Which pitcher will be the first Cy Young winner in Texas Rangers history?

There are only two teams in Major League Baseball who have not won a Cy Young award: the Texas Rangers and the Colorado Rockies. While never winning one in franchise history, both teams have pitchers that may have future Cy Young talent.

Every team likes to think they have the next future ace, but this Texas organization has an ace, a newcomer that looks like a future All-Star and two flamethrowers that look to light it up in their future en route to a Cy Young Award. The Rangers' Cy Young drought has to end soon, right?

Here are my picks for potential award winners currently in the Texas Rangers organization:

My pick to win franchise's first Cy Young: Jacob deGrom

deGrom sticks out like a sore thumb when it comes to talking about the Cy Young award. The expectation with him is that if he starts 25+ games, he is a lock to win the award.

The reputation that he has established for himself is almost mythical. Fans talk about his 2018 and 2019 seasons in the same way that folk legends are talked about because of how unbelievably high of a level he played at. deGrom is a modern day baseball folk legend at this point, but his tale is not done yet.

There is no doubt that the skill is still there. There is still the 100 mph fastball, 90 mph offspeed of all varieties in there. The only question to his career is his health.

After getting out to a blistering hot start in 2023 for Texas, Tommy John Surgery soon followed. During his rehab, he displayed he's still got it. The news in spring training is that deGrom will be paced out to begin the season and start at the back end of the rotation instead of the front half.

The 2025 season for deGrom will likely be a reintegration to the baseball, with the expecation being anywhere from 120-150 innings this season and then that to balloon similar to Chris Sale last year.

A perfectly executed plan, I certainly see awards still in deGrom's future. With that being said, you can bookmark this article as my prediction that the 2026 Cy Young award winner as of March 2025 will be Jacob deGrom of the Texas Rangers.

Kumar Rocker

Despite a rough start to the spring for the young righty, the good news is the sky isn't falling. There are still incredibly good things in Kumar's future with health hopefully being among those. If careers were decided based off two spring training starts, not many pitchers would go far.

Bolstering arugably one of the best sliders in baseball right now, along with a mid-to-high 90's fastball, the only thing slowing me down from crowning Rocker as a future Cy Young winner right now is the development of a third pitch.

Rocker does have a five-pitch, but none to the level of his incredibly strong 1-2 punch. Luckily for Rocker, that is similar to deGrom who Rocker can rely on as a mentor. The relationship they develop gives me hope for award aspirations in his future.

Health is a concern but nowadays almost every pitcher is getting Tommy John surgery and returning with little issues. In 2025, Rocker will focus on remaining healthy and I am eager to watch his career play out and hopefully win a Cy Young award for Texas.

Alejandro Rosario

Another potential Tommy John victim in the Texas Rangers organization, Rosario has shown that he has S+ tier stuff in his arsenal. This is my personal crown jewel of the Rangers pitching farm at the moment.

Based on my first two selections on this list, I am not afraid of pitcher's success post-Tommy John. There have been multiple pitchers on this roster that have found major success after multiple Tommy John surgeries in Nathan Eovaldi and even former Ranger Cole Ragans.

An injury early in a prospects is not a kiss of death but is more of a delay of success in most cases now. Pittsburgh's 2022 second round pick Hunter Barco looked dead in the water throwing 88-90 before displaying a 97 mph fastball post surgery.

Rosario has a 60 fastball and splitter, and 55 grade slider as a 23-year-old. Throw in his 60 grade control with his triple digital fastball, he has the makings of a modern day great pitcher.

A comparison I have for him is Bryan Woo of the Seattle Mariners, who is a dark horse to win the Cy Young this season. Both had middling success in college while displaying explosive stuff that the two franchises valued and fixed to have the players reach their ceiling with their teams.

What gets me so excited for Rosario is that we have yet to see his best stuff. His development in one season was electrifying. Going from struggling college pitcher to a potential future ace was so fast before his injury. There is a reason he skyrocketed up prospect leaderboards in 2024 and I expect that to continue once he is back on the mound.

Emiliano Teodo

It wouldn't be a list projecting the future of the Texas Rangers without mentioning Teodo. Featuring a torching fastball and torrent slider that has been on display this spring, his success is sparking legitimate conversation for him to be on the big league roster in 2025.

There is a future in the bullpen that might be too bright for Texas to ignore. He has the modern day look and stuff of a dominant long-term, home grown closer that fans have been begging for since the departure of Emmanuel Clase in 2020.

While being paced as a starter in the minor leagues, the major concern with Teodo is the failure to develop a third pitch. Cy Young award winners typically have a full arsenal they can throw at any time to get any batter out. It is also incredibly difficult to win the award coming out of the bullpen.

It is for those reasons Teodo isn't my number one pick in the system to win the first Cy Young in team history. If you forced me to project the career of Teodo right now, I would tell you that he is the closer for the next generation of Rangers.

If he breaks camp with the big league team, we may see the last of Teodo as a starter and see the beginning of an all time closer career, but if he continues as a starter and develops that third pitch, there's not a question of if he will win a Cy Young, but when.