{"id":696564,"date":"2026-05-12T01:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/696564\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T01:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:24:16","slug":"rangers-notes-eovaldi-latz-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/696564\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Notes: Eovaldi, Latz, Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rangers are sending\u00a0Nathan Eovaldi<\/a> for imaging after the veteran starter reported left side tightness, manager Skip Schumaker told reporters (including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com<\/a>). Texas scratched Eovaldi from his scheduled start tonight in Arizona.\u00a0Jakob Junis<\/a> got the first couple innings of an impromptu bullpen game.<\/p>\n

Schumaker\u2019s bullpen should be well rested. The Rangers are coming off consecutive shutouts of what had been a hot Cubs lineup. They used three relievers after Jack Leiter<\/a> on Saturday, but only Gavin Collyer<\/a> tossed more than 13 pitches. Jacob Latz<\/a> was their only reliever yesterday, tossing 20 pitches over two scoreless innings behind a masterful start from Jacob deGrom<\/a> (seven scoreless with 10 strikeouts).<\/p>\n

Although the pitching staff is well equipped to handle one missed start, it\u2019d be tougher to weather an injured list stint if that proves necessary. Eovaldi has been one of the American League\u2019s best pitchers over his time in Arlington. His 4.15 earned run average this year is higher than his ERA from any of his first three seasons, thanks mostly to a spike in his home run rate.<\/p>\n

Eovaldi has had a trio of rough outings but has also reeled off four quality starts, including two excellent appearances against the Yankees each of his past two times out. He held New York to one run (an Aaron Judge<\/a> homer)\u00a0with 15 strikeouts in as many innings over those two starts. Texas won both games.<\/p>\n

The Rangers have a below-average offense for the third straight season. Only the Giants and Mets have scored fewer runs entering play Monday. Texas has stayed close to .500 (19-21) thanks to a pitching staff that has the sixth-best ERA. Their bullpen deserves more of the credit for that than does the starting rotation, as their stitched together relief group has an MLB-low 2.80 mark. The top half of the rotation is Texas\u2019 biggest on-paper strength, however.<\/p>\n

Texas hasn\u2019t made any changes to their rotation of deGrom, Eovaldi, Leiter, MacKenzie Gore<\/a> and\u00a0Kumar Rocker<\/a>. Latz\u2019s start in the second game of the season was the only one until tonight opened by someone other than the aforementioned quintet. deGrom is again pitching at a level that\u2019ll have him in the Cy Young conversation if he stays healthy. The others all have an ERA north of 4.00, though all but Rocker are racking up strikeouts.<\/p>\n

The rotation falls off sharply after the front five. Latz pitched well when called upon as a spot starter last season, but the Rangers could be hesitant to ask him to do that again. The lefty has seized the closer role after Texas opened the season with a committee approach. Latz has only allowed two runs across 20 2\/3 innings on the year, recording the save in four of his last five times out.<\/p>\n

Junis,\u00a0Tyler Alexander<\/a> and\u00a0Cole Winn<\/a> all recorded at least one save early in the season. Latz has gotten all the opportunities going back to April 13. He\u2019s probably too valuable at the back of the bullpen to stretch back out as a starter, particularly if Eovaldi\u2019s injury turns out to be mild.<\/p>\n

Cal Quantrill<\/a> has been working in long relief and could get a look.\u00a0Jose Corniell<\/a>, the only depth starter on the 40-man roster, had spent the last five weeks at the team\u2019s Arizona complex and only made his first Triple-A appearance on Friday. Josh Stephan<\/a>, who went unselected in last offseason\u2019s Rule 5 draft and has no MLB experience, has been the organization\u2019s best starter in Triple-A.<\/p>\n

Schumaker also provided an update before Monday\u2019s game on Josh Smith<\/a>. The second baseman, who has been out for the past week with a glute strain, is also dealing with wrist inflammation (link via Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News<\/a>). Schumaker said the team is hopeful he\u2019ll only be shut down for a few days, but it all but ensures that Smith won\u2019t be activated from the injured list when first eligible on Thursday.<\/p>\n

A productive utility player from 2024-25, Smith was tabbed as the everyday second baseman after the\u00a0Marcus Semien<\/a>\/Brandon Nimmo<\/a> trade. He has started very slowly, hitting .217\/.324\/.239 without a home run through 108 plate appearances. His strikeout and walk profile is strong, but he\u2019s not making any impact. Smith, who has traditionally played very well in April, has also posted subpar defensive grades this year.<\/p>\n

Ezequiel Duran<\/a> has taken over second base in Smith\u2019s absence. He\u2019s hitting too well to take out of the lineup, batting .286\/.359\/.451 over 32 games. Duran had previously been playing mostly left field due to the\u00a0Wyatt Langford<\/a> injury, so the Smith injury indirectly opened the most playing time for outfielder\u00a0Alejandro Osuna<\/a>. The 23-year-old has reached base 16 times in his first 37 plate appearances since being recalled from the minors on April 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rangers are sending\u00a0Nathan Eovaldi for imaging after the veteran starter reported left side tightness, manager Skip Schumaker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,9270,43377,4,394],"class_list":["post-696564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-jake-latz","tag-josh-smith-1997","tag-mlb","tag-nathan-eovaldi"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116558998010569733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696564","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=696564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}