While Rangers look for bullpen stability, José Leclerc heads into spring in a ‘good place’
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SURPRISE, Ariz. — Some numbers: Over his last 49 games during the 2023 calendar year, equivalent to a full season for many relievers, Texas Rangers reliever José Leclerc posted a 2.35 ERA, held hitters to a .170 batting average and a .263 on-base percentage. In the postseason, save for the last game of the year, he was the Rangers closer.
He overcame a sluggish, disappointing start to finish the year very strong.
And, as someone mentioned to him, it’s not how you start, but how you finish, that matters.
“Yeah, but I’d like to start better, too,” Leclerc cracked.
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So would the Rangers.
It would make things out in the bullpen so much easier. It would allow Bruce Bochy to clarify roles, set an order, create stability and consistency. Pretty much the opposite of last year’s chaos. Look, we won’t go into all the numbers all over again because. We don’t want to cause trauma. But suffice it to say, that in 120 years’ worth of World Series, no champion has ever had a worse regular-season bullpen. Save situations weren’t a 50-50 proposition. It was worse than that.
Related:Rangers spring training storyline No. 1: Texas can’t afford to repeat bullpen indecision
The good news for the Rangers was they survived. Leclerc and Josh Sborz, who recorded the last out of the World Series, rallied late. In the offseason, they spent more time and effort trying to fix the bullpen than anywhere else. They landed veterans with closing experience in David Robertson and Kirby Yates. The back of the bullpen begins camp deeper. It’s easier to work back to front in structuring a bullpen than the other way around.
Bochy has said he isn’t committing to a closer yet. He isn’t ranking them. There’s no inside track to specific roles. Leclerc has the best swing-and-miss stuff of the bunch, a critical need for a closer. He has gotten swing and misses on 16.6% of his pitches throughout his career. To a man, the relievers have all expressed esprit de corps, saying they will happily do whatever role is asked of them. Which is nice. But stability is nicer.
“There is no pecking order,” Bochy said. “But I think when we leave here, we will have a guy who will get closing opportunities. We’d like to think we will have a little more stability.”
Fair or not, a significant portion of the instability in 2023 fell on Leclerc’s poor start, the makings of which were clearly evident early in spring training. He showed up with a sluggish fastball and lacked arm strength. After watching Leclerc’s first bullpens, the Rangers dissuaded him from joining the Dominican Republic’s entry in the World Baseball Classic. But he never really made up the arm strength.
Though he had some neck stiffness, Leclerc threw through it without complaint. The Rangers tried to trust him, using him as closer to start the season. By the end of April, they were looking for other solutions. Leclerc’s fastball, off which he sets up his changeup and breaking ball, averaged just 94.2 mph in April, more than two miles off his average fastball the previous year. He saw the numbers. It all eroded his own confidence, which he earned back slowly as his arm finally started to respond. In September, it bumped back above 96 to 96.6 mph.
“It was a lot,” Leclerc said this week at Rangers camp. “I had to fight all year. It was real hard some times. It showed me that I have to continue to work to get better.”
Bochy believes the neck issue was more severe than Leclerc ever let on. Perhaps adding prep for the WBC played a role, too. Leclerc believes his training regimen, which he adhered to through his 20s, might have needed some updating. Instead of focusing on running as had previously been the case, he became more committed to weights this winter.
“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a level of concern last year,” Bochy said. “Looking back, I think the neck issue was bigger than we thought. Along with velocity he struggled with command. To deal with that and battle through it, it just shows you his mental toughness.
“Just watching him these first few days, this year, he’s in a good place mentally and physically. He’s laughing. Last year, I didn’t know him well, but he was a little quiet. I think he was concerned about [the neck]. It’s good to see hop in his step and that he’s having a lot of fun.”
It’s the kind of thing that might just make for a better start, too. Which might make how the Rangers finish out games a little less stressful, too.
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