According to TexasRangers.com, the current depth chart for the Texas Rangers rotation looks like this:
1. Yu Darvish
5. Colby Lewis
7. Nick Tepesch
I, for one, think that will change before the season starts to have Gallardo in the number three spot and Colby in the four spot with Tepesch, Martinez or Detwiler in the fifth spot, but that will be another discussion for another day. The Texas Rangers rotation struggled last season, and the main reason was the fact that they never had their starting
five on the field and healthy at the same time. The Texas Rangers had 15 different guys start games in 2014 including Miles Mikolas, Joe Saunders, Scott Baker and Jerome Williams. They will get Martin Perez back sometime after the All-Star break, and that will be good. So lets see what to expect from the current starting rotation as it is listed on the Texas Rangers depth chart.
Yu Darvish is the ace, no doubt about that. Darvish has a career MLB ERA of 3.27, but it has not been that high since his first season in the majors, when it was 3.90. Darvish, when he is on, is a strikeout machine. He usually goes deep into games and he usually keeps the ball in the park (he gave up 13 home runs in 2014). His two downsides have been walks and pitch counts. He has walked 89,80, and 49 in his three seasons with the Rangers, and last season it seemed that he always had a high pitch count. If he can keep the walks to under 50 again in 2015, he is going to be very hard to hit once again. I really enjoy watching Darvish pitch.
Derek Holland missed most of last season with a knee injury that was brought on by his dog, Wrigley. When Holland did return to the Texas Rangers line up, he looked very good. Holland started 5 games for the Rangers last season, and he was 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in those 5 starts. He struck out 25 while walking just 5 in the 37 innings he pitched. Now while I don’t believe that Derek will maintain a 1.46 ERA throughout an entire baseball season, I do believe that he can maintain an ERA in the low threes. I can’t wait to see how a healthy and motivated Derek Holland will do for the Texas Rangers in 2015.
Nick Martinez had a surprisingly good 2014. He was brought up early on in the season due to injuries, and he performed better than many Rangers fans expected, maybe even better than the organization expected. Nick started 24 games and had a 4.55 ERA, striking out 77 and walking 55. Not bad for a rookie who became a pitcher later in his minor league career. Nick now has a year of pitching in the big leagues under his belt, and I believe that will really help him going forward. The Rangers obviously see something special in him to have him slotted currently as the number three starter. If he can cut down on the walks it will help his ERA, and I think he can. He seems like a very sharp kid and I look forward to seeing what he will bring to the table for the Texas Rangers in 2015.
Yovani Gallardo lives in Texas, and now he plays in Texas as well. Gallardo has a career 3.96 ERA, but a lot of times that goes up when a pitcher switches from the National League to the American League. Gallardo has struck out 200 plus batters four times in his career, and he has started at least 31 games as season over the past five years. Gallardo brings with him experience, and that was something that was sorely lacking in the Texas Rangers rotation in 2014. I have not really watched Gallardo pitch very ofter, so I am really excited to see what he will bring to the rotation.
Colby Lewis is what he is, and we all know it. He will eat up innings, he will give up some home runs, and he will not be shaken no matter what happens during the game. Colby is coming into his second season after hip surgery, and no one thought he would make it through one season after that surgery. It should be fun to watch how he feels now that he is ever further away from the procedure and he has pitched a season since then. I think he will hold up, and I think he will do better than he did in 2014, where he posted an ERA of 5.18, his highest since returning to the Texas Rangers in 2010. I expect good things from Lewis in 2015.
So that is the rotation as it sits right now, and I have a feeling there will be some changes before the season begins. Pitchers and catchers report in just 2 weeks, then all the speculation will be over and the players actually have to earn their spots on the 2015 Texas Rangers. I can’t wait for it all to begin again. 
