The Texas Rangers are running out of runway, and the bullpen is still giving them nowhere to hide.
After a 4-1 start in March and a strong 16-11 June, Texas has had only one winning month all season. Strip away those early five games and that June surge, and the Rangers are sitting on a 46-57 record. The club needs a jolt, but right now the news around the relief corps is mostly the kind that makes things worse, not better.
The biggest concern is Jack Leiter, whose return is suddenly in jeopardy. Leiter’s rehab assignment wasn’t going smoothly, and now there’s a reason for that: biceps soreness.
He’ll be shut down for a few days, though the absence could last longer. It’s already all but certain he won’t return as a starter this season, and the hope had been that he could at least help out of the bullpen after the Rangers’ only notable addition there was Chase Silseth.
That path is now in doubt too. If Leiter doesn’t bounce back quickly, his 2026 season may be over.
The Rangers also made a move on the roster, sending Robby Ahlstrom down to Round Rock and calling up left-hander Adam Macko. Ahlstrom had looked like he might have turned a corner. After a rocky start to his big league career, he caught fire after the All-Star break, stringing together 13 straight scoreless outings and piling up a 14-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio from mid-July to mid-August.
Then it unraveled fast. Since August 12, Ahlstrom gave up 10 earned runs in just 5 1/3 innings, and three of those runs came on home runs. Texas decided it had seen enough.
Macko arrives as a trade deadline pickup, having been acquired for Josh Smith. But he’s not exactly forcing the issue yet.
Since joining the organization, he has thrown eight innings in Round Rock and allowed five earned runs. Before that, he posted a 4.10 ERA for Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate and a 4.91 ERA over 22 big league innings with the Blue Jays this season.
He also worked 1 1/3 innings in last night’s 6-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, giving up two earned runs.
And that gets to the larger problem: the bullpen has been underwhelming for a long time, and the deadline didn’t fix it. Silseth has been serviceable since coming over from the Los Angeles Angels, with a 3.75 ERA over 12 innings, but there are cracks there too - nine walks and two homers in that stretch stand out immediately.
As a group, Texas relievers have been rough since the deadline passed. Since August 4, they rank 25th in MLB with a 4.71 ERA.
That lines up with the broader season-long story, because this has been a problem all year and the internal fixes haven’t arrived. The Rangers were banking on improvement from within and help from injured arms, but that hasn’t materialized.
With Leiter now a question mark, the cavalry may not be coming at all.
Which leaves one obvious question hanging over the front office: did Chris Young do enough at the deadline? The answer sure looks like no.
In Other News...
Rangers Prospect Seong Jun Kim Is Creating A Bigger Debate Than Expected
The Rangers farm system got a lift in MLB Pipelines latest rankings, and a good part of that rise traces back to the clubs 2026 draft class. One of the more interesting names in that group is Seong-Jun Kim, the 19-year-old two-way player from Korea who has begun turning heads after moving up to Single-A Hickory, where his work on the mound has been especially encouraging and his bat has shown enough to keep the discussion alive.
Kims early success has done more than add a promising arm and another athletic bat to the organizational picture. It has also created a bigger question than expected about what his long-term role should be, because his progress this season has come while he continues to operate in both lanes of the game. For a Rangers system that is suddenly drawing more attention, Kim is becoming one of the more compelling development stories to follow. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Outfield Picture Just Got More Complicated Because Of Dylan Dreiling
Dylan Dreiling has quietly turned a strong 2026 season with Double-A Frisco into something bigger than a nice development story. The Rangers No. 13 prospect has taken a real step forward at the plate after a much quieter 2025, and his rise has only added to the sense that Texas has another legitimate bat climbing its system. A hitter regarded as one of the best in the organization, Dreiling already has the kind of pedigree that makes people pay attention, thanks in part to the standout run he put together at Tennessee, capped by College World Series Most Outstanding Player honors in 2024.
For the Rangers, the bigger question is where all of this leaves the outfield picture as Dreiling keeps trending up. Texas has spent plenty of time sorting through its young talent and trying to figure out who fits where, and a bat like Dreilings only complicates that process. He may still be on the longer road toward a big league arrival, with a possible MLB debut in 2027, but the arrow is clearly pointing the right way. If he keeps hitting like this, the Rangers will have another decision to make sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Leiter Is Creating A Rangers Problem At The Worst Time
Jack Leiters 2026 season has turned into one of the more uncomfortable questions facing the Rangers, and it has nothing to do with his pedigree or long-term ceiling. The right-hander has labored through 15 starts, carrying a 5.29 ERA while dealing with an ankle injury that eventually required arthroscopic surgery, and the result has been a rotation spot that no longer feels secure.
His rehab assignment has not offered much clarity. Leiter has been uneven in the minors, putting up a 9.45 ERA, which only adds to the debate over whether the Rangers can still count on him as a starter right away or need to think about a different role. A recall does not appear imminent, and for a club trying to piece together the rest of its season, that leaves another unresolved decision hanging over the pitching staff. [Read more 🡒]