Texas Rangers Starting Rotation Proves 'Resilient' This Season

Without Jacob deGrom, the Texas Rangers will rely on a rotation that has been among the best in baseball this season.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has some clarity when it comes to his starting rotation. He will be without right-hander Jacob deGrom for the remainder of the 2023 season and probably for most of 2024.

The Rangers went into this season expecting deGrom to be their ace. And, if deGrom were healthy and pitching, he probably would be.

But, the Rangers are uniquely equipped to handle deGrom’s absence, with a five-man rotation that includes May American League Pitcher of the Month Nathan Eovadli and last year’s Rangers Pitcher of the Year in Martín Pérez.

“We’ve already shown how resilient we are,” Bochy said.

Entering Tuesday’s game the Rangers were 19 games over .500 and that was in no small part to the starting pitching.

Dane Dunning started that game, as he has since deGrom went on the injured list. Dunning was a member of last year’s rotation and moved into a bullpen spot this season until deGrom was hurt.

With Eovaldi, Pérez, Dunning, Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney — not to mention a couple of spot starts by Cody Bradford from Triple-A Round Rock — the Rangers rotation was 11-1 with a MLB-best 2.22 in his last 18 games going into Tuesday. That included 11 quality starts and trimming the rotation’s overall ERA to 3.13, which was tied for second in the American League.

Go back to May 5, about a week after deGrom moved to the IL, the Rangers had a 2.57 ERA from that date.

As a rotation, they had 30 quality starts in 59 games entering Tuesday. That was something the rotation needed 91 games to do last season.

After 59 games the rotation, in the AL, ranked among the best in wins (1st, 28), home runs per nine innings (1st, 0.90), win percentage (2nd, .757), pitches per innings pitched (2nd, 15.4), groundout double plays induced (2nd, 33), WHIP (2nd, 1.13), innings pitched (T2nd, 339.0), opposing batting average (3rd, .232) and opposing OPS (3rd, .662).

This rotation isn’t just about deGrom. Eovaldi and Heaney were signed as free agents. The Rangers signed Pérez to a $19.65 million qualifying offer. Gray signed a four-year deal two offseasons ago.

Bochy knows he has a group he can rely on, because they’ve proven it for more than a month without deGrom. This is part of the reason the Rangers spent money on veteran pitching outside of their significant investment in deGrom.

Bochy would rather have deGrom pitching. But at least he knows what he has.

“While he’s been rehabbing we’ve been playing really good baseball,” Bochy said. “You look at our rotation, what it’s been doing. This team has shown how resilient it is. You can’t dwell on what’s happened because you just can’t. At some point, you’ve gotta move on. You miss a guy like (deGrom), but this team has done a great job.”

If the Rangers are going to fulfill their postseason aspirations, the starting pitching — which has been so good this season — will have to continue to impress.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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