SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Rangers starting candidate Jacob Latz felt “taxed” Saturday, which he said had both its benefits and its drawbacks.
So, count that as a first: Somebody finding benefits in taxation.
But Latz knows his durability will be watched closely as the Rangers try to make a decision about whether he is a bigger asset as the No. 5 starter or as a leverage reliever. And pitching successfully through in-game velocity declines is going to be a necessity.
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“The first two outings I didn’t feel like I really got taxed,” Latz said after pitching 3⅓ innings in the Rangers’ 7-5 loss to San Francisco in the Bruce Bochy Bowl at Scottsdale Stadium. “And I need to work through some things. I had some runners on and kind of sped up a little. I didn’t have much traffic in the first two games. So getting that today made me feel it a little bit more.”
Latz had a 1-2-3 first inning, but walked left-handed hitting Bryce Eldridge in the second after a leadoff single and the inning became an 18-pitch grind. In the fourth, as he extended over 50 pitches, there was a dip in his velocity. The Rangers have been concerned that one element that might keep him from being a viable starter is his ability to carry velocity through the game.
More of a concern on Saturday, though, was that the two long innings both included walks to Eldridge, a left-handed hitter. While Latz was dominant against lefties last year, he said he wanted to trim his 8.5% walk rate against lefties. The league average for lefties against left-handed hitters was 7.8%.
“It’s been a thing for me the last couple years, it’s like, I find myself getting too fine with the lefties,” Latz said. “It’s weird. That’s when I should have more room for error. So that’s just going to be a focus, going forward. I just cannot afford to walk lefties.”
Latz was charged with three runs, though Paxton Thompson, who followed Latz allowed two inherited runners to score.
Other observations from the day:
Veteran reliever back to work: Right-hander Chris Martin, who typically gets a late start in exhibitions, made his spring debut Saturday. After allowing a leadoff double to Patrick Bailey, he retired the next three batters on 10 pitches while prohibiting the run from scoring. Martin’s velocity was only 93 mph, but, then again, it was his first spring outing.
Another nice day: Mark Canha seems to be warming to the idea of a challenge for the extra right-handed hitting outfielder/part-time DH role that has arisen with the signing of Andrew McCutchen. He launched a lazy 3-1 cutter over the visitors bullpen for a three-run, seventh-inning homer that gave the Rangers a 5-4 lead in a game they had trailed 4-0 two innings earlier.
On Friday, the same day the Rangers announced the McCutchen signing, Canha had gone above the wall in left to glove a ball, then, when it popped out of the glove, he caught the deflection as he was tumbling backwards for a highlight-caliber catch.
Combo No. 3: Jake Burger homered in his third consecutive game, though the first of those homers was against Brazil so it wasn’t an “official” exhibition. By the Rangers, though, it’s an impressive display of power.
Burger jumped on a 1-0 slider in the heart of the plate in the sixth inning. In his previous game, he pummeled a fastball at the top of the zone. This is what the Rangers want: For Burger to do damage on pitches in the zone. Last year, he too often failed to make quality contact on balls in the zone. On pitches in the zone, he slugged only .492, just a hair above league average. The year prior, he slugged .581 on those pitches.
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