To construct his 2025 bullpen, Rangers POBO Chris Younger went to the scrap heap, discovering misfit toys and plugging them into empty roster spots. It labored surprisingly properly: The peripherals weren’t tremendous convincing, however the Rangers however completed fifth in bullpen ERA.
Misfit toys often aren’t signed to multi-year offers, although, so Younger began the method yet again this offseason, bringing in guys like Tyler Alexander, Carter Baumler and Jakob Junis to fill the void. There are a handful of holdovers, and two of them are presently slated to fill the best leverage roles within the ‘pen: Robert Garcia and Chris Martin, who’re each idiosyncratic choices, albeit in several methods.
Garcia, the nominal nearer, is uncommon for a number of causes. He’s a lefty, and there aren’t many lefty closers. He additionally doesn’t throw significantly exhausting — in camp this spring and throughout the WBC, he’s sat 93-94 on the four-seamer. Lastly, his most popular out pitch is a tough, depth-y changeup, not the standard reduction ace look. Uncommon as it’s, it labored properly sufficient to show in a 2.95 ERA in 2025.
Martin is an absolute big who seems to be stiff and ungainly when he releases a baseball. He additionally turns 40 in June, and has hung out on the IL in every of the final three seasons. However when he’s on the mound, his command stays pristine, and the outcomes are unbelievable, yr after yr. Neither Garcia nor Martin are more likely to flip in sub-2.00 ERA seasons, however each ought to simply be above-average choices.
Gavin Collyer is the upside play. His command is shambolic, however his sweeper sits round 88 mph, bonkers velocity for a pitch with that type of glove-side lateral motion. Michel Otañez presents the same command/stuff dichotomy. Jalen Beeks is the perfunctory lefty. Josh Sborz is ostensibly again, however his stuff is down a great bit from his 2023 peak this spring. I really feel like Cole Winn might be higher than the pessimistic projections; PitchingBot thinks he throws 5 above-average pitches, and I are likely to agree with PitchingBot. Alexander is giving swingman. Junis is giving barely extra luxurious swingman. He can spin a baseball with the very best of them.