Home Baseball Kumar Rocker is thrilled about his MLB promotion and the opportunity to reunite with Jack Leiter

Kumar Rocker is thrilled about his MLB promotion and the opportunity to reunite with Jack Leiter

Baseball — 09/12/2024

The Texas Rangers are still vying for a Wild Card spot this season. Although the team has been significantly affected by injuries to their starting rotation, manager Bruce Bochy had initially suggested that top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker wouldn’t be called up for the September push.

Kumar Rocker pitching in a Texas Rangers uniform as Rocker will make his MLB debut with the Rangers and join jack leiter in rangers rotation.

However, Bochy swiftly reversed his decision, revealing that Rocker would indeed be promoted and is set to make his debut for Texas on Thursday.

Rocker will face the offensively challenged Seattle Mariners in the opening game of a four-game series in Seattle.

The rookie right-hander admitted that the reality of making his major league debut hasn’t fully hit him yet. “It hasn’t hit me yet… It probably won’t hit me until after the game,” Rocker said through MLB’s Cole Bradley on X.

Jun 30, 2021; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) pitches in the first inning against the Mississippi St. Bulldogs at TD Ameritrade Park.

The Rangers selected Rocker as the third overall pick in the 2022 draft, while they had chosen fellow Vanderbilt pitcher Jack Leiter with the second pick in the 2021 draft. Leiter was promoted to the majors earlier this year, and now Rocker and Leiter will be part of the same rotation for the Rangers.

The prospect of joining Leiter in the big leagues clearly excites Rocker, as he shared with Bradley, saying, “It’s super exciting.”

Rocker is ranked as the organization’s second-best minor leaguer and top pitching prospect by MLB.com, and he sits 95th overall among minor leaguers. This season, Rocker has excelled in the Rangers’ farm system, boasting a 1.96 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and 55 strikeouts in 36.2 innings.

He has pitched at three levels in the minors this season, dominating in Double-A with an impressive 0.46 ERA and 0.61 WHIP over five starts, which led to his promotion to the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate.