Unanswered Questions for the Texas Rangers
You’d think that after a four-month offseason and six weeks in the desert that things would be relatively settled and clear cut with four days left until the Texas Rangers host the Boston Red Sox on opening day Thursday at Globe Life Field.
You’d think.
Baseball — and all it’s glorious twists and turns — doesn’t always tend to operate with that logic. The Rangers, who’ve still got a handful of questions left to answer before the games begin to matter, can attest. Here’s a look at what’s still left to be finalized before the regular season starts.
The Closer Conundrum
The Rangers began camp with talks of a bullpen sans roles. They ended it without much of a change in narrative.
The Rangers will open the season without a relief pitcher with substantial closing experience on the roster and haven’t named someone to the role. Their high-leverage candidates — right-handers Chris Martin and Luke Jackson and left-hander Robert Garcia — combined to allow just one run in 16 1/3 innings of Cactus League play.
For now, it seems, Martin and his 14 career saves might have an inside track to the job. The ambiguity isn’t an entirely new phenomena. Reminder: José Leclerc opened each of the last two seasons at closer and was displaced within a month’s time each time.
Center Field Belongs to _______
Evan Carter? Leody Taveras? Kevin Pillar? The Rangers’ decision makers haven’t entirely tipped their hand one way or another and Carter — whose prospect pedigree and postseason performance carry weight — hasn’t done enough to separate himself.
He’s done the opposite, truthfully, with a .158/.220/.211 slash line in 14 games and an ugly 0 for 10 line vs. left-handed pitching. Taveras (the incumbent center fielder with baggage of his own) has hit just .196 but has put better swings on the ball.
The answer lies somewhere within the three and it could look different on opening day (in which the Rangers will face one of baseball’s best left-handers in Garrett Crochet) than it does midseason.
Starting Rotation
Let’s start with the obvious ones: Nathan Eovaldi will start opening day, Jacob deGrom is expected to pitch at the back end of the rotation and Tyler Mahle will throw somewhere in between the two of them.
That leaves two open spots for as many as four candidates so long as Cody Bradford (elbow soreness) and Jon Gray (fractured wrist) are sidelined for multiple months. Those in contention are right-hander Jack Leiter, right-hander Kumar Rocker, right-hander Adrian Houser and the recently signed left-hander Patrick Corbin.
Leiter, 24, and Rocker, 25, are the organization’s No. 3 and No. 2 prospects, respectively, according to The Dallas Morning News’ rankings. Their “stuff” and potential is undoubtedly the best of the four.
Batting Order
Atop the batting order, we mean. Second baseman Marcus Semien, at leadoff, and shortstop Corey Seager, in the two-hole, are the easy ones.
Second-year outfielder Wyatt Langford hit third in eight of the 10 games that he played this spring and batted leadoff and second in the two that he didn’t. First baseman Jake Burger hit third in each of the two games that Langford didn’t, but on the whole, saw the majority of his time at fifth, sixth and seventh in the lineup.
The Rangers used few lineups in the Cactus League that included each of their expected regulars because of injuries and the nature of spring training. This one, on March 18 vs. the Cleveland Guardians, might’ve been the closest to what Texas could field against a right-handed pitcher: Semien, Seager, Langford, Pederson, Garcia, Jung, Carter, Burger and Heim in that order.
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Texas kicks off its 2025 campaign Thursday at Globe Life Field against the Boston Red Sox.
Conclusion
The Texas Rangers still have several unanswered questions as they approach the start of the 2025 season. From the closer role to the starting rotation, center field, and batting order, there are many factors that will impact the team’s success. As the season begins, fans will be eager to see how these questions are answered and how the team performs on the field.
