Now, first-year manager Skip Schumaker and his staff will be tasked with determining the best way to utilize Latz.
The Texas Rangers historic 2025 pitching staff wasn’t just the sheer dominance of all-time greats Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi.
It trickled down to the likes of Jack Leiter and Patrick Corbin to form one of the best rotations in all of baseball, and even out to the bullpen, which finished with the 5th-best ERA in MLB.
Despite never having pitched more than 50 innings in a big-league season, Jacob Latz was a key piece in that.
Latz pitched 85.2 innings as both a reliever and a starter, posting a strong 2.84 ERA while essentially serving as the Rangers pitching Swiss Army knife.
Now, first-year manager Skip Schumaker and his staff will be tasked with determining the best way to utilize Latz.
Rangers GM Ross Fenstermaker said that Latz is building up as a starter at this point, but still very well could be used in a bullpen role.
Of course, a lot of that will be determined by what the Rangers do or don’t do when it comes to external additions the rest of the winter.
As of now, it’s certainly not hard to say that Latz is amongst the five best in-house starting pitching options.
However, the Rangers certainly have plenty of time to add another veteran starting pitcher to fill a rotation spot.
It’s highly unlikely that Texas will be near the top of the market, contending for guys like Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez, but they could still be looking for this year’s Patrick Corbin or Tyler Mahle type signing.
Either way, Latz will certainly come into Spring Training competing for a spot in the starting rotation.
A strong spring could no doubt have Latz crack the big-league team as a starter for the first time in his career.
Even if that is not the case, Latz will no doubt begin the season in the bullpen with the big-league club as someone who can make an impact.
2026 very well could be the season we see a breakout from Latz, forcing his way into the team’s future pitching plans.