Rangers Set Pitchers for First Two Spring Training Games

The Texas Rangers will open their Spring Training slate on Friday and Saturday with games against Kansas City.

The Texas Rangers have set their pitching lineups for their first two Spring Training games with the Kansas City Royals.

Per MLB.com, the Rangers will use Glenn Otto, Owen White, José Leclerc and Chase Lee in Friday’s opener at 2:05 p.m. CT. The Rangers could use other pitchers in that game, too.

On Saturday, the Rangers are scheduled to use Nathan Eovaldi, Dane Dunning, Spencer Howard, Kyle Cody, Jonathan Hernández and Joe Barlow.

Otto finished last season in the Rangers rotation with a 7-10 record and a 4.64 ERA. White is one of the Rangers’ top pitching prospects, as he went 9-2 with a 3.59 ERA with High Class-A Hickory and Double-A Frisco.

Leclerc may be making his only appearance with the Rangers before heading off to play for the Dominican Republic in the WBC. He went 0-3 with a 2.83 ERA and seven saves. Lee was a reliever at Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock where he went 2-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 51 appearances.

Eovaldi will make his Rangers debut on Saturday. One of the Rangers’ key free-agent signings, he went 6-3 with a 3.87 ERA in 20 starts for the Boston Red Sox in 2022.

Dunning and Howard were in last year’s rotation. Dunning, 4-8 with a 4.46 ERA in 29 games, is coming off hip surgery. Howard fought injuries most of the season and went 2-4 with a 7.41 ERA in 10 games.

Cody last pitched for the Rangers in 2021 and he has a career record of 1-3 with a 3.71 ERA. Hernández went 2-3 with a 2.97 ERA in 29 relief appearances, along with four saves. Barlow was 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA and 13 saves in 35 games before blister issues curtailed his season.

The Rangers have not announced pitching lineups beyond Saturday, but the next few games likely won’t include Jacob deGrom, who will throw his first formal bullpen session on Thursday. Batting lineups for the first two games have not been announced.

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