How a 24-Year-Old Reliever Is Helping the Sputtering Texas Rangers in 2026
Bursting onto the scene in 2026, Gavin Collyer has been nothing short of excellent in his short time with the Texas Rangers this season. The 24-year-old has provided some much-needed depth in the pitching rotation as the veteran Chris Martin, the all-too-talented but risky Robert Garcia, and Carter Baumler have been on the short-term injury list, but have chances and optimism to get inserted into the lineup sooner rather than later in May. It’s tough to tell with pitchers, as some may argue that it’s better to send some of the injured pitchers, and other positional players, for that matter, to the minor league affiliates to gain experience and get their “stuff” back. A little example is when Nathan Eovaldi was injured in 2023 and 2025, dealing with a nagging elbow strain, and pitched simulated games; in 2025, it was at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and in 2023, at the Triple-A level in Round Rock for a “live BP” session. Rather than focusing on sending players down for rehab and getting them warmed up, ready to pitch at a high level for the Rangers this season, Skip Schumaker has been relying on his young righty from Lawrenceville, Georgia, to get the job done.
The 2019 12th-round pick from Mountain View High School is an electric arm that the Rangers’ bullpen has desperately needed, especially with the aforementioned injuries piling on for the team. Collyer doesn’t have the most diverse pitching arsenal, but his pitches have an unfair amount of velocity, especially his sinker. Several times, his sinker has been clocked at 96-97 MPH, and his four-seam fastball has even touched triple digits this season. Both pitches break hard, which makes it nearly impossible to get into play, and his stat line for the season so far is reflecting that perfectly. He’s got two other pitches that he mixes in to keep the batters confused, and those pitches are his cutter, with an average speed of 91-92 MPH, and a breaking-ball sweeper that provides horizontal contrast, complementing his vertical fastballs, and averages 88 MPH. Collyer has a win under his belt, a record of 1-0, and, appearing in seven games so far, he’s only given up two hits in just over five innings pitched, three walks, and four strikeouts. Collyer made his first official appearance in an MLB game on April 15th against the division-rival A’s in a close game, and from the very first pitch, he made an immediate impression. While he only faced one batter, he had his first matchup against the all-talented Lawrence Butler. In just three pitches, he fanned Butler on a 97 MPH heater to record his first big league strikeout.
Since this appearance, Collyer has been fantastic, and the Rangers are looking for him to improve and continue being a solid reliever. To some, the young righty is having a similar start to what Jacob Latz had at the beginning of the season, where, in four appearances, he has pitched shutout innings, leaving opposing teams hitless and scoreless. More innings like that and you have this pitcher looking like a prominent reliever and a multi-inning closer. It’ll be interesting to see if Skip and the team can look to Collyer as a secret weapon, like his teammate Latz, and put him in long-outing situations and provide pitching relief on days where the Rangers have larger leads or need a pitcher that the team can rely on to get out of sticky situations.
