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 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.