{"id":82134,"date":"2025-06-05T21:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T21:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/82134\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T21:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T21:53:11","slug":"texas-rangers-option-kumar-rocker-to-minors-after-tough-start-vs-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/82134\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers option Kumar Rocker to minors after tough start vs. Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA \u2014 A day after Kumar Rocker\u2019s rough return to the active roster<\/a> that included a pair of fundamental mistakes on a single decisive play, the Texas Rangers<\/a> acknowledged that while the pitching prospect\u2019s future remains bright, he needs more time in the minor leagues to polish off his game. <\/p>\n

Rocker was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock and the Rangers are expected to activate right-handed reliever Chris Martin<\/a> to fill out a bullpen that had to work more innings than the starter on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cKumar has a bright future ahead of him, but there is more development needed for him to have the type of success we envision at the major league level,\u201d President of Baseball Operations Chris Young told The Dallas Morning News<\/a>. \u201cWith more innings and repetition he will continue to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young stressed two things in a brief conversation with The News: Rocker\u2019s \u201cstuff,\u201d has the components of being elite and this option is not punitive. <\/p>\n

Rangers<\/p>\n

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

But it is clear there is more for Rocker, who is 25 and nearly six months older than Jack Leiter<\/a>, the Rangers pitching teammate who was picked a year ahead of him in the draft, to work on. That was underscored by a critical lapse in the third inning of Wednesday\u2019s 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

With two runs having already scored in the inning and the Rangers trailing 3-0, Rocker was late in his break from the mound to first base on a grounder to the right side. When he got the feed from Jake Burger, he was still a stride away from first base and the runner beat him, allowing a fourth run to score. Rocker compounded the issue by taking several more long strides after the play before realizing another runner was attempting to score. By then, he was almost on the edge of the outfield and his throw home was late. In a one-run loss, the two runs on the infield grounder ended up being critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made some mistakes,\u201d Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after the game. \u201cAnd, of course, the biggest one is the fundamental of covering first base. The fundamentals got us tonight. That\u2019s a basic play. It could have saved us two runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just forgot the situation and the other man on third and it compounded the damage. And that\u2019s the difference in the ball game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being older than Leiter, Rocker has far less professional experience. Originally drafted in 2021, the same year as Leiter, by the New York Mets, his agreement was voided over a medical issue. He sat out the year, then re-entered the draft and was the Rangers\u2019 first selection. He did not pitch in 2022 either, then tore his elbow ligament just six starts into the 2023 season and missed most of the next two seasons. As a result, he has a total of 106 professional innings. By comparison, Leiter has 341. <\/p>\n

While there is no doubt his raw stuff will play in the majors, there are projects that help complete readying a pitcher for the dizzying pace of a major league game. For Rocker, covering first more instinctively and holding runners more effectively are two projects that he can spend significant time improving during minor league starts. <\/p>\n

There is also the project of getting more comfortable with a third pitch to keep hitters more off balance. Rocker threw a sinker and his cutter\/slider for 95% of his pitches on Wednesday. It means hitters saw his entire repertoire the first time through the order. The second time up: They were able to be much more comfortable. The first four hitters all had hits the second time facing Rocker. The second time through the lineup, batters are hitting .429 with a 1.122 OPS against him. <\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Why coaches, if they want to keep their jobs, must tread carefully with today\u2019s athletes<\/a><\/p>\n

Chances are Pete DeBoer knows he screwed up by throwing Jake Oettinger under the bus. These days, it could be why he\u2019s shown the door.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Kumar Rocker\u2019s return to Texas Rangers rotation less than stellar in multiple ways<\/a><\/p>\n

Rocker\u2019s first start in five weeks was a massive struggle, especially in the third inning.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 A day after Kumar Rocker\u2019s rough return to the active roster that included a pair of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,3417,360,4,149,185,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-82134","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-kumar-rocker","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-rangers","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-texas-rangers","16":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114632983026800906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82134","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=82134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}