Texas Rangers: What To Expect From Matt Bush In 2018

Matt Bush was signed by the Texas Rangers on December 18th, 2015, two months after his release from prison. He was called up to the main roster five months later and everything has been going for him since. He’s stayed out of trouble and has been playing good baseball.

He started out last season as a reliever. When Sam Dyson was relieved of his duties as the team’s closer, the spot went to Matt Bush. Unfortunately, after suffering his fifth blown save, he was reassigned to his previous role of relief pitcher where he remained the rest of the season. Regardless of his incapability of retaining the closing role, the Texas Rangers are impressed with his performance overall.

It’s been rumored that the Rangers had plans to possibly move Bush to the starting rotation. However, since they’ve brought in a few new starters, Bush may be staying the bullpen. Quite frankly, for Bush to remain in the bullpen is the best thing to do for Bush and for the organization.

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So what are we to expect from Bush this season? First and foremost, he’s expected to report for Spring Training healthy and in good shape.

Bush is one of the most important pieces to the puzzle as far as the Ranger’s bullpen is concerned. The status of Bush is very crucial.

We can also expect him to perform well during in training and earn a spot as a reliever in the bullpen. We can expect the possibility of him competing with Keone Kela and Alex Claudio for the team’s closer role for the season.

While it’s best for Bush to just remain a reliever, it’s also logical for him to be given opportunities to close and perhaps start a game or two. The chance of Bush starting a few games is definitely a maybe. He has expressed an interest in becoming a starter, but for the Rangers to have 90 percent of the starting rotation be in their 30’s is not really a good thing. But it would be interesting to see Bush start one or two games and hopefully, he’ll do well.

The best thing for him is to remain a reliever as it’s the position where he’s already comfortable and it’s where he excels. The Rangers don’t want to put too much pressure on his shoulders.