclusion
All moves around this time are exciting with the regular season coming up on Thursday and the team starting to take shape. It will be interesting to see how these moves will look a month into the season, but we should just enjoy them for now and get ready for some Rangers baseball.
