Should the 2026 Texas Rangers Move on from a Two-Time World Series Champion Starting Pitcher?
Nathan Eovaldi, the 36-year-old two-time World Series Champion, has been a staple in the MLB pitching world, and more recently, for the Texas Rangers' starting rotation. In his second year of a three-year, $75 million extension with Texas, ‘Evo’ is supposed to be the rock-solid, going-the-distance starting pitcher that everyone has learned to know and love, but something about this year is different; something’s changed. His most recent outing was on April 24th against the division rival Athletics, and he has to get that game out of his mind as soon as he can. Something to think about is, this isn’t the first or second poor outing he’s had for the Rangers this season.
On the mound, Eovaldi finished the game with six innings pitched, six hits with four of those being home runs, six earned runs, and three strikeouts in 86 pitches. What’s more polarizing about this is that it can be narrowed down to the first inning, where in just seven pitches, he gave up three home runs to Tyler Soderstrom, Carlos Cortes, and Nick Kurtz. It is something so uncharacteristic of Eovaldi that if someone told a Rangers fan who wasn’t paying attention to the game about it, they’d think you’re lying. Later in the game, Cortes would get a hold of an up-and-in cutter and send it 409 feet into right field for a three-run home run, extending the lead to 6-1. His command to begin the game, obviously, wasn’t right from the jump, and Eovaldi struggled the rest of the game, but somehow produced six full innings. His feel for his fastball, cutter, and splitter were the pitches the A’s were able to get a hold of most this game, and usually those are the most effective pitches for him. His splitter is a thing of beauty when it’s at its peak, but there was no drop in the pitch, and it looked like juicy meatballs hanging in the strike zone.
As stated earlier, this isn’t the first or second poor performance the two-time all-star has produced, as April 1st against the Orioles was the beginning of the reckoning. He was only able to pitch four innings, giving up eight hits, six earned runs, and three walks, with the Rangers losing that game 8-3. Later on April 18th on the road against the Mariners, he was only able to throw five innings, giving up yet another eight hits, four runs across, along with a walk, and again this game ended up another loss for his team, 7-3. The growing trend that is being seen from ‘Evo’ is the struggle to get a hold of his command early and set himself up for a longer outing on the mound. Eovaldi has been putting his team at a disadvantage early in the game, and that was something that was a struggle for the Rangers in general last year, as pitching got them behind early, or the rotation couldn’t clutch up in a low-scoring affair.
With the Rangers front office bringing in Skip Schumaker to manage a rather young team with young leaders, are Eovaldi’s performances, carrying a poor ERA of 5.79 and a record of 2-4, enough to raise eyebrows and have others start to think, “Does someone else deserve a chance? Do we send him down so he can get his groove back?” If that were the case, a name to consider is Jacob Latz, who’s been rock-solid in relief, and was a name that was thrown around in Spring Training for who would take the fifth starting spot. Some may say “Get him off the mound!”, but regardless of his lackluster performances recently, the righty from Alvin, Texas, is still a premier pitcher in the league, and a perfect example comes from an excellent performance on April 13th against the A’s, where he pitched seven innings, allowed only three hits, two walks, no runs, with seven punch outs. It’s such a rollercoaster start for the veteran, but the Rangers are going to be keeping a keen and close eye on him as the season continues, and are hopeful the early-season woes vanish sooner rather than later.
