{"id":591272,"date":"2026-02-25T02:33:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/591272\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T02:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:33:34","slug":"latz-stakes-first-claim-to-rotation-spot-in-spring-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/591272\/","title":{"rendered":"Latz stakes first claim to rotation spot in spring debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 If rotation jobs were given out after a week of in-game competition \u2014 which, to be incredibly clear, they are not \u2014 then Texas Rangers<\/a> left-hander Jacob Latz<\/a> would be in a decent position. <\/p>\n

Latz threw two scoreless innings vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks in his Cactus League debut Tuesday at Surprise Stadium. He allowed two hits, didn\u2019t walk anyone and threw 20 of his 26 pitches for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to five of the eight batters he faced.<\/p>\n

Tidy work. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it went good for a first outing,\u201d Latz said. \u201cGetting ahead was my No. 1 goal, as it is for all of us here in camp, and I felt like I was in count leverage except for one or two of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rangers<\/p>\n

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Here are three other observations from a 6-4 loss. <\/p>\n

Wyatt welcome: See photos as Wyatt Langford makes 2026 spring training debut for Rangers<\/p>\n

\"TexasView Gallery<\/p>\n

Outfield alignment: The Rangers started Evan Carter in left field and Wyatt Langford<\/a> in center field vs. the Diamondbacks. That specific alignment has never happened in any of the big league games that the two have played in together (in part due to Carter\u2019s health), but Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said that the plan is for both to rotate between each position this spring. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to see them both play center and left and try to figure out the ways that we can be most successful and stay on the field the longest for both of them,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to see what it looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter led the bottom of the first inning off with a triple vs. right-hander Mike Soroka and scored three pitches later when Langford hit a 98.9 mph single in his first Cactus League at bat this year. Langford went 2 for 2 with a pair of hard-hit singles before he was lifted from the game. <\/p>\n

Joc Pederson in the field: Pederson, the club\u2019s designated hitter, started at first base. Schumaker praised Pederson as a \u201csneaky\u201d athlete with good glove work around the bag and said that he\u2019s comfortable with the 33-year-old at the position if starter Jake Burger needs time off of his feet. <\/p>\n

How much Pederson will actually play first base remains to be seen. He played just four games at first last year but could see more time there this season dependent on how the Rangers fill out their bench. Midseason signee Rowdy Tellez played the second-most games at first last season (38) while infielders Josh Smith (27) and Ezequiel Duran (25) also saw substantial time there. Tellez remains unsigned, Smith is in line to start at second base and Duran needs to earn one of the available bench spots. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Joc can play first base,\u201d Schumaker said when asked if Pederson is the de facto backup first baseman. \u201cThat would probably be the easy answer right now. I also don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to be on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banner Baumler day: Right-handed pitcher Carter Baumler, a Rule 5 draftee who\u2019s yet to pitch above Double-A, showed why the Rangers took a flier on his fastball-curveball combo in a perfect third inning. He threw nine pitches \u2014 seven for strikes \u2014 and struck out a pair of big leaguers. <\/p>\n

Baumler got All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte to swing-and-miss at consecutive curveballs low and out of the zone for a strikeout. He got center fielder Alek Thomas to whiff at another curveball before he ran a 95.4 mph fastball past him for a strikeout. <\/p>\n

The Rangers have an indeterminate amount of available spots in their bullpen. Several young relievers, like Baumler, will be given a chance to audition. His ability to throw his one-two punch for strikes against big leaguers like he did Tuesday will elevate his stock. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get him in different pockets and not just Double-A hitters,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we tried to get him in earlier in the game to make sure he\u2019s facing some guys with real names on their back. He punched out two guys, so, not sure he can do better than that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>\u2018Determined and undeterred,\u2019 Jacob Latz has vision set on Rangers\u2019 starting rotation<\/a><\/p>\n

Exemplary patience and perserverance has Latz ready for a spot in the Rangers\u2019 rotation \u2014 even if the team doesn\u2019t need him there.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Add former All-Star closer Alexis Diaz to slew of arms eyeing a spot in Rangers bullpen<\/a><\/p>\n

Diaz was quick and efficient in his spring training debut with the Rangers and is one of several interesting relief arms who could potentially crack the roster.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 If rotation jobs were given out after a week of in-game competition \u2014 which, to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2404],"tags":[146,22,4314,5,3417,38,2266,4,149,69,385],"class_list":{"0":"post-591272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","10":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-brief","13":"tag-diamondbacks","14":"tag-evan-carter","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-rangers","17":"tag-texas-rangers","18":"tag-wyatt-langford"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116128935515093568","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591272","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=591272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}