Familiar flaw is sabotaging Rangers' key offseason pitching acquisition

Right before the 2024 season, the Rangers picked up Michael Lorenzen on a one-year, $4.5 million deal. Lorenzen has been an incredible pickup so far. He has far outperformed Jordan Montgomery, who many Rangers fans (including myself) wanted re-signed last offseason. Maybe more importantly to an organization that has been tightening their pockets with no TV deal for 2025: he was much cheaper.

The signing has unequivocally been a huge win for the Rangers and it's safe to say Chris Young made the right decision in signing Lorenzen over Monty. All that being said, Michael Lorenzen does still have a fatal flaw and it has been rearing it's ugly head lately: walks. Lately he has been giving them up in bunches.

Over Lorenzen's last three starts, he's allowed 13 walks, a truly staggering, troubling number. He's pitched 15 innings over those three starts, leaving him with 7.8 walks per 9 innings during this stretch. The AL average is 3.13. His ERA has jumped from a 3.04 to a 3.52 in his last three starts alone. It's a concerning trend Rangers fans and the team alike would like to see stop quickly.

As previously stated, this is a known flaw of Michael Lorenzen. Walks were a large part of why he struggled after being traded last season, no hitter aside. In 105.2 innings pitched for the Tigers before being traded last season, Lorenzen gave up 27 walks and had a 3.58 ERA. He gave up 20 walks in just 47.1 innings with the Phillies after being traded and had an ERA of 5.51 during his time in Philadelphia.

More walks equal more runs allowed. That tends to be the case with any pitcher. Lorenzen is not alone in this among Rangers pitchers either. The Rangers are fourth in walks allowed as team, which has translated to them also being top 10 in runs allowed at ninth. The middle of the bullpen has been another large culprit. Walks are the reason Rangers have seen close games grow to insurmountable deficits with nothing more than a hit or two more than a couple times this season.

Especially with how much the Rangers offense has largely struggled this year, the walks need to be reduced by everyone across the board. They struggle to come from behind when the deficit is just a run or two. Bases-clearing base hits essentially end games against this offense this season. If the Rangers want to make any sort of run this season, the walks absolutely have to go down.