Texas Rangers Name Jose Leclerc Closer for 2019

Before pitchers and catchers report, new Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward has named Jose Leclerc the closer for next season.

There probably wasn’t a ton of question about Jose Leclerc being the closer for the Texas Rangers in 2019. Chris Woodward did, however, say at the Winter Meetings that he didn’t want to handcuff Leclerc to a single role. This weekend though Woodward announced the Jose Leclerc would indeed be the club’s closer this upcoming season.

Leclerc was a shoo-in for the role according to most fans and would’ve only been limited by the fact that the club could’ve needed him for multiple innings at a time. Woodward thought it was important for Leclerc to know his role though before Spring Training started.

2018 Performance

Prior to the trade deadline, Leclerc acted as a late-inning reliever with Keone Kela still holding the closer role. In the first half of the season, Leclerc appeared in 34 games and threw 33 innings. He limited opponents to a stunning .138 batting average against and just a .266 on-base percentage.

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Astonishingly, he was even better in the second half which is where all of his 12 saves came. In 25 games and 24.2 innings opponent’s hit just .110 against the 25-year old. Even more impressive, their on-base percentage was just .198 and he struck out 5.29 hitters per walk allowed.

By the end of the year, Leclerc had established himself as a premier closer in the game and even outperformed his predecessor Kela in the second half.

Trade Rumors

After Leclerc’s breakout year, many including myself thought that young closer could find himself on the trade block. As a rebuilding club, many thought that Texas may find a premier reliever luxury and deal him for prospects That still isn’t out of the question and likely the rumors will heat up again near the deadline.

Despite the luxury Leclerc provides, he is under team control through 2022 meaning he still can fit into their long-term plans. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Leclerc still with the club this season as they try to gauge when they can be a competitive organization again.