{"id":663549,"date":"2026-04-04T22:45:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/663549\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T22:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:45:47","slug":"three-rangers-players-who-need-solid-starts-to-retain-roster-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/663549\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Rangers Players Who Need Solid Starts to Retain Roster Spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 The Texas Rangers<\/a> entered the season with only a few question marks, some of which have already been answered.<\/p>\n

Andrew McCutchen<\/a> as a right-handed designated hitter that can play right field? Check the box. MacKenzie Gore as a strikeout machine who can deliver quality starts? Sure can. Reliever Jakob Junis as a \u201cpitch-maker\u201d in Rangers manager Skip Schmaker\u2019s own words? The results are clear. <\/p>\n

But some questions remain. Some players<\/a> are still working some things out. Some of them could see their jobs on the line soon. Here are three players who need to get things going in the right direction soon.<\/p>\n

DH Joc Pederson\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Rangers first baseman Joc Pederson. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Pederson spoke to reporters on Friday and said he\u2019s felt great about the quality of his at-bats so far this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t gotten any hits but I\u2019m seeing the ball really well, swinging at the pitchers I want to swing at, taking the pitches that I should take,\u201d he said. \u201cOver time, if you do that enough you\u2019ll be in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering Saturday\u2019s game, he had no batting average and was hitless in 10 at-bats. He drew two walks and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. It\u2019s nothing like his horrid start to last year \u2014 at least not yet. <\/p>\n

Before suffered a fractured thumb in late May in Pittsburgh, he has slashed .131\/.269\/.238 with two home runs. His results were better after he returned, but he still finished the season under-.200. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s still the DH of choice against right-handers \u2014 at least for right now. Schumaker wants to split the duties between him and right-handed Andrew McCutchen against left-handers. How Pederson\u2019s bat responds over the next month will determine how much that platoon remains in place. <\/p>\n

RP Chris Martin\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Rangers pitcher Chris Martin. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Martin has already blown a save and blown a tie game in four appearances. He admitted to having location issues with pitchers after Friday\u2019s outing. It hasn\u2019t stopped the Rangers from using him four times in seven games, with Schumaker saying the guys they have in their bullpen are \u201ctheir best options.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers have $4 million invested in the 39-year-old. They\u2019re giving save chances to a pitcher with 16 career saves. It feels like a formula that can\u2019t work. The Rangers need it to work because they don\u2019t have many viable alternatives right now. Last year\u2019s opening day closer, Luke Jackson, got a month to work out his issues. How long will Martin get?<\/p>\n

RP Carter Baumler\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Rangers pitcher Carter Baumler. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Rangers loved the rookie so much that they put him on the opening day roster without any Triple-A experience. As a Rule 5 pick he would have been returned to his original team otherwise. There is a lot to like in his arm, and he\u2019s shown tremendous grit in key situations so far. <\/p>\n

But, he\u2019s allowed 11 of the 24 batters he\u2019s faced to reach base in some way. His six walks are most on the team. He\u2019s managed to work around giving up runs in situations that nearly got out of control. How long does that luck hold out? Or can he learn to limit the traffic? By May, the bullpen will need fresh arms. How well he pitches the first month determines if he gets optioned or not. The Rule 5 rules only protect him for so long. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 The Texas Rangers entered the season with only a few question marks, some of which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,4,149,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-663549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rangers","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-rangers","13":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116348873458847559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663549","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=663549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}