Texas Rangers changing pitching development approach

As all of us know, the Texas Rangers’ history of developing starting pitching has been...less than great. The state of pitching in the minors has been made even worse by the deals that have sent quite a few pitching prospects out over the past couple of years in moves that brought in veterans in an effort to win now.

Evan Grant has a story up about how the Rangers have re-evaluated their approach to developing pitchers in the minors, opting to slow down the rate at which they move up the ladder, while also putting more emphasis on fastball command. Grant takes a look at Yohander Mendez, Kyle Cody and Cole Ragans, and how they’ve shown progress in that regard over the course of the 2017 season.

Developing young starting pitching is the holy grail in baseball, and it has not been a strength of the Rangers in recent years (or, really, pretty much ever). It will be worth keeping an eye on this new crop of prospects, and see if the changes mean better results.