The Texas Rangers have spent much of this season leaning on one of baseball’s strangest bullpen success stories, and now Jacob Latz looks like he’s paying the price.
Latz was the Rangers’ lone All-Star selection, and he earned that nod the hard way. What started in spring training as a fifth-starter idea turned into one of the league’s most valuable relief roles.
He’s already piled up 30 saves, including a league-high 13 multi-inning saves, which is a rare burden in today’s bullpen game. Instead of handling the ninth and heading home, he’s been asked to cover extra ground and pitch through the kind of pressure most closers never see.
That workload showed up again last night against the New York Mets. Skip Schumaker used his bullpen aggressively after Cody Bradford’s 4 1/3-inning start, with Tyler Alexander covering 1 2/3 innings to keep the game tied at 2-2.
In the seventh, Alexander handed the ball to Chase Silseth, who quickly ran into trouble with runners on first and second and one out. Schumaker turned to Latz to clean it up.
Latz did his job in that spot and came back for the eighth. He got the first two outs, then former Ranger Marcus Semien jumped on a pitch and sent a go-ahead homer to left. New York didn’t need much more after that, but the Mets added four insurance runs when Trevor Williams gave up a grand slam to Brett Baty, closing the book on a 7-2 Rangers loss.
The bigger issue is that Latz’s best trait may now be the thing that’s wearing him down. Once the Rangers saw what he could do, they kept pressing the advantage and basically used him as his own setup man. That approach has worked for most of the year, but September has been a different story.
Latz has posted a 4.91 ERA over 11 innings this month after carrying a 1.65 mark through August 31. He’s also allowed three home runs in September, matching the total he gave up from Opening Day through the end of August.
The timing has been brutal. On September 17, he was tagged for a three-run homer by Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story, and two days earlier he had already been asked to record a five-out save.
The pattern is hard to miss.
And really, this is where the Rangers’ season has come apart. The rotation has been too uneven, with MacKenzie Gore, Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter, and Cody Bradford all mentioned as part of the problem.
The middle relief group hasn’t picked up the slack either. On top of that, the lineup’s top bats haven’t come together, leaving Schumaker without much reason to believe his offense can erase a late deficit.
That’s why the club kept going back to Latz. It was the move that made the most sense with the roster it had. But now the cost is showing up, and it’s not surprising.
The blame doesn’t fall on Latz alone, and it doesn’t sit entirely with Schumaker’s usage decisions. The biggest culprit is Chris Young, who cut corners in the bullpen and pushed all his chips in for Gore. That left the Rangers with an uneven roster, and if they end up missing the playoffs, that’s the hole that will stand out.
In Other News...
Rangers Could Soon Face A Front Office Threat They Didn't Need
The front office carousel around baseball is already starting to spin, and it could reach Arlington before long. The Astros moved on from Dana Brown in August, and the Mets are reportedly lining up Derek Falvey to take over as general manager under David Stearns, a reminder that even in the executive ranks, stability can disappear quickly once the offseason conversations begin.
For the Rangers, the concern is less about what has happened elsewhere and more about who might get caught up in the next wave of openings. Ross Fenstermaker was named the clubs GM in November 2024 and remains in that post, but player agents have suggested he is the kind of name other teams could circle as they look to reshape their own baseball operations. With more front office vacancies expected as clubs get ready for next season, Texas may soon have to protect another important piece of its structure. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Have 3 Prospects With A Crucial Chance To Catch Up
The Rangers are giving eight players an extended look in the Arizona Fall League, but the spotlight falls hardest on three Top 30 prospects who lost valuable time during the minor league season. Mason McConnaughey, Jacob Johnson and Paxton Kling all spent part of the year sidelined by injuries, and now each gets a chance to make up some ground in a setting built for development and extra innings.
For a farm system that wants its young talent progressing on schedule, the AFL can be a useful bridge back into rhythm. McConnaughey, Johnson and Kling arrived there with different paths and different injury histories, but the assignment is the same: get more at-bats or innings, stay healthy and leave a stronger impression heading into next spring. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Just Let A Crucial Series Slip Away In Frustrating Fashion
The Rangers arrived with a chance to steady themselves in a series that felt important for both momentum and margin for error, but instead they left with another reminder of how quickly a game can get away from them. Texas managed only two runs while the Mets piled up seven, and the early deficit put the Rangers in catch-up mode before they ever found much traction. Offensively, the lineup never fully settled in, and defensively, the cracks widened at the wrong time.
Brett Batys pinch-hit grand slam provided the knockout blow and gave New York the kind of swing that can flip a series in one inning, while Marcus Semien added a solo home run against his former club to keep Texas on the board. Even with that moment from Semien, the Rangers could not match the Mets pressure or string together enough answers to keep the series alive. For a team trying to build consistency, losing this one in frustrating fashion stings well beyond the final score. [Read more 🡒]