How Jacob Latz turned a setback into an All-Star season

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry's Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- On March 28, in the Rangers’ second game of the season, Jacob Latz threw four hitless innings in a spot start in Philadelphia for a scratched Jacob deGrom.

At that point, Latz was just a week removed from being informed he had lost the fifth starter job to Kumar Rocker. Latz -- now the Rangers’ closer -- will return to Citizens Bank Park, this time as the team’s lone representative in the 2026 MLB All-Star Game.

“We had a really challenging conversation [at the end of Spring Training],” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Obviously, there was some disappointment, but he took on the challenge. All he said was, ’I want to be the high-leverage guy for you.’ You earn those innings; you're not just given those innings. He absolutely earned it two, three weeks into the season, and now he's an All-Star. He's well-deserved, and I could not be more happy because of how he went about it.”

The Rangers have had a pitcher selected to the All-Star Game in a club-record seven consecutive Midsummer Classics dating back to 2019. Latz is the seventh different pitcher to earn the honor, joining Mike Minor (2019), Kyle Gibson ('21), Martín Pérez ('22), Nathan Eovaldi ('23), Kirby Yates ('24) and deGrom ('25).

Additionally, Texas pitchers have a run of seven consecutive scoreless innings in the All-Star Game since Matt Harrison permitted three runs in the 2012 event in Kansas City.

It’s the perfect opportunity for Latz to continue the streak.

Entering play on Tuesday, Latz’s 1.71 ERA ranked tied for third in the American League among pitchers with 30 or more innings. He has held opponents to a .120/.171/.225 slash line, the lowest in the AL in average, on-base percentage and OPS (.396) for pitchers with 30 or more innings.

Latz also leads MLB in saves of four or more outs (nine) and two or more innings (five). He’s just the second Ranger since 1994 with nine or more saves of four or more outs in a season (Francisco Cordero had nine in 2004).

No matter what Texas has thrown at him, Latz has stepped up in a big way as he’s earned the role of closer.

Rangers pitching coach Jordan Tiegs, who was the Minor League pitching coordinator during Latz’s years in Double-A and Triple-A, praised his growth over the past two seasons. The only question mark with Latz has been if he could stay healthy. But his conviction in himself has never changed.

That has translated well to closing.

“I think he has the right demeanor for [closing],” Tiegs said. “He thrives off the moment from an adrenaline standpoint, but his brain just functions very slow and methodical. So I think it's like the perfect blend. He gets a little added adrenaline to help his stuff, but it never speeds him up mentally, and it never feels like the moment's too fast or too big for him. So I think, No. 1, he gets the right mental fortitude.”

Latz’s journey goes back further than just Spring Training. It goes all the way back to college, where he was a coveted recruit that landed at LSU. But a stress reaction in his left elbow caused him to miss the 2015 season, and he only contributed 8 1/3 innings in ‘16 before transferring to Kent State.

Because college baseball was a different universe back then, Latz never threw a pitch for the Golden Eagles due to transfer rules that forced him to sit out a year. The Rangers ultimately picked him in the fifth round of the 2017 MLB Draft without seeing him throw an official pitch, opting to base their choice off simulated games and live batting practices the previous fall.

Latz toiled around the Minors for seven seasons, despite a quick MLB debut in 2021 when right-hander Dane Dunning landed on the COVID-19 injured list, and kept waiting for an opportunity.

“It was just incremental steps along the way,” Latz said. “It was a tough climb to get back from my college career to where we are at now. I spent a lot of time in the Minors. Debuted in ‘21, thought 2022 would be my year, and it wasn't. In 2023, I got moved to the bullpen, and it took a while to get back up. Then little by little, I tried to solidify myself as a Major League player.”

By 2025, Latz became an important piece of the Rangers’ bullpen while also making eight spot starts, mostly during the final stretch. As a starter last season, he posted a 2.72 ERA in 39 2/3 innings. As a reliever, he put together a 2.93 ERA in 46 innings (25 appearances).

“It wasn't truly linear, but I learned a lot along the way,” Latz said. “I think it definitely makes it a little more meaningful doing it this way. I’m just thankful for the people that helped me get here along the way and continued to show their belief in me, especially the Rangers' organization. I pretty much used all of my Minor League contract. They waited a long time for me, and I'm thankful for that.”