With 2024 closer Kirby Yates now with the Los Angeles Dodgers and 2023 postseason hero José Leclerc joining the Athletics, the Texas Rangers bullpen will look drastically different in 2025. What’s more surprising is that no pitcher who recorded a save for the Rangers last season will return, leaving a group that posted a 4.41 ERA and converted 38 of 57 save chances to rebuild. Offseason additions Chris Martin, Luke Jackson, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong and Joe Barlow bring new options to the right-hand side of the relief corps. Left-handers Robert Garcia and Hoby Milner also figure to be contributors. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy mentioned Marc Church when asked recently about potential candidates at closer, Jack Magruder of MLB.com reports.
“We have some guys that we think we can get the matchups that we want,” Bochy said to Magruder. “That’s part of our job. These things, sometimes, they end up working themselves [out] to where you use the guys you want to use.”
Rangers Bullpen Faces Major Shifts This Season
Martin has recorded one save every season since 2018, which includes four saves during his first stint with the Rangers in 2019. He brings a reliable option to close out games with a career 9.27 K/9 and a 1.17 BB/9. Garcia, acquired from the Washington Nationals in the Nathaniel Lowe trade, has been sidelined by an oblique injury but is expected to take the mound this week. He averaged 11.31 K/9 as a setup man with the Nationals last season.
Milner has spent the past four years with Milwaukee and has been especially effective against left-handed hitters throughout his eight-year career. In 2023, he held left-handers to a .155 batting average and they have a .225 career batting average with a .280 on-base percentage aginst Milner.
Jackson, with 19 career saves—the most of any of the candidates—struck out two in a scoreless inning on Sunday.
Bochy did note that Webb, who has given up two earned runs in three innings this spring, is “trending up right now.” Meanwhile, Church, who missed most of the 2024 season due to a right shoulder strain, touched 99 mph during his appearance on February 27 and pitched again Monday.
“He’s got the stuff to be a high-leverage reliever,” Bochy said. “He has the velocity. It’s jumping on you. I see him having that role sometime down the road there. It could be when we break camp. This is how good we think he can be.”
After 17 appearances with Triple-A Round Rock last season, Church pitched a scoreless inning in his only appearance with the Rangers in 2024. He extended his season with seven appearances in the Arizona Fall League, where he recorded 10 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
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