The Rangers are juggling two young right-handers down the stretch, but the reasons for each are very different.
Jack Leiter’s path back to the majors may not be as simple as plugging him back into the rotation. Kumar Rocker, meanwhile, is healthy enough to keep pitching - but Texas is already thinking hard about how much more it should ask of him.
President of baseball operations Chris Young addressed both pitchers on Monday, and the message was clear: the Rangers want to stay flexible.
Leiter, who has been on the injured list after ankle surgery, should begin a rehab assignment this week. The organization still views him as a starter over the long haul, but Young said the club could take a shorter route if needed.
“We just need to be open minded here,” Young said. “Jack could spend four weeks on rehab getting him back to the big leagues and built up as a starter, or we may be able to expedite that and get it back to the big leagues you know at two or three innings via the bullpen.”
That possibility matters because Leiter’s return timeline is tied to how he’s built up. He threw a live batting practice session on Saturday and got in 33 pitches.
If Texas wants to use him as a long reliever, he likely needs to get closer to 50 pitches, which could mean only two rehab starts. In a normal return to starting, teams often want a pitcher stretched out to around 75 pitches.
The calendar complicates things too. Many full-season affiliates shut down in early to mid-September, and that can force a team to get creative. The Rangers already went through something similar when Nathan Eovaldi returned from an injury in September of 2023 and built up at the Major League level because there wasn’t enough time in the minors.
Leiter has made three relief appearances in the big leagues, all in 2024, but Texas still sees him as a starter. He’s 3-7 with a 5.29 ERA in 15 starts, and the ankle surgery removed an extraneous bone that had been causing pain and altering his delivery.
Rocker’s situation is less about getting him healthy and more about managing the wear on his arm. He has thrown 111 innings in 22 games this year, with a 4-9 record and a 4.46 ERA. That’s already a major jump from 2025, when he went 4-5 with a 5.74 ERA in 14 games and threw 64.1 innings before being optioned back to the minors in July.
Young said the team is paying close attention to that workload.
“That’s certainly something that's top of mind for us,” Young said. “We never want to put a player in harm’s way, so we are being very cognizant of the workload and the innings.”
Rocker’s background makes the concern easy to understand. In the minors, he got only 83.2 innings, in part because of Tommy John surgery in 2023.
This year, he has been used behind an opener twice and has excelled in that setup, going 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 12.2 innings, with 16 strikeouts and three walks. As a starter, though, he is 3-9 with a 4.85 ERA, 87 strikeouts and 39 walks.
That doesn’t automatically mean he’s headed to a relief role, even if his stuff looks the part. Two short outings behind an opener aren’t enough to say he’ll suddenly handle a long-relief or leverage job for weeks at a time.
For now, the Rangers’ rotation includes Rocker, Cody Bradford, Cal Quantrill - who will start on Wednesday - Jacob deGrom and MacKenzie Gore. Jordan Montgomery is back to filling in while Eovaldi’s spot is open, and Leiter remains to be determined. Rocker does too.
Different issues, same result: Texas is trying to protect both pitchers while keeping its options open.
“There’s some things that are trending in the right direction from a health standpoint that may allow us, should we need to, to protect Kumar and monitor his innings and workload.”
In Other News...
Rangers Just Made A Roster Move That Raises Bigger Questions
The Rangers have turned to Jarred Kelenic again, purchasing his contract from Triple-A Round Rock and putting him back on the active roster for a second stint this season. Kelenic has been productive since being sent down, which made the move easy to understand from a depth standpoint, and it gives Texas another look at an outfielder who has already spent time shuttling between Arlington and Round Rock this year.
To clear the needed roster space, the club designated infielder Jonah Bride for assignment and made the corresponding 40-man move as well. Elsewhere on the roster front, catcher Danny Jansen has started a rehab assignment with Round Rock while working back from an elbow issue, another sign that the Rangers are trying to piece together several parts of the roster at once as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Got The Win But MacKenzie Gore Raised A Bigger Question
Even in a game the Rangers ultimately won in extra innings, MacKenzie Gore made sure the spotlight stayed on the pitching. The left-hander worked into the sixth inning and kept forcing uncomfortable at-bats, with his changeup doing much of the heavy lifting as both bullpens got involved and the matchup turned into a test of depth and endurance. It was the kind of outing that can shape how an opponent talks about a series long after the final score fades.
The bigger question is less about the result than what Gore looked like doing it. His stuff created plenty of empty swings, and the pitch mix suggested a starter who can miss bats in a way that changes the tone of an inning, not just survive one. For the Rangers, the win mattered in the standings, but the more lasting takeaway may be that they saw a young pitcher whose ceiling keeps nudging the conversation in a different direction. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Fans Will Have Strong Feelings About Mike Madduxs New Opening
Mike Madduxs latest turn in the coaching market is already drawing attention in Arlington, where his name still carries plenty of weight from his previous run with the Rangers. The Angels dismissed Maddux, assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott and bullpen coach Don Chiti after a frustrating season, and interim general manager John Mozeliak pointed to the staffs lack of use of available technology as part of the issue.
For Texas, the opening is the kind that naturally stirs up old memories and fresh debate. Maddux has a long history with the Rangers, and his work on the mound side of the organization left an imprint that fans still remember, which is why any change in his status tends to prompt familiar questions about whether there might be a place for him back in the building in some form. [Read more 🡒]