Perhaps nothing at the Texas Rangers' Spring Training camp will be watched more than the battle for the fifth starter position.

With a very strong rotation already set in stone, Rangers starters Kumar Rocker and Jacob Latz are set to compete for the final spot throughout Spring Training.

Luckily for Rangers fans, we didn’t have to wait long to see the first punches in the fifth starter battle be thrown.

After impressing early on during bullpen sessions and live batting practices, Rocker took to the mound for his first game action on Saturday afternoon when the Rangers took on the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Arizona.

Rocker had a solid first showing, going two innings, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out two and walking one.

“It felt good,” Rocker said after his outing. “I felt like we had a good group of guys out there who played a lot of defense, it was just a good game all around."

Cubs infielder Matt Shaw led off the bottom of the first with a single against Rocker and ended up stealing second base just a few pitches later.

However, after that, Rocker buckled down, striking out star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, getting his former teammate Carson Kelly to ground out, and forcing another one off the bat of Jonathan Long.

In the second inning, Rocker got Justin Dean to ground out before striking out James Triantos, sending the first two down in quick order.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, Rocker was not able to complete the 1-2-3 inning as he walked Pedro Ramirez, who stole second and later scored on a single from Jefferson Rojas.

Rocker was able to get the very next batter to pop out to second base, ending a solid first spring outing.

First-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker isn’t necessarily looking for results from his pitchers early on, just more so if they can throw strikes and control the running game.

Those two things will be a focus for Rocker throughout his next couple of Spring Training outings.

Offensively, it was Sam Haggerty who powered the Rangers, knocking in all three Texas runs. One came on an RBI single in the second, and the others on a two-run double in the fourth.

For the Rangers, it marked their first Cactus League win of 2025 after losing to the Kansas City Royals 7-3 on Friday.

Texas will be back at Surprise Staduim tomorrow, where the Rangers will take on the Colorado Rockies in their third Spring Training game.

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