{"id":121535,"date":"2025-06-22T00:04:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T00:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/121535\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T00:04:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T00:04:21","slug":"rangers-kumar-rocker-has-been-a-changed-pitcher-since-call-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/121535\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers\u2019 Kumar Rocker has been a changed pitcher since call-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Texas Rangers<\/a> right-handed pitcher Kumar Rocker<\/a> pitched into the sixth inning on a hot, humid Pennsylvania day and did not need to pause play to chug pickle juice and attend to cramps<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI pre-gamed it,\u201d Rocker said, \u201cso it was good.\u201d <\/p>\n

Consider it a lesson learned. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s been the theme of late. <\/p>\n

Rangers<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

Rocker allowed two runs on five hits, three walks and four strikeouts in 5 1\/3 innings in a 3-2 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday at PNC Park. He has a 1.74 ERA in two big league starts since the Rangers optioned him to the minor leagues with an improvement plan and a directive to fine-tune the so-called little things that a pitcher must do to succeed. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he had a come-to-Jesus meeting with himself when he went down,\u201d Rangers manager Bruce Bochy<\/a> said. \u201cI can\u2019t answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocker can. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou take it like a punch in the gut and try to bounce back from it,\u201d Rocker said of his week-and-a-half long demotion. \u201cA perspective change goes a long way. You try to keep learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers optioned Rocker to Triple-A Round Rock<\/a> after a meltdown start against the Tampa Bay Rays in which he didn\u2019t mix his pitches well, failed to cover first base and was slowed by mental errors. His minor league assignment was, more than anything, an effort to improve Rocker\u2019s focus and intensity with the hope that it\u2019d serve as a wake-up call for the former top-five draft selection. <\/p>\n

Related:Texas Rangers option Kumar Rocker to minors, prioritizing talented starter\u2019s development <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t doing my job,\u201d Rocker said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t doing anything to help the team and there wasn\u2019t any reason for me to be up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocker returned out of necessity after the Rangers place Nathan Eovaldi on the injured list with right elbow inflammation and has made the necessary changes. The 25-year-old leaned on his slider Saturday, and threw it 36 times, but he used four-seam fastball (18 times), sinker (17 times) and curveball (12 times) to look less predictable on the mound. <\/p>\n

He looked better with runners on base and was able to pitch a scoreless first inning after the first two Pirates batters reached on singles. The Pirates stole two bases against him, though Bochy thought that Rocker did a better job at slide-stepping to hold them, and he showed greater hustle to back up bases defensively. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s come back up with a different look about him, that\u2019s what I like,\u201d Bochy said. \u201cIt shows you about his makeup. He knows he has to get better at [the little things] and he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texas Rangers\u2019 series against Pittsburgh showcases why outfield defense matters<\/a>Nathan Eovaldi checks off potential final box of rehab, could start for Rangers next week<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Texas Rangers right-handed pitcher Kumar Rocker pitched into the sixth inning on a hot, humid Pennsylvania…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,3417,3321,360,4,149,185,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-121535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brief","10":"tag-bruce-bochy","11":"tag-kumar-rocker","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-rangers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-texas-rangers","17":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114724095022235684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}