Jon Gray fractured his right wrist while I was in line for a smoothie1 at Surprise Stadium.
The long-haired righty got hit in the wrist by a 106.4 MPH comebacker off the bat of Michael Toglia in the top of the fourth inning of a split-squad contest against the Rockies. The Rangers went on to win 5-0 thanks to a two-run homer by Adolis Garcia and an RBI-single by Corey Seager, but that does not exactly matter at the moment.
Gray’s injury, which manager Bruce Bochy described as “not good news,” comes at the worst possible moment. The Rangers have already dealt with a slew of injuries to members of their starting rotation over the past several days. Tyler Mahle skipped a start several days ago due to some forearm soreness, which ended up just being a precautionary move given that he threw four innings in a minor league game the other day. Cody Bradford, who was arguably the Rangers’ best pitcher last season when he wasn’t dealing with back or rib injuries, will already start the season on the injured list after having some elbow soreness (the MRI came back clean, however). So, yeah. Not great timing on the Gray injury.
You have to feel bad for Jon Gray. He’s entering the final season of his four-year contract with the Rangers and has dealt with unlucky injuries throughout his tenure in Arlington. Overall, this IL stint will be his eighth as a member of the club. Yikes.
So, what now? With Bradford already shelved and Gray quickly joining him, where do the Rangers go for their starting rotation to start the season? There are already two certainties: Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom. Given what Bochy and company have said over the last couple weeks, it sure looks like Eovaldi is going to be the Opening Day starter with deGrom pitching later in the rotation to start the season, possibly fourth or fifth. That means the Rangers have to fill in the middle. What are the options?
Tyler Mahle is the first and most obvious one. He’s the one I’d expect to slot in right behind Eovaldi to start the campaign. It sure looks like Mahle’s right forearm soreness was (hopefully) just a blip on the radar and he’s good to go. (If he isn’t then we have ourselves a lot more trouble than we already do, so let’s not think about that.)
Filling up the other two rotations spots is the more interesting question. In my eyes, it’s down to three, possibly four, options: Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker, Adrian Houser, and Patrick Murphy. The first two are the most likely candidates given their upside. Leiter has had a really good spring. Along with his 2.53 ERA over 10.2 innings of work, he has lit up the radar gun, consistently hitting 98, 99, and even 100 MPH with his fastball. When that pitch is humming for him, he’s darn near unhittable. When it’s not, he’s a sitting duck. It’s all just a matter of not letting the pitch get away from him.
Rocker’s time in Arizona has not been quite as pleasant. After getting lit up in his first two outings of the spring, the Rangers let him get some work in the backfields against some lesser competition to fine tune some things. That strategy appears to have helped somewhat, although his most recent performance yesterday against San Diego wasn’t the best, but also not the worst. In the end, however, Rocker’s tumultuous spring might not even matter given how high the ceiling is for him. If the Rangers think that he’s one of their best options to win come Opening Day, then he’ll be pitching in the big leagues.
Houser and Murphy are the two options that are there just in case the Rangers aren’t so sure of Rocker. The pair have both been pretty good the last several weeks, with Houser having an excellent outing last night in relief of the injured Jon Gray. Houser has not had the most successful MLB career, spending most of his career with the Milwaukee Brewers before appearing in 23 games for the New York Mets last season. His career ERA is 4.21. His good last couple weeks, however, have put him on the shortlist of “good” options for a rotation spot. Props to him for that!
Murphy is cut from a similar cloth. He hasn’t appeared in a MLB game since 2022 when he was with the Washington Nationals. He spent last season in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters and had a 3.62 ERA over 59.2 innings. That renaissance overseas catapulted him to a Spring Training invite with Texas, and he’s taken advantage of it. In six appearances, he has yet to allow a run.
The solution to this unfortunate problem the Rangers have is probably to slot both Leiter and Rocker into the rotation to start the season and hope that Bradford can come back quickly from the IL. Once that happens, there are more options on the table, and that is a good thing. At this point, Texas just needs to survive the rest of spring with no more bad news. Just get to Opening Day. That’s the number one priority now.
If you’re ever at Surprise Stadium, make sure to stop by the smoothie and salad food truck on the third base side. It’s fantastic. They do seem to have the problem of adding too much orange to their smoothies, however, so if that’s a problem for you, steer clear.
The smoothie info! 🤣