Rangers' Jacob Latz: Opening season in bullpen
President of baseball operations Chris Young said Monday that Latz will be part of the bullpen on the Rangers' Opening Day roster, Jeff Wilson of AllDLLS.com reports.
Latz will likely be ticketed for a multi-inning relief role, with most of his opportunities expected to come in lower-leverage spots. The assignment to the bullpen is a disappointing outcome for Latz, who looked to have a leg up on Kumar Rocker for the final spot in the season-opening rotation heading into spring training based on his strong close to the 2025 campaign. After an Aug. 20 call-up from Triple-A Round Rock, Latz turned in a 2.10 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 24:10 K:BB in 30 innings over his final eight outings with the Rangers, but he couldn't carry over that success to the spring. He yielded 16 runs (14 earned) on 18 hits and eight walks over his 15.1 innings during the Cactus League.
