Nathan Eovaldi entering spring training with ‘no restrictions’ after end-of-season surgery

Don’t look now, but we’re under a month away from the start of Texas Rangers spring training.

And don’t look now (again), but the Rangers may have added to what was already a league-best pitching rotation in 2025.

After Texas acquired another front-end starter by trading for Washington’s MacKenzie Gore, they project to enter the spring with three top-of-the-line arms in Gore, Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi.

The latter, Eovaldi, was stellar for the Rangers once again in 2025 despite posting his lowest innings total since signing on with Texas. With a 1.73 ERA through 130 innings, he was a strong contender for the Cy Young Award before being shut down with a rotator cuff strain. Promptly after the end of the season, Eovaldi underwent surgery to repair a bilateral sports hernia.

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All that said, it appears Eovaldi’s outlook for 2026 is all clear.

SportsDay Rangers Episode 24: The one with Nathan Eovaldi

The Rangers’ righty and Alvin native was the most recent guest on the SportsDay Rangers podcast with Dallas Morning News insider Evan Grant and Rangers team historian John Blake. In the episode Eovaldi discussed his 2025 season and said that he was heading into 2026 with “no restrictions” health-wise, a relief to hear for Rangers fans since it looks as though the club will be pitching-dependent once again in the upcoming season.

Is Eovaldi ready to shoulder the load once again? See what he had to say below, and check out the full episode starring Eovaldi here.

Question: You weren’t on the mound at the end of last year. Give us an update on where things stand on the recovery from hernia surgery and where you’re at in that regard.

Eovaldi: “Yeah, right now I’m feeling great. Surgery, everything went well. First few weeks, it was a grind, not being able to move around the house very much, not being able to interact with the kids, things like that. I felt like just the everyday basis of things was pretty tough.

“But I’m feeling much better now, I’m running, doing everything, training like I normally would. No restrictions whatsoever. I don’t expect to have any limitations coming into spring training. I’ve been throwing multiple bullpens. My arm feels great, body feels great and I’m ready for the season to get going.”

Q: How many pitches are you up to in your bullpens?

Eovaldi: “Ohh, I don’t wanna say a number there. I’ll get myself in trouble doing that. But, you know, working with [Rangers pitching coach Jordan Tiegs] this offseason, trying to get on the same page — the main thing was not to rush the process. We wanted to make sure we healed up right where we needed to. They gave me the slowest timeline … again, my body, my arm, everything’s feeling great.”

Q: Got a new manager this season, how much have you had a chance to be around [Skip Schumaker]?

Eovaldi: “To be around him, none, really. I feel like he kind of stayed in the shadows when [former manager Bruce Bochy] was here, you would see him in the kitchen but I didn’t feel like he was overstepping any boundaries or anything like that. He’d be around, easy to talk to, very approachable. I’m excited being able to be around him more and to learn from him.

“The guys who have had him in the past or have been teammates with him have spoken extremely highly of him, just saying that he’s got a unique way of bringing out the best in all the guys. I think that’s one of the big things that we need, being so young now, with a lot of the guys, needing them to be able to step up and help the team have that success. We need somebody like Skip that’s gonna be able to bring the best out of those guys, encourage them, challenge them in the right way for them to go out and help us win these ballgames.”

Watch the full episode with Eovaldi here.

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