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Zak Kent returned to the mound in Round Rock this past weekend

After missing a long four months a Texas Rangers top pitching prospect made his return to the mound.

By Brian Sweet

Feb 21, 2023; Surprise, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers Zak Kent (78) poses for a photo during photo day at
Feb 21, 2023; Surprise, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers Zak Kent (78) poses for a photo during photo day at / Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports
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Sometimes players have setbacks with injuries throughout the season. I know this for a fact because one of my friends, Hobie Harris has had this issue in his career with injuries as a pitcher. It happened to Texas Rangers pitching prospect Zak Kent earlier this year when he was put on the injured list with an oblique injury on April 12th this season. He only played one game and it was against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Let's take a look at Kent's year so far and his road to recovery.

Zak Kent's journey from the draft to being a call away from the majors

The young pitcher from the Virginia Military Institute was drafted by the Rangers in the 2019 MLB Draft in the ninth round with the 265th pick. Kent started climbing up the ranks in the Rangers organization and was a part of the 2022-23 Frisco RoughRiders Championship team for most of the year. While in Double-A, Kent recorded 87 strikeouts before he was called up to Triple-A near the end of the season. When he got the call up to Triple-A, he continued to be dominant and recorded 23 strikeouts.

The Rangers were so impressed by what he did during the season that they protected him from the Rule 5 draft by adding him to the 40-man roster. Things looked really good for him coming into this year. He was really impressive during Spring Training and looked like he could have been in the Rangers' bullpen this year if they had some room on the roster.

Unfortunately for him, he has been on the IL for most of this season with an oblique injury. Kent was recently activated to go down to the Arizona Rookie League for a rehab stint. He looked pretty good recording nine strikeouts and only allowing three home runs. His ERA was a tad high at 9.45 but considering he was pitching for the first time this season coming off an injury, it's fine.

The Round Rock Express activated Kent from his rehab stint on Saturday, August 5th, and he was immediately put into action that night. In his first game back this season, Kent went three innings and only allowed one hit, and struck out three batters. It looks like the hard work and determination to come back from the injury paid off. Hopefully, Kent has a good rest of his season and does well during Spring Training next year because the Rangers might have a space available in the bullpen next year.