Texas Rangers: 4 pitchers who would improve the bullpen

The Texas Rangers bullpen has been a mess for most of this season. Blown saves, walks, and poor outings among nearly everyone in that bullpen. For most of May, fans have been begging the front office to trade for a bullpen arm to lock things down in the middle to late innings. It has been hard to watch such a good team lose so many games late. The truth is that trades may not materialize until after the All-Star break which is still over six weeks away. The Rangers' answer to their bullpen issues will have to come from within. Several players in the minor leagues currently have the stuff and mentality to pitch in the bullpen. I want to present four players that I believe should be given an opportunity to pitch in the pen before the trade deadline season.

Texas Rangers Minor Leaguer Marc Church

Marc Church got into plenty of action this spring in "A" games and not just on the backfields. He was surprisingly one of the last cuts. The coaching staff utilized him in the late innings in spring. Bochy and his staff know of Church and how effective he can be. He was sent to Frisco to start the season. He had a dominant April, but has struggled some in May. If you look into his numbers he is the exact guy Texas could use right now. Church has made eight appearances in the eighth and ninth innings this season. In those innings, he has only allowed one run in 7 2/3 innings pitched and has 12 strikeouts to three walks.

He has made four appearances in late and close game situations. In those 6 2/3 innings he has 14 strikeouts to one walk and is allowing hitters a .130 batting average. He is not afraid of the moment and actually pitches better in those situations.

This is video of him making an appearance back on May 19th. He was facing Jordan Lawler one of the top prospects in all of baseball.

On Tuesday it was announced that he was being promoted to Triple-A Round Rock. I will be watching his appearances over the next couple of weeks. The Rangers are home for much of June. If he performs well for Round Rock I would not be surprised to see him get a shot in the bullpen at some point in June or July.

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.