The 2023 Texas Rangers Spring Training Thread

[saddles]

Someone asked Jamey about his 2028 rotation.

"For grins and giggles, project the starting rotation in five years, along with closer. — Thom S."

"Rotation: Triston McKenzie, Jacob deGrom, Brock Porter, Roki Sasaki, Leandro Calderon."

"Closer: Emiliano Teodo – though I think he will be a popular trade target, so I reserve the right to say in 2028 that I predicted Marc Church would be the guy."

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[Kelleyman]

 

[saddles]

 

[Senator_fan]

Arm fatigue from bullpen sessions? That doesn’t sound good.

 

[saddles]

Evan arrives at his #17 prospect today.

No. 17 RHP Zak Kent

Age: 25

Height/weight: 6-3,210

B-T: R-R

Who he is: Kent was the Rangers’ ninth-round draft choice in 2019 out of Virginia Military Institute after going undrafted out of high school in Heathsville, Va. He set a Southern Conference record with 132 strikeouts in 97 innings as a junior at VMI. He received a $140,000 signing bonus. He was No. 18 on our end of season rankings last year and was added to the 40-man roster for the first time over the winter.

Why he is here: Nobody in the system spins it better than Kent. He throws both a curve and a slider, the latter of which was tweaked midway through last season after Kent dealt with some A/C joint soreness. He also mixed in a recently added two-seam fastball that allowed him to better change planes of the strike zone. The result: A 2.34 ERA in 65 innings over his final 14 outings of the season. He held hitters to a .198/.268/.304/.572 slash line in that stretch, which also included his promotion to Triple-A Round Rock. His fastballs sits in the low 90s, but has inched upwards over the last three seasons.

What’s his future: Kent has put himself on the major league radar over the last two years with improved stuff and his focus on getting better. Though he dealt with a pair of injuries last year, he still upped his innings count by 20 to 109. He could be a potential option at some point this year either as a multi-inning reliever or a spot starter. Only thing that’s concerning here is that his strikeouts per nine innings fell from 12.8 in 2021 to 9.0 in 2022 while his walk rate increased a bit. Perhaps that was due to working through adjustments.

Where he will start 2023: He’s been a bit behind this spring because of some reoccurring A/C joint soreness but has returned to the mound. Maybe he stays at extended spring training a week or two while the Triple-A rotation is sorted out.

Rangers’ top prospects

No. 31: INF Cameron Cauley

No. 30: LHP Cody Bradford

No. 29: OF Trevor Hauver

No. 28: RHP Marc Church

No. 27: RHP Josh Stephan

No. 26: LHP Antoine Kelly

No. 25: OF Alejandro Osuna

No. 24: INF Danyer Cueva

No. 23: RHP Emiliano Teodo

No. 22: RHP Ryan Garcia

No. 21: RHP Winston Santos

No. 20: INF Gleider Figuereo

No. 19: RHP Ricky Vanasco

No. 18: RHP Dane Acker

No. 17: RHP Zak Kent

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

He seems very mature for a kid who is just shy of 17 years old.

 

[Nightcrawler]

New announcers would be sweet

 

[Duane1952]

I hope they do and go somewhere where everyone can watch.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

King cannot be on our MLB roster unless it's to use him in complete blowouts.

 

[Duane1952]

King cannot be on our MLB roster unless it's to use him in complete blowouts.

Another pitcher I don’t see what they see in.

 

[DT LUNA]

King cannot be on our MLB roster unless it's to use him in complete blowouts.

Same can be said of Howard.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Same can be said of Howard.

I didn't mention him because I figured he would be in the minors to start the season. But I know where you are coming from.

 

[saddles]

Dane Dunning had a great game today.

5 IP
6 K
1 BB
1 H
0 R

 

[saddles]

I wonder if Smith is dinged up. Seems like he hasn't played much after getting hit in the foot by a pitch a few days back.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

The grass is always greener on the other side of the organizational fence for Jamey-Let's-Make-a-Deal Newberg.

 

[saddles]

From Jeff Wilson:

Right-hander Dane Dunning, though, took his normal turn on the mound and allowed one hit in five shutout innings. He is pitching well enough to force the Rangers to consider him for a role in the bullpen.

There was one multi-inning role available to open the season, but now there are two. Right-hander Jake Odorizzi won't be ready to start the season as he deals with arm fatigue, manager Bruce Bochy saod, and the Rangers are going to need another with Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi short on innings to start the season.

Dunning is pitching well enough to fill one of those roles. So is Cole Ragans. A third candidate is Glenn Otto, whose results suggest he isn't pitching well.

But it's spring training, and pitchers are working on things. Otto didn't have a great spring last year but was pretty good when called upon early in the regular season.

Don't sleep on Spencer Howard, who has some fans on the coaching staff.

That group also represents the Rangers' first line of defense in case of an injury in the rotation. Every contending team has rotation depth, and the Rangers need to preserve it.

They also want their 13 best pitchers, and right now Dunning and Ragans are among that group.

Decisions, decisions, and only 14 days to go until Opening Day.