Opener days might be key to managing struggling back end of Rangers starting rotation

Years ago the Tampa Bay Rays introduced the concept of the opener to the masses which has since exploded across Major League Baseball and changed the game as we know it.

That same concept has never really observed by the Texas Rangers, choosing over the years to remain with the tried and true long-inning starters but this season Skip Schumaker hasn't been afraid to lean in and with it has found some success.

On Tuesday, Texas went with that strategy, starting the game against Colorado with lefty Tyler Alexander going a scoreless inning and backing it up with 7.2 scoreless from scheduled starter Kumar Rocker. It resulted in a 10-0 win for Texas, their first double digit scoring game of the year.

Weakness of Rocker, Leiter sign of hesitation for Rangers

This season has been less than idea for the back end of the starting rotation: Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. The former first round picks and 1-2 punch for Vanderbilt have yet to find their consistency this season and in the early years of their big league careers.

Leiter, 26, has shown promising results and clearer vision of what his future in MLB has the potential to be but has dealt with his fair share of struggles. In nine starts, he has a 1-4 record with a 4.35 ERA, 55 strikeouts, 21 walks, 1.35 WHIP but has also recorded 10 K/9 in his 49.2 innings.

He's thrown a handful of high strikeout games, including 10 during his May 3 outing in Detroit but that also resulted in a 7-1 loss for Texas after he got tattooed for five runs over 6.2 innings. Not ideal, especially considering Texas was hoping to see a build-up from the second half of his 2025 campaign.

For Rocker, he couldn't even make it past June 2025 before getting promoted to Triple-A Round Rock in his first full season at the major league level. This season, the 26-year-old is also 1-4 with a eerily similar 4.34 ERA, 30 strikeouts to 17 walks and a .265 opponents batting average.

That's a combined 2-8 record with a 4.34 ERA, 38 walks and a .253 BAA. Growing pains exists in younger pitchers but guaranteed Texas hoped for better.

Bullpen's strength can certainly support opener role for Texas

The great thing about Skip Schumaker potentially dipping more into running out the opener strategy once every fifth or sixth day is the strength of their bullpen.

Heading into Tuesday's Colorado game, the bullpen had the league's best 3.06 ERA, with Seattle not too far behind at 3.08. They also decided to roll with Tyler Alexander, who came into the game with the third-best ERA on the team at 2.14, and kept the Rockies scoreless in the first inning.

Texas's bullpen also has six individuals with a 3.00 ERA or lower, including Jakob Junis's team-leading 1.56 ERA in 16 appearances.

While Tampa Bay implemented it to help manage early game scenarios and lower teamwide ERA, Texas might be doing it this season to provide easier transitions for some of their starters. Starting pitching has amassed a 6.51 ERA, 14 home runs allowed and an opponent average of .286 in first innings.

Rocker, Leiter and MacKenzie Gore have been among the biggest culprits. Rocker, who Alexander opened for on Tuesday, had an 11.25 ERA in the first innings of his eight starts while that number dips down to 2.50 in innings 4-6.

If anything, this gives Schumaker a chance to get out of the first inning without allowing the opposing team to put a run or more on the board. What he also will be hoping is that it settles Leiter and Rocker down and relieves some of the pressure they might face to be perfect right away.

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