What have we learned the first trip through the Texas Rangers rotation?

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Bookends are sturdy objects that are meant to hold a collection of books together. Weak bookends lead to a collection of books that fall down. We have now been through the Texas Rangers rotation one time. After these five games, the Texas Rangers have a 3-2 record. Beyond the actual game results, what have we actually learned about the rotation and the bullpen? Let's start by breaking it up into three sections, the bookends of the rotation, the middle 3 pitchers, and then the bullpen.

The Rotation Bookends

Jacob deGrom and Andrew Heaney were both highly sought after free agent signings. They serve as the bookends in Bruce Bochy's rotation. The first time through the rotation they were not as sturdy as bookends should be.

deGrom got it started on Opening Day against the Phillies. He started out strong with a quick 10 pitch, two strikeout first inning. He had to labor through the next 2.1 innings. He gave up six extra base hits, including a home run to Alec Bohm in the second inning. He ended up pitching 3.2 innings, and did have seven strikeouts to no walks, but also gave up five earned runs in that time.

deGrom had the velocity and stuff that was expected, but the control was not always there. It did not lead to any walks, but it did lead to him having to work harder and throw more pitches. Mainly it was fastball and slider command in the second and third innings that got him in trouble. The fastball was moving out of the strike zone and the slider was not enticing enough to consistently get the Phillies' batters to swing.

He was supported though by an offense that scored nine runs and ended up coming from behind to win that game 11-7. The bullpen held up the deGrom bookend by finishing off the game by only giving up two runs in their 5.1 innings pitched that day.

The other bookend to the rotation is Andrew Heaney. Lets just say after one start that Heaney's bookend has fell over, off the shelf, and is laying on the floor hoping someone picks it back up.

Heaney was not good last night and there is no way to sugar coat that. He pitched 2.2 innings against the Orioles and allowed 7 earned runs. It was punctuated by home runs from Ryan Mountcastle and Jorge Mateo. The Rangers ended up losing the game 7-2.

Heaney was missing with his fastball and was struggling to put hitters away. He located too many of his pitches over the heart of the plate. The Orioles took advantage when he did miss over the plate. They also did a good job laying off of his sweeper pitch that really was his put away pitch in 2022. Last night he threw 27 sweepers and 13 of them resulted in a swinging strike or called strike. 14 were either fouled off or resulted in a hit. His night ended when Jorge Mateo took one of the sliders deep to increase the lead to 7-1.

In the first turn through the rotation, we learned that the bookends for this rotation need to be better if this team is going to go anywhere. deGrom needs to have better command over the outer portion of the plate to right-handed hitters. He also needs to be more consistent from batter to batter. Heaney will need to have better command overall of all of his pitches. He can't leave so many in the middle of the plate. I expect both will be better this next time out.

The Middle Three Pitchers

Bookends would not be what they are without the books contained within them. Now lets talk about the middle three pitchers held up by the bookends and see if they did their job. Those books are represented by Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez, and Jon Gray.

Nathan Eovaldi was more like a paperback book. He was good, but flimsy. He did his job sufficiently. He pitched five innings in his start against the Phillies, left with the lead in tact, and ended up getting the win. He was far from dominant in his first start. He did strike out six and only walk two batters. He navigated numerous obstacles and came out the other side.

Eovaldi made use of all of his pitches. The first time through the order he mainly relied on a fastball that fluctuated between 95-97mph. Then he started working more on his cutter, curveball, and splitter after that as the fastball velocity decreased slightly. He was effective overall, and held the Phillies to just three runs in a game that the Rangers won 16-3.

The next night it was Martin Perez. It was a typical Perez night. He gave the Rangers innings as he pitched 5.2 innings, he worked in and out of jams, and lived on the corners and bottom of the zone. He wasn't particularly sharp with his control as he walked three batters.

What did work though was his use of the changeup. It was devastating all night and had the Phillies flailing at pitches that dipped below the zone as it crossed the plate. He ended the night with seven strikeouts. Five of the strikeouts were in pitches in the bottom half of the zone. Perez can be successful up in the zone. as he struck out JT Realmuto and Nick Castellanos there with high sinkers, but he is much more successful down around the bottom of the strike zone.

Perez ended up pitching into the sixth only giving up one run. The Rangers held on to win that game and give Perez his first win of the season in a 2-1 game. Perez is going to have better nights than this when his control is better and he pitches deeper into games as we saw in 2022.

The final piece of the book collection and maybe the best book of them all was Jon Gray's start against the Orioles. Gray is maybe the most overqualified fourth starter. When taking into consideration other teams' fourth starters one might look at Jon Gray and wonder what he is doing with these other starters. He should be grouped with the number two or three starters.

He showed that even in a loss on Monday night. He pitched 6.1 strong innings, and only gave up two runs on the night. He gave up a solo home run to Gunnar Henderson and a solo home run to Jorge Mateo. That was the only scoring on the night as the Rangers lost that game 2-0.

He was the best of the five member rotation but ended up with the first loss of the season. He struck out seven much like deGrom and Perez did, but did not end up with the run support that either pitcher received. He gave up four hits and had two walks. He was in control most of the night and just really had the two pitches that ended in home runs.

Gray relied mainly on a fastball that was between 94-96mph on the night. His slider had good bite on it and generated several swings and misses and also weak contact. He did hang a slider though to Jorge Mateo that was hit out. He did also throw a few changeups as well. He was working mainly off of his fastball and slider for most of the night. It was effective, but did not lead to a positive result in the win-loss column.

Overall I would say that the books in the bookshelf were solid, nothing really special. There was not a great start among those three pitchers. They were workmanlike and each of these three gave the Rangers a chance to win and as a starting pitcher that is what they aim to do.

The Bullpen

The bullpen as a whole has been great. The best bullpen ERA at 0.83 in all of baseball so far. They are being led by Dane Dunning, who has pitched seven scoreless innings between his two appearances. He came on in relief of Nathan Eovaldi on Saturday and then pitched again last night in relief of Andrew Heaney. He has been great in this long-man role and is staking a claim to really stay in this role for the entirety of the season.

There is not anyone who is pitching poorly out of the pen right now. Jonathan Hernandez has made two scoreless appearances. Jose Leclerc pitched the ninth to close out Opening Day. Will Smith secured the save in the 2-1 game against Philly. Cole Ragans allowed an inherited runner to score, but also picked up his first win on Opening Day. Ian Kennedy struck out the side in the ninth on Monday night. Taylor Hearns struck out three in his appearance last night. Finally, Brock Burke did give up a run in his first appearance, but also worked two innings that day and struck out three.

The bullpen has completely dominated when called upon. They have given up two runs in 21.2 innings in the first five games. The number of innings is not ideal as the theory of the case for this team included the bullpen pitching less.

In this first turn through the rotation we have learned that there is great potential with this rotation. That there is plenty of room for growth as we get deeper into the season. If the rotation can reach that potential then combined with this bullpen this team can reach heights not seen in Arlington in several years.

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The Rotation Bookends

The Middle Three Pitchers

The Bullpen

Schedule