Texas Rangers: 4 pitchers who would improve the bullpen

Texas Rangers Minor Leaguer Chase Lee

Chase Lee was drafted in the sixth round in 2021 to eventually fill a role in the bullpen. He was a bullpen pitcher at Alabama and has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in the minor leagues. The Rangers have pushed him very aggressively in his two years in the system.

The normal procedure for pitchers the Rangers draft is once they sign they go out to the Arizona complex. They normally will then go through workouts and then instructional league in September. That was not the case for Lee. He did go out to Arizona, but it was a very short stay. He was sent out to Double-A Frisco and pitched the rest of the season for the Roughriders. He then began 2022 back in Frisco, but was promoted to Round Rock in June 2022.

He has pitched well for Round Rock in his almost one full year since being promoted. He was just honored as pitcher of the week last week for what he did against El Paso. He made three appearances. They each were two-inning appearances. He did not allow any runs. struck out eight, and walked two. In his appearance on the 21st, Lee picked up his first save of the season.

Lee has been primarily used in the seventh through ninth innings. The inning he has been used the most is the eighth. He has a 1.29 ERA, with eight strikeouts to four walks. He has only allowed one run in the eighth inning. The sidearmer would give the Rangers a right-handed pitcher with a funky motion that they have not seen since Darren O' Day was pitching for the Rangers in the 2000's. It would give batters a different look and Bochy can match Lee up with right-handed hitters. Right-handers have a .203 average against Lee with 25 strikeouts to six walks.

Lee would be someone who can come up and would have a defined role. He would pitch in the middle innings against right-handed hitters. Bochy would deploy him in situations he would be able to excel in. The Rangers' bullpen is missing a specialist and Lee would be able to fill that role.

Texas Rangers Minor Leaguer Alex Speas

Alex Speas was drafted all the way back in 2016. He has dealt with health issues over the years as he had to come back from Tommy John surgery in 2018. Then he had to deal with the stresses that come from having a kid and then dealing with the pandemic and the lost season that resulted from that.

Speas did an interview about his time away with Frisco in the video embedded below. He went to coach high school baseball. Then told Texas he wanted to come back and has been healthy and pitching well for Frisco this season.

Speas is now 25 years old and is still throwing 100 mph fastballs. He is 6'3 and comes straight downhill with his fastball. When he is able to locate his pitches he is nearly impossible to hit. I hesitate to include him because I am not sure what the Rangers plan is for him and if it would include coming to Arlington. The one thing I do know is with all that he has had to overcome that he will not be overwhelmed by pitching to major-league hitters.

His fastball and slider will play at the major league level. The only question about Speas is control. It is the issue that has held him back at times in his career. This season he has nine walks in 14 1/3 innings. He still is holding a low ERA at 1.26. Hitters are only hitting .167 against Speas. In May Speas has made seven appearances with six of them being scoreless. He allowed two runs back on May 11th. He has 11 strikeouts this month to just three walks. In the eighth and ninth innings he has a 0.00 ERA with 12 strikeouts to three walks.

Speas would be a great late-innings option who can bring high velocity and can miss bats. There is not a lot of that in the bullpen currently. To think before this season he was a coach and now he is an option to make his major league debut at some point this season. Speas' story sounds like it should be a Hollywood script rather than a potential documentary.

Texas Rangers Minor Leaguer Antoine Kelly

If the Rangers chose Kelly it would pay off last Summer's Matt Bush trade. Kelly was the prize of the trade. He was a former Milwaukee Brewers top prospect who had control issues. He was being used as a starter, but was projected to be moved to the bullpen. That move to the bullpen occurred fully this season.

Kelly was returned to Frisco to start this season and has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen. The control issues are still there for the left-hander, but he is really excelling in the bullpen role. Over the last 9 1/3 innings Kelly has allowed only one run. He has 13 strikeouts to seven walks. He has picked up two saves. That includes Tuesday night when he was brought into the ninth inning of a 2-1 game. He faced five batters, gave up one hit, one walk, and struck out three. He closed the game out.

Kelly over the past month has been pitching primarily as the closer for Frisco. In the ninth innings this season he has a 0.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts to just two walks. He has been in those high pressure situations for Frisco. The stuff is there for Kelly, it just sometimes will lead to walks. He is effective against both lefties and righties and can be used in any situation. He has a 1.23 ERA for the month of May. He seems to be pitching better as the season goes along. He is certainly a candidate for promotion to Round Rock soon and then maybe to Texas later.

So two pitchers in Triple-A and two pitchers in Double-A. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Their strengths though align with the weaknesses that the Rangers bullpen currently has. Chris Young and Bruce Bochy would do well to think outside of the box in this situation and start to give opportunities to players who have toiled on the farm for the last few years. The pen they currently have is not working outside of Will Smith. Better to know what you have before you go about shopping for what you need.