{"id":73152,"date":"2025-06-02T08:32:53","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T08:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/73152\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T08:32:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T08:32:53","slug":"with-rangers-nathan-eovaldi-on-the-il-baseballs-best-rotation-will-be-put-to-the-test-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/73152\/","title":{"rendered":"With Rangers\u2019 Nathan Eovaldi on the IL, baseball\u2019s best rotation will be put to the test"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON \u2014 Texas Rangers<\/a> right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi<\/a> told reporters Sunday morning that he felt ready to return to the rotation this upcoming week. The club\u2019s decision makers had a different plan.<\/p>\n

It will now put baseball\u2019s best rotation to its first significant test of the regular season. <\/p>\n

The Rangers placed Eovaldi, who exited his most recent start with triceps tightness<\/a>, on the 15-day injured list right posterior elbow inflammation before Sunday\u2019s 8-1 win vs. the St. Louis Cardinals at Globe Life Field. He will be eligible to return June 13 and, according to president of baseball operations Chris Young, is not expected to need more time on the injured list than the minimum required. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an act of patience, not panic, but it will leave the backbone unit of this Rangers\u2019 team without its ace as the club embarks on a nine-game road trip at a pivotal point of the season. The Rangers believe they have the bodies \u2014 specifically, the quality bodies \u2014 to withstand it. <\/p>\n

Rangers<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019re in a pretty good spot,\u201d Young said Sunday morning, \u201cwhere we have some flexibility and good options with guys that are all throwing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eovaldi, whose 1.56 ERA is the second-best among American League starters, was among them. He said Sunday morning that his arm felt good and that he was \u201choping\u201d to pitch in this week\u2019s series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy<\/a> said soon after that Eovaldi could start \u201cpossibly even Thursday\u201d against the Rays. <\/p>\n

The Rangers instead chose the cautious path, shelved Eovaldi, selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Codi Heuer from Triple-A Round Rock and designated catcher Tucker Barnhart for assignment to make the moves fit. <\/p>\n

Kumar Rocker<\/a> \u2014 who\u2019s been sidelined since May 23 with a shoulder impingement \u2014 is expected to be activated off of the injured list and start Wednesday for the Rangers. Tyler Mahle will pitch Tuesday in Eovaldi\u2019s place and Jack Leiter will start Thursday\u2019s series finale. <\/p>\n

Young said Sunday morning that there is nothing structurally wrong with Eovaldi\u2019s arm, but given the flexibility that the Rangers\u2019 rotation currently offers, they want to give the 34-year-old ample time to heal. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt like this was the appropriate thing,\u201d Young said. \u201cTo make sure he gets 100% right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers need that long term more than they\u2019d need the two-to-three starts he\u2019ll now miss. The quintet of Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, Jack Leiter and Patrick Corbin has anchored a rotation that owns a league-best 2.80 ERA and has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 22 consecutive games. The rotation has, by no exaggeration, been the exclusive reason that the Rangers are only two games under .500 and just three-and-a-half games back of first place in the American League West. <\/p>\n

They are 21-3 in games in which they score at least four runs. No other team in baseball has a better win percentage (.875%) than the Rangers do in those instances. Consider the inverse figure, in which the Rangers have the second-worst win percentage in games that they allow two or fewer runs, to best grasp the stark differences between this team\u2019s pitchers and hitters. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the Rangers will continue to tread carefully with the singular best position group that their club currently offers. Eovaldi, who was on pace to pitch the second-most innings of his career, has twice undergone Tommy John surgery and has missed time because of his elbow, shoulder, back, calf, groin and forearm since the 2019 season. He is incredibly in tune with his own body but must still be handled with care if the Rangers hope to play meaningful baseball late this season. <\/p>\n

Ditto for deGrom. The Rangers lifted him after just 81 pitches for the second consecutive start Sunday after he\u2019d thrown six innings of one-run ball. He\u2019s pitched an effective 69 1\/3 innings in his first full season since he underwent elbow surgery midway through 2023. That\u2019s the second-most he\u2019s thrown since the 2019 season and it has him on pace to clear the 170-inning threshold for the first time since that year too. <\/p>\n

He allowed the Cardinals\u2019 lone run on two singles and a walk in the first inning. A congregation of Rangers officials that included manager Bruce Bochy and head trainer Matt Lucero visited deGrom on the mound after he walked Lars Nootbar to lead off the game on five pitches that weren\u2019t all that close to the strike zone. DeGrom, surprised at the visit, said that he \u201ckept yanking everything\u201d and forced himself to \u201cstop thinking about mechanics\u201d in his final five innings. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou go two years without pitching, you\u2019re trying to get everything right,\u201d deGrom said. \u201cBefore, it was like, \u2018This is what I\u2019ve got today.\u2019 I need to go back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that his 2.34 ERA suggests that anything should be different, but, the two-time Cy Young award winner has lofty standards for himself. The entire rotation does now has some for itself, too, and Rocker is again in line to help uphold them.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old had a 8.10 ERA in his first five big league starts this season and never quite worked himself into a rhythm. His most-recent minor league rehab start, which included four-no hit innings and his liveliest fastball yet at Triple-A Round Rock, was the most in sync that he\u2019d felt all year. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy body being connected to the results was good,\u201d Rocker said Sunday morning. \u201cCompared to earlier this year when I was getting results but still didn\u2019t feel all there. That\u2019s part of it, and it was a big step.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll now take another back into the Rangers\u2019 rotation.<\/p>\n

He has big shoes to fill, and for the sake of what\u2019s kept this team afloat, a significant responsibility to uphold. <\/p>\n

Twitter: @McFarland_Shawn<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos: Rangers leave Cardinals ‘All Shook Up’ in 8-1 win<\/p>\n

\"AView Gallery\"Texas<\/a>The Texas Rangers excelled at this small thing to create offense vs. Cardinals<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Rangers\u2019 struggling slugger didn\u2019t play in their three-game weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Texas Rangers\u2019 series-clinching win over Cardinals is how they\u2019re all supposed to look<\/a><\/p>\n

Big offense, and a dominant Jacob deGrom. It was a picturesque win for the Rangers on Sunday.<\/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":"ARLINGTON \u2014 Texas Rangers right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi told reporters Sunday morning that he felt ready to return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[4805,5,3321,3246,10546,403,360,4,3245,394,149,185,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-73152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-bruce-bochy","11":"tag-chris-young","12":"tag-globe-life-field","13":"tag-jacob-degrom","14":"tag-kumar-rocker","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-mlb-texas-rangers","17":"tag-nathan-eovaldi","18":"tag-rangers","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-texas-rangers","22":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114612850116471644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73152","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=73152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}