Texas Rangers Report Card: Grading the first half of the season

Texas Rangers: Grading the Starting Rotation

The good news about this rotation? It has a bona fide ace in righty Kyle Gibson.

The bad news? It really lacks otherwise.

Gibson has been the anchor of this starting staff all season, pitching to a 2.00 ERA in 15 starts this season in what has been a total 360 in performance level from where he was in 2020 (an ugly 5.35 ERA). He has become the one reliable member of the rotation through all the ups and downs of this season and could be traded this month as contending teams seek rotation upgrades.

Meanwhile, the other members of the rotation have been mediocre at best. Jordan Lyles and Mike Foltynewicz both have ERAs north of 5, while Dane Dunning has been solid but unspectacular in his first season with the Rangers. The latter has more growing to do, though, so that’s not an indictment on him.

To make matters worse for the starters, prized Japanese free agent acquisition Kohei Arihara is potentially out for the year with a shoulder issue.

Texas has shuffled pieces in and out of this group at various times throughout this season, with Kolby Allard becoming a recent beneficiary of this and pitching well of late. The team also plans to make long reliever John King a starter at some point as well, giving the Rangers some fresh options to work with down the stretch.

As a whole, the Texas Rangers’ starting rotation has been a bust outside of Kyle Gibson, and well, I can’t say I didn’t see that coming entering the season. Let’s see if things change in the second 81 games. The unit gets an average to slightly above average grade because of Gibson’s heroics.

Grade: C/C+