The Texas Rangers very clearly have severe injury issues with their pitching staff. Between the long-term injuries to guys like Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer to more recent injuries to guys like Cody Bradford, the Rangers are running low on arms despite the fact that we are only a few weeks into the 2024 season.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy seems to understand the gravity of the situation as well. The activation of the newly signed Michael Lorenzen will hopefully help the rotation's cause significantly, but Bochy did not mince words after Texas' loss to the Astros on Sunday when he said "everybody's an option."
Could Bruce Bochy's comments mean the Rangers might call up Jack Leiter soon?
When Bochy says something, it's important to take heed because he is generally a straight-shooter. More importantly, he has shown throughout his lengthy career that he is willing to take chances to put together the best roster on the field possible. Just this spring, Bochy was one of the proponents of adding Wyatt Langford to the Rangers' big league roster despite the fact that Texas just drafted him last year.
With the Rangers' pitching staff in pretty desperate need of some help beyond Lorenzen, there are a couple options that Texas could end up entertaining. Jose Urena has started in the past and is on the 40-man roster, although that isn't all that exciting considering his recent track record (and he's been relatively mediocre in his five appearances in 2024). Owen White also is on the 40-man roster and is loaded with potential, but his cameo appearance with the Rangers last year resulted in a 11.25 ERA in two starts, and his 7.30 ERA and high walk rate in the minor leagues this season leaves something to be desired.
The sexiest option is pretty clearly former second overall pick Jack Leiter. Leiter has had some well-documented struggles in the minor leagues since being drafted, but has seemingly found his stride this season as he has a 3.77 ERA in three appearances so far this year. Plus, his numbers are weighed down by a rough first start of the season. He has struck out 25 batters in just 14.1 innings of work and has really cut down his walks thus far in 2024.
There are some concerns with this plan, of course. One, this is a very small sample of innings to get excited about, especially when his last two seasons haven't been good (5.00+ ERAs in both). On top of that, promoting Leiter would require the team to make a 40-man roster move, which they may not want to do this early in the season.
That said, it's still on the table, if we're to believe Bochy's commentary.