Coming into the season, everyone knows the Texas Rangers' bullpen would be built primarily of new faces, much like it was last season.
The Texas Rangers answered a lot of questions throughout Spring Training.
Kumar Rocker beat out Jacob Latz to earn the fifth starter spot, and Andrew McCutchen became the right-handed bench bat Texas was looking for entering the season.
However, when it comes to the bullpen, there are questions that teams really just can’t answer in Spring Training.
Coming into the season, everyone knew the Rangers' bullpen would be built primarily of new faces, much like it was last season.
Texas brought in the likes of Tyler Alexander, Jakob Junis, Carter Baumler, and Jalen Beeks while also bringing back guys like Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Cole Winn, and Luis Curvelo.
During Spring Training, it became clear which group of players would make up the Rangers' bullpen in 2026. However, the question of what their roles will be can’t be answered during the Spring.
First-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker and his staff will be tasked with figuring out roles for players early in the season.
We know that with Latz not being used in the starting rotation, he will be the Rangers' “swing man” to open the season.
Latz thrived getting most of his outings in that role last season, posting a 2.85 ERA across 33 appearances.
However, outside of Latz, the roles of the rest of the Rangers' bullpen arms aren’t exactly super clear.
It’s pretty safe to point out guys such as Winn, Curvelo, and Alexander as players who need to be able to throw multiple innings.
Schumaker has emphasized the importance of having guys who can get more than three outs of the bullpen early in the season when starters aren’t pitching as deep into games as they would in the middle or end of the season.
Despite all of that, most of the attention when it comes to the Rangers' bullpen will be drawn to the closer role and rightfully so.
Last season, the Rangers blew an MLB-leading 29 saves in a year in which they finished nine games out of first place.
Garcia and Martin seem like the likely candidates to get the first looks at being the Rangers' closer, with the team looking for someone to take hold of the role.
There’s no doubt that the Rangers and their fans hope that someone can grasp the role early and not let it go throughout the duration of the regular season and long after that.
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