Tyler Mahle

Mahle walked four and gave up two hits to the 11 batters he faced. jacob Webb bailed him out in the second after a bases loaded walk to the struggling Rafael Devers plated the lone run he allowed. Mahle's fastball velocity was pretty good tonight -- his 93.1 mph average was up 1.7 mph from where he was in his return from Tommy John last year -- but he was all over the place, throwing only 30 of his 61 pitches for strikes. He'll make his next start Friday against the Rays.

He'll be followed by Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom to close out the remainder of the four-game season-opening series. It's a challenging opening assignment for Leiter right out of the gate, but he'll need to perform in his first couple outings to avoid being jettisoned once veteran Patrick Corbin is ready to make his season debut. The 24-year-old righty was arguably the talk of the Cactus League this spring and should be rostered in all fantasy formats. If he's truly made a leap in terms of commanding his overpowering arsenal, Leiter could put together a legitimate breakthrough campaign.

Mahle gave us quite a scare with the "forearm soreness" diagnosis a week ago, but he was back on the mound tonight throwing a little harder than he did in his return from Tommy John surgery last season, and he wound up getting 11 missed swings and six strikeouts in the 69-pitch outing. Mahle isn't an option in shallow mixed leagues at the moment, but it'd certainly be great news for the Rangers if he was even an average starter early on.

Mahle (forearm) allowed three runs on six hits and no walks over for innings in a start versus minor leaguers Thursday, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reports.

It's an extremely encouraging update after Mahle was scratched from Tuesday's scheduled start for precautionary reasons with forearm discomfort. The 30-year-old veteran right-hander told reporters Wednesday that an MRI came back clean and that he's feeling great. Barring an unexpected setback, it appears Mahle will be ready to open the season in Texas' starting rotation. The greater concern for the Rangers at the moment appears to be Cody Bradford, who is dealing with an elbow issue. Any sort of absence opens the door for hard-throwing prospects Jack Leiter or Kumar Rocker to step into the rotation.