Rangers' answer at closer has been hiding in plain sight

Rangers' swingman Jacob Latz may have lost out in his attempt to lock down the fifth starter role, but it hasn't affected the way he has pitched in middle relief to start the season.

In fact, the lefty has been so good delivering leads to the bullpen so far that, as the Rangers continue to conduct on-the-job interviews for the closer position, he has become what may very well be the best option to finish games for the club.

The Rangers still don't have a closer, despite Jakob Junis' recent success

Junis, has slammed the door on the defending AL West champion Seattle Mariners the last two games, but make no mistake, the role is still very much up for grabs as the team has rebounded from a four-game losing streak to win its last two.

While Junis has been good, he doesn't appear to have true closing stuff. Latz, on the other hand, looks poised to be the man if Skip Schumaker continues to play whack-a-mole with the closer position.

Here's a crazy statistic for you: opponents are 0-for-28 to start the season against Latz. That is the longest hitless streak ever by a Rangers' hurler to start a season.

Is Latz too valuable as a swingman to move to closer?

In Tuesday night's 3-2 win over the Mariners, Latz took over for Nathan Eovaldi to begin the seventh inning and delivered two perfect frames to get the game to Junis, who got his second save of the young season.

For the season, Latz has a 0.00 ERA while allowing no hits, two walks and fanning eight hitters over nine innings pitched. That is just about as good as it gets, regardless of being a starter, middle reliever or closer.

The question for Schumaker and pitching coach Jordan Tiegs then becomes whether Latz is too good in being the bridge between starter and closer to be moved to the highest leverage bullpen position?

We're going to make the argument that you should use your most effective arm in the most valuable way possible and let the chips fall where they may. This is a call to switch Junis for Latz and make the guy you thought could be good enough to fill out your rotation the most clutch performer to close the door when this impressive starting staff hands over a lead.

Robert Garcia and Chris Martin have repeatedly failed to get the job done when their number was called. Junis is a stopgap. Give your best bullpen arm the chance to fill the most vital role.