This is going to be the start of a series that I’m doing with the Texas Rangers’ impending free agents as well as the guys who are going to be in arbitration. We might even dive into some guys that the Texas Rangers should take a look at in free agency if we get through all of these guys quick enough.
The first guy that we are going to look at is Shawn Armstrong.
Performance last year
Armstrong was arguably the best arm out of the bullpen last year for the Texas Rangers. He posted a 2.31 ERA in 74 innings during 71 games.
Armstrong had a 4-3 record with nine saves. He ended up taking over the closer role toward the end of the year when other options struggled in the role.
That marked a career high in saves and makes up more than half of his 17 career saves. He did blow three saves in his time as the closer. However, that shouldn’t turn fans away from him as I am share that they were pleased with the performance of the 35-year-old last year.
He provided to be a versatile piece for the team as he started two games for the Rangers when they went with bullpen games.
His advanced stats back that up as there is a lot of red on his baseball savant page. (Which is a good thing.)
His xERA was a little higher than his actual one which tells that he was getting a little lucky, but it is still elite with it being under three.
His xBA is also elite as it shows that it is .206 which is top 8 percent in baseball. That is a big improvement from 2024 where it was .277 which was bottom 7 percent in baseball. It looks like the Mike Maddux pitching lab worked again.
He put together a great year and the numbers back up his success.
Pitch mix
Armstrong throws five pitches – a four seamer, cutter, sweeper, slurve and sinker according to baseball savant. He only threw his slurve once, so I’m not going to go over it.
The four seamer was his go-to pitch as he used it 29.1 percent of the time. He averaged 93.5 mph on it and it produced his highest whiff rate with 34 percent. To go along with that, it also generated an elite batting average against with .164 and was used as his put away pitch being used 24.3 percent of the time.
His second most used pitch was his cutter with a 24.1 percent usage. It averaged 90.8 mph with a .188 batting average against it. The pitch only produced a 18.7 percent whiff rate, so he only went with it as his put away pitch 15 percent of the time. It is a good pitch, but it wasn’t used much in two strike counts.
The sweeper was his third most used pitch with 23.4 percent. It generated the second best whiff rate behind his four seamer with 33.6 percent. Weirdly the pitch was only used as the put away pitch with 16.9 percent. It also boosted a crazy batting average against with .80. It is head scratching to see him not use it as the put away pitch more, but when he did use it, it worked.
The final pitch he threw often was his sinker. It was tied with his sweeper with a usage percent of 23.4. He relied on it to be his second best put away pitcher behind his four seamer with he going to it 20.2 percent of the time. It did not get a good whiff rate with that only being 9.2 percent. Despite that, the pitch like his others had an elite batting average against it with batters just hitting .178 against it.
All of Armstrong’s pitches were elite this past year and back up the stats that he put up. This was a big improvement from 2024 on every pitch. The biggest was his cutter which batters hit .319 against in 2024 compared to .188 in 2024. All of his spin rates increased on his pitches.
This shows that Maddux and the rest of the pitching staff was able to get the best out of Armstrong and turn him into an asset for the pen.
Verdict
I think that the Texas Rangers should bring back Armstrong. It shouldn’t cost too much due to his age and the struggles he had the year before joining the Rangers. Spotrac gives him a market value of 3.95 million. The team should look at sign him to a one year deal, but should be open to a two year deal if that is the only way to get him back.
The team needs a veteran arm to be their closer as they don’t have many internal options left under contract. The arms from bullpen last year under contract are Cole Winn, Jacob Latz, and Robert Garcia.
They should look to bring Shawn Armstrong back as their closer.
