SURPRISE, Ariz. -- On Day 1 of Spring Training, Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi was asked if it’s going to be fair for people to expect a similar season out of him and his rotation-mates as last year, when they posted an MLB-best 3.41 ERA.
He didn’t hesitate with his answer.
“I expect that out of myself,” he said. “That's the biggest thing for me. Honestly, I don't really care what people think about me. I hold myself to a high standard. A lot of the guys in the clubhouse, we all hold ourselves to high standards. We know we're capable of doing it. I felt like I had a really good year last year, and being able to build off of that is going to be key for me. And we want to continue to get better each and every year.”
The Rangers’ rotation has a lot to live up to, but Eovaldi is the one they want at the helm if they want to repeat 2025’s success.
Eovaldi was the best pitcher on the best staff in baseball in 2025, posting a 1.73 ERA in 22 starts with 129 strikeouts over 130 innings. He was ultimately shut down in August due to a right rotator cuff strain, though he was working towards a potential return if the Rangers had made the postseason. That being said, he also underwent offseason surgery for a sports hernia.
Eovaldi said on Tuesday that he had been dealing with the hernia since 2024, but it was not a big deal at the time because it wasn’t affecting his pitching.
Now, he’s come into camp healthy, ready to try to get back to his own 2025 form. It goes without saying, but the biggest part of that will be staying healthy.
Workload management isn’t even in Eovaldi’s vocabulary. He would rather it not become a topic of discussion, but he knows that something has to change if he wants to post every single day and make 30 starts.
“I like to think not, but I don't know,” Eovaldi said. “[Health] has always been the key, right? I haven't been able to quite figure that out. I think I've done [30 starts] twice in my career, which is frustrating to me, because I value being a workhorse and being able to go out there and make every start and taking care of myself in between the starts. As I've gotten older, I've tried to listen to my body more, and even then, I'm still not staying fully healthy.”
Manager Skip Schumaker referenced Jacob deGrom’s slow build-up in 2025 when thinking about the health of both of his two aces in ‘26.
Former manager Bruce Bochy and his staff strategically placed deGrom’s starts to maximize his rest in 2025. That included not starting on Opening Day, starting the fifth game out of the All-Star break or simply using built-in off-days to extend his rest.
“It's all about communication,” Schumaker said. “I think we'll start similar to last year for both of them. There's a very good chance that they'll be pitching the opening series, so just making sure that they're going to be ready to go. To be honest, they're both in a really good spot coming into spring. I know it's cliché, [Eovaldi] came back full-go this year and it is really, really encouraging. You would never know that he had anything last year the way he's coming in. Again, we're going to be monitoring them just like everybody else in spring. But there's no concerns or anything right now. We're going to build them like they're going to be pitching.”