Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter's growth shows Rangers' improvement developing pitching prospects

after another great start from Cody Bradford last night I'm going to call it this is the most positive year for Rangers pitching development that I have ever seen in my lifetime you are locked on Rangers your daily Texas Rangers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day [Music] you are locked on to the World Series champion Texas Rangers I'm Bryce Patrick a cripplingly addicted Texas Rangers Fan covering this team for 11 seasons including all six as the founder and host of this podcast thank you all so much for making lockon Rangers your first listen every single day if you're not already you can follow me on Twitter at Bryce Patrick you can follow the show at lockon Rangers Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and on YouTube where the best way you can help grow the show is comment nearly any s single thing below now before we get into Cody Bradford's solidifying himself as the first good Rangers homegrown starting pcture in a hot minute and not to mention the overall great progress from the Rangers pitching prospect on the farm this year this episode is brought to you by priz piix go to prix.com lockon MLB and use code all lowercase lockon MLB to win $50 instantly when you play $5 now the Rangers are on a three game winning streak thanks in large part to well a nice three-run home run by Adas Garcia a lot of uh stranded runners in scoring position but mostly I would say the work of one Cody Bradford the maybe the single biggest development at the major league level this year is Cody Bradford turning into a Bonafide solid starting pitcher a homegrown starting pitcher now you may think price you're being dramatic this is a couple of good starts against a bunch of bad teams you know he's been fine but it's been 10 starts no he had 18 starts last year where I was excuse me eight starts last year where I was also very encouraged by Cody Bradford but this year despite missing half the season with a back injury that turned out to be a stress fracture in his rib injury that just spiral and spiral and spiral and keeping him out which was I think we'll look back at at that injury as maybe one of the ones that uh made the most significant impact because Cody Bradford this year as a starting pitcher has been downright fantastic he's got 10 starts on the season a 240 ER in those 10 starts averaging six Innings per start a whip of 0.8 8.1 strikeouts per nine he is walking nobody he is not allowing home runs he is not allowing hard contact he is just a good pitcher a good starting pitcher and he throws the ball 90 mph and yeah sometimes those guys exist even in this day and age the Rangers fifth round excuse me sixth round pick back from 2019 what a draft class that is looking to be with Josh Young at the top of it and Cody Bradford in the sixth round a couple of Big 12 kids who are from Texas who are going to be a part of this team for years years to come now I said Cody Bradford is the first decent homegrown starting pitch at the range have had in a hot minute and by that I mean fully homegrown not traded for and came up after some time being in the minor leagues of other teams mainly that is just to disqualify danne Dunning not that I want to Discount what Dane Dunning has done and how important he was to the championship team last year but I'm really looking at from start to finish or you know start of your pro career your minor league career to the Finish hopefully of your minor league career how did the Rangers get a guy from the draft or from signing them internationally and develop them all the way into a decent homegrown starting pitcher because it has been a long time and you can put whatever qualifiers of good great Ace whatever you look at put up any of those qualifiers and just having a competent homegrown starting pitcher it has been so long how long you might ask well Cody Bradford right now has 1.2 base baseball reference War he's got you know 60 Innings as a starter I think two as a reliever this year 10 starts 1.2 War okay surely someone else some other homegrown starter has done that for the Rangers in the last I don't know five years no no they haven't the last Texas Rangers homegrown starting pitcher to have even a one plus War season one plus was Martin Perez back in 20 2017 at 2.3 baseball reference War 2017 for a one war home grown starting pitcher season that's insane that is frankly insane it is very difficult to develop a homegrown Ace developing homegrown starting pitchers is also difficult if if they're in the middle to top of the rotation but even just one half decent number four five starter he even it a six starter for some depth the Rangers just have not been able to do it and Bradford is the one is who is breaking the curse it has been so long there have been so many guys who I dreamed on being the one to just finally be a competent part of your rotation not having to spend on five different spots in your rotation in free agency because even bad starting pitchers even mediocre starting pitchers heck very good starting pitchers are the most expensive thing out there I mean heck go look at the top three highest average annual value contracts in the league right now one of them is sh Otani who is a topof the rotation starting pitcher and also a DH so you kind of throw that out but the next two guys for highest average annual value are well Max Scherer and Justin Verlander at 43 and A3 million each homegrown starting pitchers are so important to your financial flexibility to be able to spend money on other places not to just not spend if you want to not spend they're crucial for you to being a competent organization that's why the Rays have to develop so many homegrown starters because they can't afford to go spend on almost anybody in free agency so that's why it's so impressive what they've been doing but the Rangers not being able to do that for so so long is been such a impressive feat for them to be able to win last year when at all and you know compete for so long from 2010 to 2016 without really much in the way of homegrown starting pitching they had Martin Perez who was at his Peak a three actually excuse me at his Peak before he left and came back and was an All-Star he was a three but this has just been something the Rangers have been so darn bad at and I had Jake Mintz and Jordan Schusterman of CPUs family Barbecue on the show last year before the Rangers playoff run and there was a point that they brought up that I thought was really interesting and I hadn't thought about before but you look at the Rangers Bullpen from last year and there were not a lot of homegrown pitchers in the bullpen or at least ones that were doing well they had one that did very well in October in Jose the clerk but Josh fors was not homegrown ores Chapman was not homegrown um Jonathan Hernandez didn't really pitch much I think if at all in the playoffs um but one thing that Jake said last year was that the reard in to just pull pretty decent Bullpen guys out of their minor league system was more of an indictment on the pitching not being able to develop pitching uh than them not being able to develop a single starter and I thought yeah that actually kind of makes sense because I mean look at the Tigers Bullpen the last couple years they have so many different random guys that you've never heard of that are all doing incredibly well look at Cleveland's Bullpen this year look at the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen um well not this year but look at what it was doing last year so many different homegrown guys that are you know maybe not Elite closers though Bednar was last year and had been in years past but just having solid seventh eightth ninth inning guys so you don't have to go sign a whole bunch of relever either which is also not necessarily the smartest and safest way to go spend your money but with the Rangers pitching development this year it's not just what Cody Bradford has done it's not just what the big three pitching prospects have done in Kamar rocker and Jack ligher and Alejandra Rosario it's the depth behind it coming up I want to get into what those big three have done and some other guys that you know in other years past if not for the strides for Kamar rocker and Jack lider and Cody Bradford and Alejandra Rosario they would be the talking point of the Rangers mining system for a season we're also going to look at what this what a completely home grown pitching staff might look like in the year 2026 because for once in my Rangers fandom lifetime imagining a home a fully homegrown pitching staff is actually a possibility talk about that right after this R from our sponsors this show is brought to you by ibata it's summertime which means it's barbecue season stock up in all your grilling favorites and earn cash back on every purchase when you use ibata so you won't have to choose between burgers and hot dogs you can do both ibata it is a free app that lets you earn cash back 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Haron gabo versus Samuel aldeer you can catch every pitch of the hometown broadcast on SiriusXM just download the sxm app and search Rangers interesting little note fun fact for you Samuel Al Deary is a left-handed starter for the Angels um born in Verona Italy who is making his second MLB start so he is I believe the first International player born in Italy to make his MLB debut or at least the first in a long long time remember that note from his first start last week should be hopefully a guy who the Rangers can uh Crush uh quite a bit but speaking of pitching starting pitching specifically we're talking about the brightest spots of the Rangers season this has been an overall very frustrating season at the big league level but if you would have told me looking back at the beginning of this year actually heck at the beginning of 2023 you tell me okay the Rangers are going to win a World Series in 2023 I'd say great I'll be happy for the rest of time and then you tell me okay in 20124 they're going to have basically the exact same team and just poop the bed and almost certainly miss the playoffs I believe I last checked their playoff odds are at 1% um or 0.9% so please please don't do that to yourself and hoping the end of this season it's just going to hurt more change change your mindset worry about the future and the starting pitching prospects and starting pitchers at the big league level who are going to be here for years to come if I would have if you would have told me that 2024 the Rangers missed the playoffs and frustrate maddeningly and Wyatt Langford doesn't have a great great rookie season and Evan Carter misses a bunch of time and Josh Young misses a bunch of time but the Rangers develop a potential future homegrown Ace and three to Five Guys that you feel pretty darn confident are going to be competent homegrown starting pitchers or impact relief arms over the next two to three years I would say absolutely sign me up right now because this season has been frustrating but it's been an overall I'd say net positive with the massive massive strides forward not just of Cody Bradford of Jack lighter Kamar rocker Alejandra Rosario it's that there's you seven to like 10 guys who in terms of pitching prospects who any other year would have been the story on the Rangers Farm because there have been so few decent homegrown starting pitches or heck even impact relievers over the last few years and that's what's so important but I do want to talk about the big three the big three of course meaning Jack glider Kamar rocker and Harrison kapedo no I'm talking about Alejandro Rosario who is going to be making his first start in doublea tonight unfortunately I have some PL so I will not be able to be out there and see him in fris also Kamar rocker will be starting his second game in Triple A in Las Vegas tonight alas he is not going to be starting at the big league level making his MLB debut or I would had to have canceled those plans to make sure I went and saw that but those big three have taken just huge huge strides forward in terms of ceiling I think it's got to go Kamar rocker as the highest ceiling I think that Alejandra Rosario's ceiling is probably a number two starter U which at this point is right around where Jax is depending on who you ask and how confident they are in him but I mean the floor for rocker is it's all going to be determined by injuries I don't think he's any worse than a number three starter like there's no way he's any worse than a three starter if he's stays healthy I I think that is just an incredible development from him something that we didn't really see coming I've always been a Kamar rocker believer but there's a difference between being a Kamar rocker believer and a Kamar rocker uh exceptionalist and you know someone who is delusional about him and if you had told me like when he came back that he would be this I would have told you that you were delusional this is not something that was foreseen once he had that Tommy John surgery and with the combined what he had done since being drafted 10th overall by the Mets you thought okay surely that ceiling is still there of potential number one homegrown starting pitcher which the Rangers haven't done since what Kenny Rogers basically that's still there but the likelihood of him getting there with all the injury concerns and with just the way the delivery worked and with how far away he still was you thought okay well if he turns into a decent you know number three in your rotation that's a net win I mean the Rangers took a big swing on him and on Brock Porter in that draft the reason they drafted Rocker with the number three overall pick not because they thought he was the third best Prospect in that class because they could use that savings to go and take a swing on a High School pitcher with a very very high ceiling and a very very low floor a floor which he appears to be uh bottoming out this season but you're really just hoping that one of those guys worked as a decent homegrown starting pitcher and and now let alone just decent homegrown starting pitcher let alone potential future Ace with which Kamar rocker is he's got two fast balls that He commands wherever he wants that sit 98 the nastiest breaking pitch I have seen from a Rangers Prospect ever and a change up that's pretty solid and a cutter we literally have not even seen yet because he's been so good he hasn't needed it and Jack ligher I talked a little on yesterday's show I talked about it after his most recent start that you know he's still got that potential to be a number three in your rotation but I think that at worst Jack ligher is going to be a massively impactful relever like eighth inning ninth inning Allstar closer type of stuff I mean I'm talking Pete Fairbanks type of stuff except this time hopefully the Rangers wouldn't trade him to Tampa Bay for Nick freaking solak but also Alejandra Rosario making huge huge strides this year a guy who I had absolutely no expectations for has been you know fantastic he he made the top 100 prospects in uh fangraph's top 100 he made baseball America's most recent top 100 prospects as well and you got to also throw if you're talking about a big three ailon tooto is is pretty much in that big big four because he's made huge strides this year as well now with teoto I'm still leaning more towards him being a relief arm but if he is a relief arm he is going to be like as my friend tepa participation says a reliever with theme music and a light show like Edwin Diaz a nasty nasty closer that throws in the up to 102 with an exceptionally Wicked breaking ball and a change up that fine enough especially if it's your third pitch and your relever maybe he's still a starter but I mean you're walking over Five Guys per night in doublea and it has been consistent those walks and I think that is what's going to end up pushing him to the bullpen but a bullpen roll where he would absolutely Thrive out there I mean his stuff is absolutely nasty and he's made huge huge strides this year as well the fact that I'm talking about him as maybe a starting pitcher maybe reliever because I still think he's got the potential to be a starting pitcher what that ceiling is with those walk numbers I don't see it much higher than a number four even though he's got great strikeout stuff he doesn't allow a lot of hits or hard contact but if you're walking that many guys as a starting pitcher it's hard to pitch deep into games which he has found this year of not being that efficient because his stuff's kind of wild because his stuff's pretty nasty but usually that kind of stuff it sits you in the back end of the pen but I mean lighter progression and and Rosario's progression Rosario's got three pretty darn good pitches a fast ball that's in the upper 90s that he locates where he wants to a splitter that's pretty solid maybe a plus pitch maybe not quite a slider that's borderline on plus pitches so if you got two plus pitches a double plus pitch in his fast ball and you got command you don't allow home runs you don't allow walks and you strike guys out that's pretty darn good starting pitcher and that is what he has so far this year we'll see what he looks like when he gets to daa daa hitters are in general very very good the Texas league has not been super great this year um but still it's a big big jump from high a to Able a not quite AAA to the big leagues but still a sizable jump and he has gone all the way from low a to start this year to dable a his first pro year that's a sign of the Rangers confidence in this kid that uh this is someone they think could handle that challenge and frankly I think he is too but this not just these guys the guys on the fringes that have made this year so darn good the fact that there are very few pitching prospects in this system in my top 30 that are even having bad years that's why I'm confident that in 2026 the Rangers could have maybe not if an entirely homegrown pitching staff but pretty darn close we're talking about what that would look like and an overall look at this pitching staff in 2026 right after this work from our sponsors this show is brought to you by priz piix prize piix is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members prize piix is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps on prize pick it's just you against the numbers all you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in one Caleb Williams passing yard gets you one win on prize every week in September that's right only one yard gets you an automatic win every football weekend in September four weeks of free W's don't miss this deal on prize picks because it's gone When September Ends you want to play prize picks along druski Joe Button MMA champ sugar Shan Ali you can now find the community plays on prize picks under the promo tabs of each week to view entries for some of the biggest names in the priz piix community each week so download the priz piix app to date and use code lock down imob get $50 instantly when you play $5 that's code lock down ML on priz pick and get $50 instantly when you play $5 you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus because it is guaranteed prize picks run your game now last week on I believe Monday's show I did a look at what the 2025 Rangers rotation will look like but I kind want look at the pitching staff as a whole in 2026 cuz there's a few of these guys that I'm I'm not sure we'll be quite ready for 2025 but I'm definitely sure we'll be ready in 2026 and you know if you're projecting forward having a mostly homegrown pitching staff is such a difficult thing to do and I don't think that the Rangers necessarily will do this but this is you know even looking at a worst case or or bad case scenario where the Rangers keep continuing to not spend money and not spend money on pitching this is what if you're if you're going there and and being that pessimist and thinking that the Rangers won't get a TV deal done which I'm thinking we're getting closer to there was a CBA update where the Rangers will be one of the teams that gets $15 million this year um because of the Kur fuffle with uh B Sports and that whole mess of a situation we just saw yesterday that the Dallas Mavericks announced a TV deal with tegna and WFAA to make games free for people to watch in Dallas in the market which I think is great and a nice step forward in the right direction we saw the Stars announc their Victory Plus app which I believe the Anaheim Ducks have now joined on to it will make things free for people in DFW area to watch and be another step forward and maybe the Rangers could follow that El you know Inc a deal with either tegna or the victory app or what have you that they could spend money but if you want to be pessimistic and say okay well I don't think Ray Davis will ever spend money again let's look at what this pitching staff could look like in 2026 because the only free agent signing that will still be here in 2026 is Jacob deg Grom at $38 million in 2026 he will also be 38 years old we'll see exactly what he looks like uh at that point not entirely sure actually he might just be 37 I think at that point I might have my math just a little bit off but you have Jacob De Gro top year rotation there are legitimately four guys that I I feel more than four actually that I think could be holding down rotation spots at that point behind him at that point I think it would be Kamar rocker at uh your number two your number three maybe it's Alejandra Rosario maybe it's Cody Bradford or maybe it's Jack lighter but those are right there are four guys behind Jacob De Gro that are homegrown starting pitchers that I think could be in the reinders rotation in 2026 and even if you don't think that Rosario is going to make it if you think rocker's injuries are going to you know hack him out of there or you convinced that Jack ligher is just reliever there's still other guys behind that in terms of the depth I mean there's Winston Santos who I think is potentially a starting pitcher I feel really really good about Mitch brat and what he's done so far this season the strides he's made he's more in that Cody Bradford model of Lefty who don't throw too hard but knows how to throw real good um Cole Drake is kind of similar of that mold a little bit bigger and I think throws a little bit harder than Mitch brat but still not a guy who's going to wow you by throwing a 102 but knows how to pitch and the home homegrown kid Hometown kid Josh Steven I think will also possibly be an option there hasn't been the best best year for Josh Steven in uh in in daa so far this year but I'm still a believer that he could be a backend rotation guy or at least a long relief SL six starting option so right there that's seven guys that I just rattled off that I feel pretty confident of being able to contribute in a big league rotation in 2026 that's miles ahead of where this team has been and then if you want to look at the Bullpen let's say we throw out Santos say say he's not included in those starters I think at the very least he's going to be an impact reliever you have amelon toota holding down the closer spot in that role I think he'll be up in 2025 at some point um unless the Rangers are very very convinced he's a starter in which case then I think he might end up coming up in 2026 if he's going to stay as a starter at that point um then you have guys like Isaac tiger who has struggled a bit with the walks and since he's been promoted to highi but the stuff is really sick really nasty I think he probably is most likely to end up as a reliever um but a darn darn darn good one he's also got a really darn good fast ball that touches triple digits a splitter and a slider that are both potentially pretty darn good you've also got Skyler haes who has been pretty impressive in daa so far a guy who the Rangers drafted as a reliever I believe this was last year already in dou could be making an impact there and then a guy who we haven't seen yet this year because he is he underwent a Tommy John surgery at the beginning of the year that's Jose corniel who people forget about but he was really putting up impressive impressive numbers last year I mean that is an almost entirely homegrown pitching staff now hopefully the reinder spend money hopefully they bring back nathany evaldi and maybe sign a reliever or two over the next couple years but even if they don't that's a pretty decent pitching staff I'm thinking now it will be a little bit on the younger side and there's something else that I need to get to that that's probably not what it's going to look like in actuality bad things happen to pitching prospects all the time all the time I I can't count actually I can't count the amount of times that a pitching prospect that I was sure was going to be at least a big league you know three starter four starter five Starter by the time I saw them in dou just out of nowhere just became very much not that I mean you don't have to go back that recently Owen white just had a neck injury and suddenly stopped throwing hard and the velocity just never came back and the stuff hasn't really quite come back maybe he ends up as a decent six ining low leverage lever but that's kind of almost what the ceiling is at this point if the vo and stuff doesn't come back and Cole wi just kind of stopped throwing strikes after an incredible season in doua I mean Jake Thompson I I don't know what the heck happened with that guy but J Gonzalez a guy who was such a safe bet to be a number three four five starter just lost the field for his best pitch after he made his big league debut I mean this stuff happens all the time not to mention the injury risk with just being a pitcher let alone a starting pitcher let alone a starting pitcher that throws hard so not all these guys are going to work out heck probably not all these guys are going to even get to the big leagues that some might not even get the doublea most of them were already there or spent at least a minute there so at least that Parts out but I say all that with the tinge of pessimism to bring back to the optimism of look at the sheer amount of these guys look how many there are look how many there are so many pitching prospects that are all taking big medium small but steps forward in the right direction and so few of the guys in the Rangers top 10 pro top 10 pitching prospects have even taken the slightest bit of a step back I mean I know lighter's Season hasn't been amazing but he's made some real progress this year rocker has made huge strides Rosario came out of nowhere that's a huge huge plus tooto has solidified himself of you know sticking as a starter at least for the beginning of next year I mean Maybe not maybe the Rangers will just say to heck with that we're going to put you in the pen but make you a really nasty reliever at the big league level right now cuz we need to win right now and he gives him the option to do that but you look at these guys I mean rocker Rosario lighter tooto Santos brat Drake I mean Josh Steven Isaac tiger Skyler Hales hor corniel I mean that is so many different names that I'm just rattling off that are all having really good years that's not something I've ever seen before in this reer system heck you may look at like one or two pitching prospects like oh he's having a decent year he's making a few strides forward but no you got to have that depth because pitcher injuries come in Spades usually a lot when you sign older and free agent pitchers especially when you sign the older and free agent pitchers that everyone else says is too risky to go sign that's why the reindeers were able to get jaob the Grom because everyone else said it's not worth it the Rangers said it was um and they won a World Series because those six starts and several other million reasons why they did it but this is a huge huge year and I know that the Big League season has been frustrating but when your big league Seasons you have frustrating Big League Seasons all the time this team was in existence for what 56 years in Texas before last year and about 55 of those seasons were pretty darn frustrating last year not every year is going to be winning a World Series year but you look for Progress you look for strides forward if you're an optimistic person or if you're a pessimistic person then you whine about Cory Seer missing games and and about how the people who won the World Series weren't actually that good even if it was your own team I don't want to be one of those people if you want to be one of those people who look for the bright side in a season like this that has been so frustrating at the big league level delve into those miners delve into the future of this pitching staff because yeah they're probably not going to have another year like this for some time not that there aren't going to be a bunch of people taking steps forward but the Leaps and Bounds of you know multiple guys coming from you're kind of hoping that they can turn into maybe something in rocker and Rosario to those guys are have real legitimate solid potential to be a top half of a rotation starting pitcher and with rocker a potential future race those guys don't come along every every like they don't come along very often if ever even if you're a good pitching development team so go enjoy those rides go enjoy every Cody Bradford start from now till the end of this season and heck even enjoy a hairon gabo start today because the big leagues may be frustrating and their pitching staff may be old and injured but the next wave is coming and it is almost here that's going to do it for this week's shows thank you all so much for listening and subscribing and until next time don't forget to enjoy World Series champion Texas Rangers baseball