The Texas Rangers will go with a committee approach in the ninth inning as Matt Bush has continued to struggle as the team’s closer.
The ninth inning has been a virtual minefield for the Texas Rangers in 2017. The team has a total of 16 blown saves, tied with the Detroit Tigers for the most in baseball. Sam Dyson, who notched 38 saves last year, blew four chances with a 10.80 ERA in the early part of this season. He was promptly released and has since joined the San Francisco Giants.
Hard-throwing Matt Bush assumed the closer role and initially did a very impressive job. Starting with his first save of the year on April 23, he converted six of seven opportunities with a 0.69 ERA over 14 appearances through the end of May. He held batters to a meager .208/.264/.292 slash line over that span.
The wheels completely fell off in June, however. Bush blew three of seven save chances during the month while posting a horrid 9.64 ERA. In 9.1 innings he allowed a staggering 21 hits, three of them home runs. He also gave out five walks and struck out 10. Opponents hit a blistering .429/.491/.673 against him during the month. Overall, Bush has blown five of 15 save opportunities on the year.
Understandably, manager Jeff Banister needed to make a change rather than continue watching opposing teams feast on Bush. But rather than pick another reliever to be the new closer, he has elected to go with a committee. Per MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers skipper discussed his rationale:
"“We’ll use multiple pitchers based on who is available and the set of hitters coming up,” Banister said. “We are not set on one single guy.”“We have to find the best recipe to get the 27th out,” Banister said. “How we get there — traditional, non-traditional — it’s figuring out who will stand out there in the last inning and get the last out.”"
Banister did not rule out Bush getting another chance in the ninth inning. He just emphasized that he will now consider a variety of options to close out games.
Closer committees are certainly nothing new in baseball, but they typically don’t last forever. It’s a fair bet that a defined closer will emerge for Texas at some point. There are a few plausible candidates already in the Rangers bullpen.
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Right-hander Keone Kela has performed well this season, posting a 2.64 ERA in 30.2 innings along with a 0.88 WHIP and 3.23 K/BB ratio. He’s striking out 12.3 batters per nine frames. However, as Sullivan points out, he has been experiencing some right biceps soreness which might limit him for the time being.
Jose Leclerc has been a pleasant surprise in his second big league campaign. The 23-year-old owns a 2.74 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 2.85 K/BB over 23 innings of work. Though he’s fanning hitters at a rapid 14.5 K/9 clip, he’ll need to cut down on the walks at 5.1 BB/9.
Lefty Alex Claudio is another guy who seems like he could land the job. He sports a 2.76 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 2.70 K/BB in 42.1 frames. Though he has the lowest strikeout rate of the bunch (5.7 K/9), he also walks the fewest batters (2.1 BB/9).
Veteran Jeremy Jeffress is on the disabled list and has struggled so far this year (5.46 ERA) but he earned 27 saves for the Brewers last season before his trade to Texas. If he looks better upon his return, his track record could give him a leg up on the competition.
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The Rangers should hope that someone in their bullpen separates himself from the pack sooner rather than later. Though a game under .500 at 40-41, the club is still just two games out of a Wild Card spot. They’ve left a lot of wins on the table in the late innings, and having a dependable option to close out games would help their peace of mind as the season nears its second half.