SEATTLE – The Rangers optioned Kumar Rocker to the minors in June. He made one start and came back a wholly different pitcher.
At that rate, imagine the progress he will make with a couple of more.
With Merrill Kelly arriving in Seattle Friday and being inserted into the rotation for Saturday’s start, the Rangers sent Rocker back to Triple-A Round Rock for more finishing. The Rangers can’t justify carrying a six-man rotation, so Rocker was squeezed out. This time it wasn’t so much about poor performance as it was the Rangers simply have better options.
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In addition, the Rangers optioned relievers Jacob Latz and Caleb Boushley to Round Rock to make room for Danny Coulombe and Phil Maton.
Kelly’s arrival will push each starter back a day, giving Jacob deGrom, Sunday’s scheduled starter, an extra day of rest.
Rocker will go to Round Rock to continue to work as a starter and be available as a depth option to the Rangers should an injury arise.
“He’s made a ton of improvement and told him that last night,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Rocker, who allowed six hits and a pair of walks in surrendering three runs in 4⅔ innings Thursday. “There were a lot of good things in that game. I loved his change up usage. He’s improving and was really a dramatic change from the last time he went down.”
After the brief first trip to Triple-A, Rocker showed much better feel for his secondary pitches and the difference in results was dramatic. In his first six starts, totaling 23⅓t innings, Rocker compiled an 8.87 ERA, allowing a .346 batting average. In the eight starts after his recall, he compiled a 3.95 ERA for 41 innings and lowered his batting average allowed to .230.
But in three of his last four starts, his pitch counts mounted and he didn’t make it through the fifth inning. He averaged 18.1 pitches per inning as opposed to 16 in his first four starts after he was recalled. He did not make it through the fifth against Seattle on Thursday and allowed two homers, giving him seven in 41 innings over the last eight starts.
Latz has also struggled lately with command after a six-inning spot start at Baltimore where he flirted with a no-hitter. Since that outing he’d allowed 11 walks while striking out 18 in 19 ⅓ innings. Prior to that, he’d a strikeout to walk rate of better than 2-to-1. The Rangers also now have a logjam of lefty relievers in the majors with Danny Coulombe joining Hoby Milner and Robert Garcia. Carrying a quartet would be difficult.
Latz showed promise in some spot starts, but Bochy said the team intended to have him continue to work in a multi-inning relief role.
“We need to get him back on track,” Bochy said. “I guess it’s fair to say, he hasn’t quite thrown as many strikes lately and is getting behind a little bit more than when he was going well. And when he was going well, he did a lot of good things. So we just need to get him right.”
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