Texas Rangers bullpen ranks fourth overall in recent FanGraphs projection

The Texas Rangers have a a very young and talented bullpen that FanGraphs has projected highly for the 2021 season.

In what may come as a surprise to many fans across baseball, including those who root for the Texas Rangers, the team’s youthful bullpen is projected to rank fourth among all Major League teams in 2021.

According to FanGraphs, the Rangers are slated behind the Yankees, White Sox and Padres in their projections and are immediately followed by the Rays.

The Yankees are no surprise in the first spot with Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton and Adam Ottavino headlining a dominant bullpen.

The White Sox are much improved in their unit after adding Liam Hendricks to a bullpen with Aaron Bummer, Garrett Crochet and Evan Marshall.

The Padres are a surprise at the third spot, with a bullpen headlined by Drew Pomeranz and Emilio Pagan.

Then come the Texas Rangers with relatively unknown names in the bullpen, just ahead of Kevin Cash’s “stable of guys” down in Tampa Bay.

According to the projections, the Texas Rangers are expected to finish the 2021 season with a collective bullpen WAR of 3.3.

That group is headlined by potential closers Jonathan Hernandez and Jose Leclerc, who are both projected to finish with 0.9 WARs.

They’re also projected to finish the season with a FIP of 4.62, which is expected to rank 24th across the league.

FanGraphs has also projected that the Rangers will deploy 14 different relievers during the 2021 season.

Of those 14 pitchers, five of them are rookie eligible.

That group is headlined by Demarcus Evans and Tyler Phillips, along with Rule 5 pick Brett de Geus, John King and surprise signee Joe Gatto.

Most notably of the rookies, Brett de Geus is projected to pitch in 42 innings, followed by Evans with 35 innings pitched.

Overall, the bullpen is slated to finish with a collective 4.42 ERA and a 9.1/ 4.2 strikeout to walk ratio.

The ERA leaders for the 2021 season are projected to be Jose Leclerc (3.86), Joely Rodriguez (3.94) and lefty Brett Martin (3.94).

Regarding the K/9 rate, Jose Leclerc is expected to pace the team with an11.6 K/9 ratio, followed by Demarcus Evans (10.6) and Taylor Hearn (10.4).

If the Texas Rangers bullpen puts up numbers remotely close to these, the organization would be thrilled.

The Rangers young bullpen will have ample opportunities to grow and mature throughout the 2021 season, and could get better as younger guys like Cole Uvila, Fernery Ozuna and Joe Barlow eventually make their way to the big league roster.

It will be an exciting year for fans and the organization to see all this young talent flourish, even if it doesn’t show in the win column.