2025 was as good as it gets, can they do it again?

The first few days of the report cards haven’t exactly been Dean’s List material, but cheer up, we’re now on to the pitching portion of the exercise.

While the Rangers prepare to introduce Skip Schumaker as their next manager some time in the coming days, we’ve been glancing around the roster at what happened, what solutions might be on hand and what questions might need to be answered. There are a lot. We’ll even grade it all out for the new skipper because we are always here to help.

With the starting rotation, though, the only questions are: Can we see this again, please?

Primary cast (listed by number of starts): Jacob deGrom, Patrick Corbin, Jack Leiter, Nathan Eovaldi, Tyler Mahle, Kumar Rocker, Merrill Kelly

Rangers

What went right: When they were on the mound, pretty much everything. The Rangers led the majors in rotation ERA (3.41), were second – by one-thousandth of a point – in WHIP (1.145) and were seventh in strikeout-to-walk rate (3.12). Jacob deGrom, back from elbow ligament surgery, posted 30 starts and ranked 12th in baseball in ERA (2.97). When deGrom or Nathan Eovaldi started games, the Rangers were a .600 team (31-21). It was the playoff rotation setup of which the Rangers always dreamed. Can’t leave out Jack Leiter, who took huge steps both with command and pitch design to establish himself as a legitimate core member of the rotation. He posted the highest WAR (2.3) of any rookie pitcher in the American League, according to Fangraphs.

What went wrong: There were some injuries. Cody Bradford missed the entire season after first trying to let an elbow sprain heal on its own and then undergoing internal brace surgery. He could be back by May of 2026, but the bottom line is that he has missed big chunks of two consecutive major league seasons and has fewer innings than Jack Leiter and only 25 more than Kumar Rocker. It would not be fair to say he’s established himself as a starter. And though brace surgery is a bit less invasive than full elbow reconstruction, he’s likely to undergo the same rough acclimation process that any pitcher does when he misses a full season.

Tyler Mahle missed three months with his own issues and Jon Gray was never a factor after breaking his arm in spring training. But both are free agents and likely to be elsewhere. Bradford is more part of the future.

What needs answering: Jake Latz’s status. As a spot starter in 2025, he posted a 2.72 ERA and 1.078 WHIP. Yes, it was only 39-inning sample size, but if any pitcher over the last two decades had done that, he’d be rubber-stamped as a starter for the upcoming season. And he’d deserve it, too. The Rangers have some concerns about how his effectiveness might wane if he’s regularly tasked with going more than 90 pitches, though it certainly didn’t show up in the opponents’ slash line against him as a starter. The third time he faced hitters in a game he held them to a .182/.357/.182/.539 slash line. Granted, it was only 14 total plate appearances, but he didn’t allow an extra-base hit. He should be given a chance to start, but the Rangers are deep enough they might have the luxury of holding him in reserve as a multi-inning reliever/spot starter.

One number says it all: 1.73 – Nathan Eovaldi’s ERA for 138 innings before inflammation in his rotator cuff prematurely ended the season. Since the mound was lowered in 1969, it was only the 11th time a pitcher made at least 20 starts, threw more than 125 innings and posted an ERA below 1.50. Of the 10 other occasions in which it happened the pitcher ended up winning the Cy Young. Rangers fans were robbed of watching a truly historic season from start to finish.

Prospects: Due to his 64 MLB innings in 2025, Kumar Rocker won’t qualify as a rookie in 2026, but that’s just a technicality. The Rangers are hoping Rocker experiences a similar breakthrough to the one Jack Leiter had this season. Rocker has shown big league ability, but has to better locate his pitches down in the strike zone. He was put on a similar development plan late in the year to the one the Rangers put Leiter on in 2023.

Jose Corniell, the 2023 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, made his big league debut on the final day of the season after an impressive mid-season return to the mound. Winston Santos could be right on his heels. There is depth in the system that could give the Rangers a nucleus of effective home-grown pitching for years to come.

Summary: This was as good as it gets. The Rangers’ starting rotation, even with injuries, is what kept them in the playoff hunt until the middle of September. They put together a playoff caliber rotation. The shame of it was that we never got to see them pitch in the playoffs. And now that the season is over, we are left to wonder if Eovaldi can stay healthy enough to give them 160 innings and how deGrom’s arm will recover from his highest innings total since 2019.

Grade: A – All things considered, this was the best performance by a Rangers starting rotation in club history. It was affirming to see deGrom return fully, to see Leiter step forward and for Latz to step up and stake a claim for a starting spot. The rotation was the brightest spot of an otherwise disappointing team. With pitching depth in the farm system and a pitcher-friendly home park, it is conceivable the Rangers are about to enter the Golden Age of starting pitching in the franchise’s history.

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