Kumar Rocker

The Rangers are one of the rare teams with seven games in seven days to open the season, and they really needed more from Rocker tonight with the bullpen already tired. As it was, they left in the about-to-be-demoted Gerson Garabito to give up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings and then turned to infielder Ezequiel Duran to pitch the final frame. Rocker gave up two homers that accounted for five runs and seven other hard-hit balls. He figures to make another start against the Rays next weekend, but he could be sent down afterwards with Patrick Corbin coming up.

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Rocker authored a dominant performance in his final spring outing, sitting comfortably in the 95-98 mph with his four-seamer and sinker, while generating an eye-popping 13 swinging strikes. The 25-year-old top prospect will open the regular season next Monday with a road matchup against the Reds. He's worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats, even shallow mixed leagues, due to his immense strikeout potential. He'll need to perform over the next few weeks if he's going to remain in the big leagues with veteran Patrick Corbin expected to join the Rangers' rotation by mid-April.

The Rangers are moving closer to setting their Opening Day roster. They’ll break camp with touted young righties Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker in the rotation, president of baseball operations Chris Young revealed to the team’s beat (link via Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports). Veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar, who’d been a non-roster invitee in camp,…

Corbin just signed with the Rangers last week, so it's not a surprise that he won't be ready to start the season; however, MLB.com's Kennedi Landry reports that the Rangers' goal is to have Corbin up in the Rangers rotation by April 11. That doesn't give Jack Leiter or Kumar Rocker a lot of time to lock down a rotation spot. With Dane Dunning being sent to the minors, it's possible that whichever of Leiter or Rocker is less convincing in their first starts will get moved into a long relief role when Corbin is ready.