After hectic Opening Week, Rocker rewards Rangers' faith with solid season debut

ARLINGTON -- When the Rangers broke camp and left Surprise, Ariz., on March 22, one player remained at the Spring Training facility.

Kumar Rocker remained in Surprise in order to make one last start on the backfields against Minor Leaguers, while the rest of the club arrived in Arlington for two exhibition games against the Royals. All spring, Rocker was locked into a competition for the fifth-starter spot with Jacob Latz, which came all the way down to the wire. He wasn’t told he made the club as the fifth starter until the final day.

“Actually, we told him in Arizona that he made the team, which wasn't ideal, just because everything was all still up in the air, trying to figure this thing out,” manager Skip Schumaker explained pregame. “We were FaceTiming together like, ‘Hey, this is what we're seeing, this [is] what we're thinking.’ It literally came down to the end. But he was a pro about the situation.”

But his hectic week didn’t end there. Rocker was slated to start the fifth game of the season in Baltimore, but ultimately spent a week preparing to come out of the bullpen after Jacob deGrom was scratched from his start on March 28. That meant a bullpen day against the Phillies and necessary coverage until an April 2 off day.

“He handled it well,” Schumaker said again. “To be honest, it wasn’t fair to him, but he was such a pro about the whole thing. It was a wild first week for him, but he took it all in stride. …He was happy to have an opportunity to maybe come out of the bullpen.

“There was a chance he was going to come in for long relief. There was a chance he was going to come in for extra innings in an emergency and there was a chance that he was going to come in for one hitter. I mean, it was crazy, the stuff that we talked about, and he was ready for it all.”

Rocker finally made his season debut on Saturday, when the Rangers fell 2-0 to the Reds at Globe Life Field. The 26-year-old allowed two runs in the first inning -- no thanks to his defense -- but pitched four scoreless afterwards.

It was a solid season debut after a hectic 10 days, despite the fact that he was unfortunately tagged with the loss after the offense couldn't find grass on a number of hard-hit balls.

“All around solid,” Rocker said of his outing. “Wish we could have got the win out there, but I took a little bit to settle in and could have made better pitches early on. I’m just trying to improve each day.”

Maybe most important was Rocker’s use of his changeup, which was a spring project of sorts. In 2025, his arsenal was fastball-slider dominant. He and the Rangers’ pitching group decided in the spring that a third pitch would be useful for his progression as a starting pitcher.

He threw nine changeups in his start, getting three whiffs on the pitch.

“Rock was excellent,” Schumaker said. “I thought he was fantastic. [Fastball] was 94-96, slider was good, he threw some changeups tonight. I thought he had confidence and intent throwing it. He saw some emotion on the mound when he got the strikeout to end the fifth. So overall, I thought it was a really good outing.”

Rocker struggled at times throughout his first full big league season in 2025. It was messy and inconsistent and lacked the ability to put the team in a position to win. He went into the offseason intent on fixing numerous mental and mechanical road blocks.

President of baseball operations Chris Young noted that he made tremendous strides throughout Spring Training. That’s obvious by the fact that he won the fifth starter spot. But pitching development doesn’t end at the big league level.

The most important day is today.

“He's a big part of our future,” Young said. “[As the fifth starter] you have to perform and earn your way into roles that are probably a little more consistent. Kumar will do that. Right now, we think he's a great option for our fifth starting spot. I've been that fifth starter. It's a super important role. The versatility, the protection he provided us this past week, it's huge.

“He's gonna get the opportunity to get the ball and go out and perform, and as he does that, there are no limits on what he can be. We're trying to win, and we think he's the right person to help us do that.”