Tanner Scheppers now a member of the starting rotation.

A big story is coming out of Rangers camp this afternoon before the Rangers game against the Royals this afternoon. Ron Washington has made some decisions on key roster spots. He announced that Tanner Scheppers will be in the rotation to start the season and that Joakim Soria will start the season as the closer. It was also decided that Alexi Ogando will be a multi-inning setup reliever. All of this news is certainly not what was expected once Spring Training started, but it was definitely deserved.

Lets first take a look at Tanner Scheppers going into the rotation. Scheppers before this season had just been a reliever, but the Rangers wanted to give him an opportunity to compete for a spot in the rotation. It was thought going into Spring Training though that in the end he would be back in bullpen once the season started. Then Matt Harrison got hurt early on into camp and Colby Lewis proved not to be ready. That opened up not one but two rotation spots. Scheppers followed that up with solid starts every time he was on the mound. He finally won the spot last night when he was able to be the first pitcher to throw 6 innings in a start and he did in an economical 75 pitches. He was able to show Washington that he could pitch deep in games and still have good velocity. Scheppers certainly earned this promotion with these solid numbers: 1-1, 3.07 ERA,14 K’s, 4 walks, and a .208 BAA. That shows that even though he has allowed runs he has been very hard to hit and he is striking out batters at a good clip. Scheppers who the Rangers drafted as a starter, will finally get his opportunity to start at the major league level. That leaves 2 spots in the rotation open. Robbie Ross, Tommy Hanson, Joe Saunders, and Colby Lewis are competing for those 2 spots. Hanson gets to make his case for the spot at 3:05 today in his start against the Kansas City Royals. Ross has also been pitching well and looks to be one of the favorites for the spot. Expect news on those two spots in the upcoming days as Wash and the front office will continue to make decisions on who will be on the team. Wash when asked about his decisions on the rotation said, “Right now, we’re just trying to get our five guys to leave here with.That’s all we are thinking about as far as the rotation goes.”

Joakim Soria was also announced today as the closer. Neftali Feliz just did not have the velocity and results that warranted being named the closer. It really has been a struggle for Feliz this Spring. He has a 4.50 era, 8 innings, but 11 hits allowed and has a .324 batting average against. That just goes to show that he has been very hittable and even though he was the closer during those World Series runs you can only have so much loyalty. Soria on the other hand has been exceptional this Spring. He hasn’t allowed a single run in his 7 innings of work and has a .130 BAA. He also has experience closing from his days with the Royals. He will not be overwhelmed by this. I think the Rangers made the right decision. Feliz just wasn’t ready and he may not even be on the major league roster to start the season. Washington when asked about Feliz said, “He’s still got to win a spot in the bullpen.”.  He didn’t say specifically whether they would send Feliz to the minors, but you have to wonder if he is not the closer or setup man, what would his role be in the bullpen. It might be best to send him to Round Rock and have him continue to build up his arm strength and help increase his velocity. Hopefully by May 1st he would be ready to be brought up, but that is still to be determined.

The other big story is that Alexi Ogando will be in the bullpen instead of the rotation. I am really surprised by this. Washington is known as a manager who does take Spring Training results into account when making roster decisions, but I thought in this case he would overlook it due to Ogando’s past experience and success as a starter. It became hard to overlook when in his last start he could not even make it to the 4th inning. In his last start he gave up 5 runs over 3 innings and threw 78 pitches to get through those 3 innings. He was just really awful and definitely has not earned a spot in the rotation this Spring. His line this Spring reads as follows: 1-2, 6.35 ERA, 11.1 innings pitched, 20 hits allowed, 14 runs,3 hr’s allowed, and a .377 BAA. So, yeah he has been pretty awful. Hopefully getting back to the bullpen and only having to pitch one or two innings will get him back to being a very solid pitcher that he has been throughout his career.

In other Rangers news, Elvis Andrus is going to be out of the field for the next 6 days resting his sore elbow. It came out earlier this week that Andrus has not thrown at all over the winter. Normally Elvis will participate in winter ball, but this offseason he decided to rest, but he probably rested too much. Elvis said, “This is really the first time this has happened. But I’ll learn from my mistake and work my arm more.” He better, because with his contract and his position he is looked at as a leader on the team. It is still to be determined what type of leader he will be, whether it be a vocal leader or one who leads by example. It is important that he helps to set the tone not only on the field, but in the clubhouse with the work he puts in on a daily basis. With him being back on the field next week it still looks like he will be ready for opening day.

Countdown to Opening Day: 8 Days